Department Chair
E.J. Westlake

Artistic Director
Mandy Fox

Producer and Production Manager
Sherée Greco

Director
Tom Dugdale

Scenic Designer and Properties Designer
Jack MacGregor

Costume Designer
Alexis Miller*

Lighting Designer
Sarah Herkert*

Sound Designer
Bob Pike

Production Technical Director
Chris Zinkon

Production Stage Manager
Morgan Eisenbraun

Assistant Director
Gracy Frea

Movement Director
Emily Glinksi

Dramaturg
Zion Watkins

Assistant Stage Manager
Sidney Underwood

Assistant Lighting Designer
Leah Pfefferle

Lighting Programmer
Ari Vezdos

External Relations and Publicity Coordinator
J. Briggs Cormier

Ticketing Services and Audience Services Specialist
Julia Buttermore

Business Operations Manager
Dev Singer

Graphic Design
Biaggio Bican

*Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Fine Arts in the Graduate School at The Ohio State University.

Staff Technical Director
Chris Zinkon

Scenic Studio Manager
Chad R. Mahan

Scenic Studio Teaching Associates
Paige Billian, Kaitlyn Crosby, Jack MacGregor

Scenery Construction Crew
Rida Al Amoudi, Ben Ault, Ava Bucci, Jamison Butz, Frankie Castillo Perez, Conan Chan, Morgan Eisenbraun, Maddie Herrmann, Nate Lamb, Hailey Oo, Alexis Pavel, Juniper Pudder, Cadence Soules, Sydney Spears, Adrianna Tenney, Joey Young

Scenic Run Crew
Troy Malone, Richard Stage

Automation Operator
Eli Cornette

Costume Studio Manager
Coco Mayer

Costume Studio Teaching Associate
Alexis Miller, Jeremy D Quick

Costume Construction Crew
Husna Akkaya, Rida Al Amoudi, Camdyn Bartow, Meredith Book, Terra Caelum, Max Cerny, Honey Curry, Grace Dismuke, Ceila Elliott, Macy Garver-Hughes, Ashely Gildenblatt, Kelsie Goane, Zaya Hasham, Emma Schobeloch, 

Wardrobe Crew
Ella Barberic, Camdyn Bartow, Honey Curry, Eugene Lim

Lighting Studio Manager
Eric M. Slezak

Lighting Studio Teaching Associates
Sarah Herkert, Evan Lane, Robbie Wilt

Lighting Crew
Kevin Campbell, Amelia Engle, Donovan Furey, Grace Galli, Jupiter Justice, Garret Knapke, Hailey Oo, Carter Sanderson, Ari Vezdos, Connor Yturregui

Light Board Operator
Brody Laurence

Sound and Media Studio Manager
Keya Myers-Alkire

Sound Crew
Claire Booker, Ethan Collins, Graciana Safreed, Kulminder Singh

Sound Board Operator
Sakura Davis

Sound Mixer
Craig Foulkrod

Media Teaching Associate
Rufus ZaeJoDaeus

Student Ticket Seller Supervisor
 Brenda Ramoz Perez

Box Office Staff
Grace Lamparyk, Kendall McNutt, Natalie Soder, Yareni Velazquez Garcia

 

Emily Bass-Glinski (movement director), graduate student
Pronouns: she/her
Hometown: Columbus
Major(s): dance
Previous Department Productions: 1st department production

Milkias Damenu (Jack), senior
Pronouns: he/him
Hometown: Columbus
Major(s): psychology
Minor(s): film studies; theatre
Previous Department Productions: Orlando; After the Blast

Morgan Eisenbraun (stage manager), junior
Pronouns: she/her
Hometown: Oxford, OH
Major(s): primary education; theatre
Previous Department Productions: Orlando; After the Blast

Gracy Frea (asst. director), senior
Pronouns: she/her
Hometown: Columbus
Major(s): theatre
Previous Department Productions: 1st department production

Desiree Gailes (Cecily), junior
Hometown: Cleveland
Major(s): music education; theatre
Previous Department Productions: The Squirrels

Sarah Herkert (lighting designer), graduate student
Pronouns: she/her
Hometown: Marshfield, WI
Major(s): theatre
Previous Department Productions: Orlando; The Squirrels

