THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

By Oscar Wilde

Directed by Krista Jackson

A trivial comedy for serious people

Two dashing men-about-town create false identities to escape social obligations and win the hearts of the women they love, only to find themselves entangled in a web of deceit and absurd expectations. Set in Victorian England, this sharp-witted and hilarious comedy skewers manners, marriage and the pursuit of sincerity in a world obsessed with appearances.

MEIGHEN FORUM EVENTS

CAST & CREATIVE

CAST

2026: Sebastian in The Tempest, Algernon Moncrieff in The Importance of Being Earnest and understudy in Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Third season.

(he/him)

Birmingham Conservatory 2025/2026

2026: Biff in Death of a Salesman and John Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest. Second season. Stratford: Forgiveness, As You Like It (2025). Elsewhere (selected):A Christmas Carol (Theatre Calgary); The Woman In Black, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, The Extractionist (Vertigo Theatre); Premium content, Air (Major Matt Mason), Chariots Of Fire (Rosebud Theatre / The Grand); Gordon (Theatre Network); This Is War (Punctuate); The Circle (Alberta Theatre Projects); SIA (Downstage Theatre). Film/TV (selected):The Expanse (Amazon Prime); Black Summer (Netflix); Range Roads, O Brazen Age, The Valley Below (North Country Cinema); Bodycam (Brandon Christensen); Blood Mountain (Nocturnal Productions). Training: BFA acting - University of Alberta, Mount Royal College. Awards: Several Outstanding Performer nominations, including Betty Mitchell Theatre Awards, Calgary Critics Award, Sterling Theatre Awards and Rosie Film & TV Awards. Online: joewperry.com, @Joewperry. Et cetera: Love to Allison and to his family in Alberta.

2026: Gonzalo in The Tempest and Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. Sixth season. Stratford: Helena and Widow in All's Well… (1982, 2008 respectively), Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn in The Music Man, Claire in A Delicate Balance. Elsewhere (selected): Doctor/Mother in People Places… (Coalmine); Miriam in The Bidding War (Crow's); Professor McGonagall/Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Broadway/ Mirvish); Rose in The Children (CanStage); Elizabeth II in The Audience (Mirvish); Sonia in Vanya/Sonia/Masha/Spike (Mirvish), Julie in London Road, Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd, Amanda in A Glass Menagerie (Citadel); Lady Dennison in The Charity… Home, Clio in iHo, Louise Rafi in The Sea, Sarah Bernhardt in The Divine (Shaw). Film/TV (selected): Between The Fences, St. Pierre, King of Kensington, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Time Traveler's Wife. Awards: Four Dora awards; Toronto Theatre Critics Award; Jessie Award; Sterling Award; ACTRA Award of Excellence; Honorary Doctorate, Bishops University; Order of Canada.

2026: Stephano in The Tempest and Rev. Canon Chasuble in The Importance of Being Earnest. 14th season. Stratford: Hamlet, Petruchio (Canadian Screen Award), Benedick, Leontes, King (All's Well), Brutus, Octavius, Feste, Touchstone, Hildy (The Front Page), DeFlores (The Changeling), Frederick (A Little Night Music), Captain von Trapp (The Sound of Music), Alceste (The Misanthrope), Chaplain (Mother Courage), Burleigh (Mary Stuart). Elsewhere: Shaw Festival: Tanner, Man and Superman; over 25 productions. Crow's Theatre: Octet, The Master Plan (also Theatre Aquarius and Soulpepper), Rosmersholm, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. Chicago Shakespeare Theater: Hamlet (Joseph Jefferson Award), Macbeth, Pericles. Selected theatres: Macbeth, Bard on the Beach; Canadian Stage; NAC; Neptune Theatre; Theatre Calgary. Film/TV:Skymed, Doc, The Boys, Murdoch Mysteries, Hudson & Rex, Departure, Ruby and the Well, On the Basis of Sex, The Strain, Reign, The Anniversary, Saving Hope, Rookie Blue, Grey Gardens, Slings & Arrows.

2026: Gwendolen Fairfax in The Importance of Being Earnest, appears in The Tempest and understudy in Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Second season. Stratford: Composer and Diane, Woman on the Train in Forgiveness, understudy Anne, Anne of Green Gables. Elsewhere: Juliet, Helena, Portia, Octavius, Horatia (The Shakespeare Company); Girl in Once (Chemainus); Johanna in Sweeney Todd, Jekyll & Hyde, Heat of the Night (Vertigo Theatre); Rose in The Secret Garden, One Man Two Guvnors, Dear Johnny Deere, Steel Magnolias, 15 seasons of A Christmas Carol (Theatre Calgary); Vigilante (NAC/Grand/Catalyst/Persephone); Fiddler on the Loose (Drayton); Ring of Fire (Rainbow Stage); Forgiveness (Arts Club/TC), The Penelopiad, Ash Rizin' (ATP). Soloist with the Malaysian, Calgary, Victoria and Winnipeg Symphonies. 30+ productions as composer/sound designer across Canada. Awards: Five Betty Mitchell Awards, Avenue Magazine Top 40 under 40, Richard March Award. Online: allisonlynchmusic.com. Et cetera: Multi-instrumentalist and motorcyclist. Love to Joe and the fam.

Birmingham Conservatory, 2024

2026: Ariel in The Tempest, Cecily Cardew in The Importance of Being Earnest and understudy in Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Fourth season. Stratford: Perdita in The Winter's Tale, Hermione in Ransacking Troy, Grace Harkaway in London Assurance, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Les Belles-Soeurs, King Lear. Elsewhere: Lucky in FEARLESS by David Yee (fu-GEN Theatre); Shakespeare's Hermia (Driftwood Theatre) and Olivia (Theatre Erindale). Film/TV:Eli Roth's Be Mine, 13: The Musical, Titans, ReGenesis. Audio/voiceover:Anne of Green Gables. Writing:twice blessed (fu-GEN Theatre), Filipinx-Canadian TheatreMethodologies (UofT). Awards: Joseph-Armand Bombardier SSHRC Award (UofT), Douglas Campbell Award (Stratford Festival); Dora Mavor Moore Award (Stratford Festival). Training: Theatre and Drama Studies with Sheridan College; University of Toronto (MA). Online: marissaorjalo.com, @MarissaOrjalo. Et cetera: Marissa is the managing producer at fu-GEN Theatre in Toronto and sends her gratitude always to fu-GEN Theatre and Carlos Bulosan Theatre.

2026: Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman and Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest. 39th season.

CREATIVE

Langham Directors' Workshop, 2014/2015

2026: Director of The Importance of Being Earnest. Fifth season. Stratford: Director and dramaturge: The Diviners, associate director: All My Sons, assistant director: Love's Labour's Lost, Mother Courage and Her Children. Elsewhere:CRASH, The Wolves, The Retreat (Imago Theatre); Dancing at Lughnasa (Shaw); A Doll's House: Part 2 (Mirvish/Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre); Liars at a Funeral (Blyth Festival/TIP); Space Girl (Prairie Theatre Exchange); Dock Spider (Magnus Theatre); Lion in Winter, Fly Me to the Moon (Grand Theatre); Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Sense and Sensibility, Morning After Grace, Private Lives, The Seagull, Bittergirl: The Musical (Royal MTC); Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes, Perfect Wedding, Sexy Laundry (Thousand Islands Playhouse). Awards: Gina Wilkinson Prize, Jean Gascon Award. Online: kristajackson.net, imagotheatre.ca Et cetera: Artistic director of Imago Theatre in Montréal.