Webb Players present Wilde play this weekend

The Webb School Company Players take on Oscar Wilde this week. The players will present Wilde's comedy, "The Importance of Being Earnest," tonight through Sunday, Nov. 15 in the Black Box Theatre at the Lundin Fine Arts Center on The Webb School Campus in Bell Buckle.

Show times are 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 4 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $5 per person and can be purchased at the door.

According to co-director Wilhelm Peters, the play lives up to its subtitle, "a trivial comedy for serious people."

"The characters are very self-absorbed and they're all falling in love with each other," he said. "There's a lot of love at first sight or love at first thought."

While the play was written more than 100 years ago, it contains a lot of truths that are still applicable today, Peters maintained.

Peters filled in for Webb Players/Webb Theatre Director Ruth Cordell, who spent several weeks this fall rehearsing and starring in "Steel Magnolias" at the Tennessee Repertory Theatre in Nashville. Cordell returned in late October and has been busily preparing the Webb Players and student-led technical and lighting crews for the production.

Cordell said she is looking forward to showcasing the students' talent and hard work.

"It's amazing to see these kids and great student actors getting the very sophisticated timing of Oscar Wilde," she said.

Male leads in the play are Ryan Pryor and Tripp Moss. Pryor plays Algernon Moncrief and Moss is John "Jack" Worthing. Leading ladies are Scout Turner, who plays Gwendolyn Fairfax, Janine Brown as Lady Bracknell, and Harley Walker, who is cast as Cecily Cardew. Other cast members include Sam Fuller as the Rev. Canon Chausible, D.D., Zach Kelly as Merriman (Jack's butler), Vijay Putatunda as Lane (Algernon's servant), Mary Kathryn Menck as Miss Prism (Cecily's governess) and Phoenix Wyatt as the assistant to Lady Bracknell. Wyatt was also the understudy for Cecily and Gwendolyn.