Mike'l Kindell (Reverend Chasuble), junior
Pronouns: he/him
Hometown: Columbus
Major(s): theatre
Minor(s): musical theatre
Previous Department Productions: Debut

Luke Kleeman (Algernon), junior
Hometown: Cincinnati
Major(s): theatre
Minor(s): English; voice acting
Previous Department Productions: Orlando; The Squirrels

Leah Pfefferle (asst. lighting designer), sophomore
Hometown: Columbus
Major(s): computer science; theatre
Previous Department Productions: 1st department production

Bob Pike (sound designer), graduate student
Pronouns: he/him
Hometown: Eustis, FL
Major(s): theatre
Previous Department Productions: The Squirrels; Acute Exposure

Mackenzie Sambroak (Miss Prism), sophomore
Pronouns: she/her
Hometown: Youngstown, OH
Major(s): environmental policy and decision-making
Minor(s): English; theatre
Previous Department Productions: Debut

Jimmy Schneider (Lane/Merriman), sophomore
Pronouns: he/him
Hometown: Broadview Heights, OH
Major(s): aerospace engineering
Minor(s): theatre
Previous Department Productions: Debut

Kalee Sribanditmongkol (Gwendolen), senior
Pronouns: she/her
Hometown: Gahanna, OH
Major(s): theatre
Minor(s): musical theatre; voice acting
Previous Department Productions: Silent Sky, Orlando, The Squirrels, Acute Exposure

Sidney Underwood (asst. stage manager), junior
Pronouns: she/they
Hometown: Columbus
Major(s): theatre
Previous Department Productions: 1st department production

Zion Watkins (dramaturg), senior
Pronouns: she/they
Hometown: PG County, MD
Major(s): English
Minor(s): theatre
Previous Department Productions: 1st department production

Technology changed, the workplace changed, and social trends changed dramatically throughout the 19th Century, but for the upper echelons of society, the core cultural philosophy and traditions stayed the same. As the general standard of living improved among the lower classes through the invention of new technologies, a tidy, fashionable appearance and perfect manners continued to associate a person with high morality, respectability, and wealth. By the time Oscar Wilde started writing The Importance of Being Earnest in the 1890s, it had long been standard practice in Victorian society to assess a person’s character by their clean, well-dressed, and fashionable appearance. The better you were dressed, the greater wealth and moral character you were assumed to have. 

For the wealthiest Victorians, navigating High Society meant following an extensive program of etiquette rules for socializing and behaving in public. Hundreds of etiquette books and articles were published detailing instructions on how to behave in and respond to virtually every possible scenario one might encounter while out in Society. This prepared readers for what to expect in a given interaction and what others would, in turn, expect from them. Participation in Society centered around attending parties and making visits, known as “calls,” to the homes of the friends, family, and acquaintances in your social circle. Like everything else in Society, there were a plethora of rules around how and when to properly make a visit. For example, Lady Bracknell is late to tea with Algernon because she was “obliged to call on Lady Harbury. I hadn’t been there since before her poor husband’s death.” Ceremonious calls like this one were the way to maintain relationships. They would usually be made within the week of an initial visit or after attending an entertainment (a party, dinner, tea, etc.) hosted by that person. It is likely that Lady Bracknell paid Lady Hanbury a sympathy visit after her husband’s passing, in keeping with her duties as an acquaintance and as a woman of Society. 

The Importance of Being Earnest was the last in Oscar Wilde’s run of society plays that satirize the superficial and hypocritical underpinnings of Polite Society. It juxtaposes the aspirational moral expectations of Victorian culture with the much more flawed realities of people’s everyday experiences. The play’s title being a pun on the name “Ernest” and “showing depth and sincerity” pokes fun at the wealthy’s desire to be seen as respectable, moral figures without meaningfully behaving as such. Jack and Algernon, for example, both claim to be “Ernest” and perform the customs and speak the language of “earnestness” but lead double lives and lie about their identities to prioritize their own enjoyment. They shamelessly disregard Christian Society’s expectations of honesty and responsibility. As the ensuing mistaken identity chaos unfolds between Jack, Algernon, Gwendolen, and Cecily, the “mask of manners” slips away, drawing humor from how neither gentleman, in their pursuit to be “Ernest” and win the affection of his beloved, actually is earnest.