Oct. 19-20 the lights shined bright in the theater when the Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde was performed.
The play is set in the 1800s in England. The play had two casts: an upperclassmen cast and an underclassmen cast. Some of the main characters in the Importance of Being Earnest were Jack Worthing, Algernon Moncrieff, and Lady Bracknell.
Senior Mark Hartwig played Algernon Moncrieff in the upperclassmen cast. Hartwig describes his character he played as a “Laid back character. Who didn’t really care about the rules,” he said.
Junior Jackson Sawyer also played Algernon in the underclassmen cast. Sawyer had a totally different perspective of his character going into the play.
“I was expecting it to be more of a proper character who followed the rules and uptight, but the character had a completely different role than I thought,” he said.
Another main character in this play was Lady Bracknell. Lady Bracknell was played by senior Jasmine Flowers in the upperclassmen play.
“I played Lady Bracknell,” she said.
Flowers really liked her scenes in the play with Jack Worthing who is played by senior Jax Walker.
“I shared a scene with Jax Walker, who played Jack Worthing. I interrogated him about why he is good enough to date my daughter, and it was a very funny scene and very fun to do with Jax,” she said.
Sawyer and Hartwig both agreed that Algernon was a goofy character. Sawyer really liked working together to be able to create a show for the school to enjoy.
“I like doing theatre and like putting something together with a bunch of my friends and showing off what we are able to do in 2 months,” he said.
This was Hartwig’s first play for South High.
“This was my first play. I wanted to do this play since it was my senior year. I also wanted to get more involved in the theater program,” he said.
Theater teacher Jennifer Forrest-James said she was very pleased with how quick the students learned this play.
“We only had 24 total rehearsals and we were the first theater department in Parkway to have a show this season,” she said.
She was thrilled with how well all the parts came together.
“How all areas of theatre worked to bring a quality show to the audience,” she said.
Flowers said she really enjoys the theater group here at South High.
“Offstage, the part I love most about any production is the connections I’m able to make with other cast members. It’s awesome seeing a project like this one come together,” she said.
Flowers really enjoyed the play and all the memories made.
“Doing this with other people really created awesome friendships that wouldn’t have happened otherwise, and it’s been like a school family, which is awesome,” she said.
The next major production for the South High drama department will be Feb. 7-10 when it puts on Mean Girls.
