“A lot of our usual tropes are on the shelves for this one,” Elmore said with a laugh.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be some twists placed on the 19th century work by witty writer Oscar Wilde when it opens on Black Friday at McPhetres Hall.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
For one, the upcoming production will be performed in the round, which means audiences will be able to see more than just a straight-ahead view of the stage.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“It’s turned out to be really exciting to have them that immediate,” Elmore said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The play, which includes two afternoon tea scenes, will task actors with performing while actually eating food prepared by Betsy Longenbaugh.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
[Theatre in the Rough’s ‘Hamlet’ won’t be like other productions<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “It’s been very fun and very particular,” Longenbaugh said of making food for a stage show. “You want to make something that is quite small, but is quite authentic.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Lillian Odekirk holds tea during rehearsal for Theatre in the Rough’s production of Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” at McPhetres Hall on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t She said the script includes a lot of talk about muffins, so care was taken to make what a U.S. audience would call English muffins rather than the cupcake-like breakfast food. Also, since the food is to be eaten on stage, she made sure the portions would be manageable.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t That’s been tricky, Longenbaugh said, since she’s also preparing for a Christmas Cream Tea event that will happen Dec. 7 at McPhetres Hall. Still, it’s mostly been an enjoyable challenge.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “It is actually very fun to do,” she said. “You’re trying to figure out food.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Longenbaugh said the in-the-round aspect of the play combines in fun ways with the tea sessions.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “It really makes this food thing more important because it’s like your sitting in the room with them,” Longenbaugh said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Aside from the in-person tea party atmosphere, Elmore said the comedy of manners that lampoons the stuffy Victorian-era upper crust, stands out for just being funny.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “It’s a great play,” Elmore said. “It’s been on our list for a while. It’s charming.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t [Cub Scouts make toys for education birds<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Elmore said care was taken to make sure Wilde’s timeless witticisms land, and that charm comes across.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “A lot of the jokes can get to the point where they’re just reported by the actor, and that’s enough, they’re funny, but we want to get a little deeper,” Elmore said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Know & Go<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t What: <\/strong>“The Importance of Being Earnest”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t When: <\/strong>Wednesday through Saturday evenings until Dec. 15 after a opening Friday, Nov. 29. The play starts at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 29 and 30, Dec.4-7 and Dec. 11-14. There are Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Dec. 8 and 15.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Where: <\/strong>McPhetres Hall, 325 Gold St.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Admission: <\/strong>General admission costs $22; student and senior admission costs $15; admission for children 12 and younger costs $5. The play’s humor is not especially risque, but parents are encouraged to consider whether young children will be able to sit through a two-hour play with action driven primarily by verbal barbs. Tickets are available at the JACC, Hearthside, at the door even when sold-out online, and through jahc.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t \u2022 Contact reporter Ben Hohenstatt at (907)523-2243 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenHohenstatt.<\/b><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Company’s latest is ‘The Importance of Being Earnest.’ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":474,"featured_media":55939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":9,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[73],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-55938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-news","tag-ccw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/474"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55938"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=55938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Lillian](\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/19563722_web1_191121Being_Earnest06.jpg\")
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