NHS Students Direct ‘The Importance Of Being Earnest’

By Martha Coville

Newtown High School’s fall drama production was a success. Seniors Maia Jacoby and Taylor Boles confidently directed a small, nine-member cast in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, which had five performances during its November 15–18 run. Under the lead of their directors, the actors tackled Wilde’s script — which demands considerable comedic timing — with aplomb.

Principals Dan Berlingeri, Zach Gordon, Katie McMorran, Diana Curcuruto, and Allyson Makuch truly captured the satirical nature of the Victorian play. Their characters were, all at once, driven by strong emotions, visibly restrained, and engaged in a witty banter approaching screwball. The actors nailed the romance of the play as well.

By the time the curtain fell, every character — with the exception of the spinster Lady Bracknell, and the two butlers, Lane and Merriman — was engaged to be married. Dan and Diana and Zach and Katie played off each other well. Their chemistry was believable but not over the top.

As directors, Maia and Taylor’s enthusiasm for the production was evident even in casual conversation. Each finished the other’s sentences as they described how they steered the play from conception to performance.

“We definitely knew we wanted a more ‘intimate’ cast,” Maia said. “And we were at Borders [Books],” she tried to continue, but Taylor interrupted: “We literally had all these books and plays down on the floor with us, we were looking through them all,” she explained. Maia picked the story back up. “We just knew when we read The Importance of Being Earnest that it was what we were looking for.”

The seniors approached social studies teacher Steve Tomasiewicz and recruited him as faculty advisor and producer. They held auditions themselves, and supervised every aspect of the play, from set building to costumes and publicity.

“We were very proactive, how we went about it,” Taylor explained. “We had to be,” Maia said, “because in the beginning of the year, we knew we wanted a play, but no one else really stepped forward.”

The Importance of Being Earnest starred Dan Berlingeri as Jack Worthing, and Zach Gordon as Algernon Moncrieff. Both characters assume the name “Earnest,” causing confusion between their fiancées, Celicy Cardew (Katie McMorran) and Gwendolen Fairfax (Diana Curcuruto).

Allyson Makuch was particularly enjoyable to watch as the Gwendolen’s aunt, the battle-ax spinster Lady Bracknell. Mary Kay Hubbard and Kevin Walsh rounded out the cast as the “prim” governess Miss Prism and Reverend Dr Canon Chasuble. Jack Woolf and Andrew Nichols kept stiff upper lips as the domestics Merriman and Lane.

The hardworking crew was headed by stage managers Meghan Gibbons and Cristin Carlin, Sydney Russell and Katie Gottlieb, technical director Tyler Lones, construction manager Michelle DeBlasio, painting managers Audra Oliger, and Emily Snyder, lighting manager and designer Jordan Reed, and sound manager Marley Koschel. Sonia Brand-Fisher designed the Victorian-era costumes.

Crew members Julian Tetreqult, Katie Temple, Krystal Perrotti, Katherine Will, Samantha Defilippe, Dylan Kelleher, Jillian Spies, Erik Randlov, and Wesley Yllanes ran the show from back stage.