Large text says "The Importance of Being Earnest".

Avon Theatre

May 19 – October 23 |

Opens June 18

Classic

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 Theatre Methodologies (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.

(he/him)

2026: Howard Wagner in Death of a Salesman and Lane in The Importance of Being Earnest. 24th season. Stratford (selected): As You Like It, Forgiveness, La Cage aux Folles, Richard III, Serving Elizabeth, Guys and Dolls, Julius Caesar, 42nd Street, A Little Night Music, The Neverending Story, Pericles, King John, The Pirates of Penzance, Titus Andronicus, Three Sisters, The Merchant of Venice, Cabaret, Trojan Women, The Tempest, Timon of Athens, The Swanne: Princess Charlotte, Macbeth, London Assurance, Twelfth Night, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Elsewhere (selected): Casey and Diana (Soulpepper); The Immigrant (Harold Green); London Road (Canadian Stage); Othello (Segal Centre); The Winter's Tale (McCarter/Shakespeare Theatre); Phèdre (A.C.T.); A Christmas Carol, The Turn of the Screw (Grand Theatre); The Importance of Being Earnest (Roundabout); Copenhagen (U.S. national tour). Film/TV: 12 Monkeys, Mayday, Murdoch Mysteries, Dark Matter, Reign, Defiance. Training: Juilliard. Awards: Dora Award, Toronto Theatre Critics' Award.

Birmingham Conservatory, 2025/2026

2026: Miranda in The Tempest and understudy in The Importance of Being Earnest and Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Second season. Stratford: Cécile in Dangerous Liaisons, Gossip in Sense and Sensibility and Hysperia in As You Like It. Elsewhere: Hedda in Hedda Gabler, May in Bedlam, Des-Neiges in Les Belles Soeurs, Jocasta in Oedipus Rex (TAG); Silvia in Two Gentlemen of Verona (New Brood); Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Dartmouth Players); Melissa in Out of It (Rising Tide Theatre). TV: Son of a Critch; This Hour Has 22 Minutes; Diggstown; Sugar Highs; Surreal Estate; Astrid and Lilly Save the World; Hudson & Rex; Sullivan's Crossing; Alaska Triangle. Training: Memorial University of Newfoundland, Grenfell, 2023 (BFA). Awards: Michael Mawson Award. Online: @ashleyjdingwell. Et cetera: For Janine, and for my dear fellows-Nadine, Dakota, Ani, Katarina, Silvae, and Joe-in case I can't find the perfect place: thank you, thank you.

(she/her)

Birmingham Conservatory, 2025/2026

2026: Giulianella in Saturday, Sunday, Monday, appears in The Tempest and understudy in The Importance of Being Earnest. Second season. Stratford: Mopsa in The Winter's Tale and understudy in Ransacking Troy. Elsewhere: Mia in Gringas (First Born Theatre), Dorine in La Bête (Talk is Free Theatre), Lisa in Wakey Wakey (County Players), Chloe in Hookman (TMU), Bianca in Untamed (TMU). Directing: Morning After (a front company/Toronto Fringe Festival), ECHO (associate director - a front company), The Zoo Story (co-director - a front company). Writing: Morning After. Training: Toronto Metropolitan University School of Performance. Online: katarinafiallos.com, @katarinafiallos. Et cetera: Thank you for coming :) Love to my family and friends and all those who have given me a helping hand along the way.

Birmingham Conservatory, 1999

2026: Elena Ianniello in Saturday, Sunday, Monday, appears in The Tempest and understudy in The Importance of Being Earnest. 15th season. Stratford (selected): Elise in The Miser, Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal, Nina in The Seagull, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Jean-Louise in To Kill a Mockingbird, Isabella in Edward II, Katerina in Brothers Karamazov, Joan of Arc in Henry VI, Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest, Elvira in Blithe Spirit, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, Rosaline in Love's Labour's Lost and Althia in Front Page. Michelle has also performed in plays at the New York City Center, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Tarragon Theatre, Factory Theatre, Crow's Theatre, Segal Centre, GCTC, Theatre Aquarius and with Groundling Theatre. Film: Blackberry, Delia's Gone, Blood Pressure and Life in a Year. TV: The Hardy Boys, The Hot Zone, Mockingbird, Suits, See, L.A Complex, Accused, Black Mirror, King, The Good Doctor, Flashpoint, Anne, Saving Hope and The Listener.

2026: Virginia in Saturday, Sunday, Monday, appears in The Tempest and understudy in The Importance of Being Earnest. Fourth season. Stratford: Gossip #2 in Sense and Sensibility, Magda and Soldier in The Art of War, understudy in Anne of Green Gables, Women of the Fur Trade, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, London Assurance. Elsewhere: Every Brilliant Thing (Burnt Thicket/Live Five, Fire Exit, Globe Theatre, Winterruption); Our Town (Theatre Rusticle/Buddies in Bad Times); Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Comedy of Errors, Macbeth (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan); Birds and the Bees (Globe Theatre/Persephone Theatre); Drowning Girls, Pride and Prejudice (Globe Theatre). Other: House Co (Second City). Film/TV: Workin' Moms (CBC) Training: Globe Theatre Actor Conservatory, University of Saskatchewan (BFA). Awards: SAT Award for Outstanding Performance (Narrator in Every Brilliant Thing, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing and Callie in Stop Kiss). Online: jennaleehyde.com.

2026: Charley in Death of a Salesman and understudy in The Importance of Being Earnest and Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Fifth season. Stratford: Macbeth, The Winter's Tale, The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?, Cymbeline, Love's Labour's Lost, Richard II, Grand Magic, Hamlet. Elsewhere: Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure, Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night (Repercussion); Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Canadian Stage); Sir in Encore (Tableau D'Hôte); Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in The Mountaintop (Persephone). Film/TV/video games: Lucy Grizzli Sophie, La Maison Bleue, Assassin's Creed Nexus VR. Training: Dawson College, Soulpepper Academy. Awards: Outstanding Lead Performance META for Martin in MOB (Centaur). Online: matthewkabwe.com, agencebridgetdechene.com. Et cetera: Matthew sends wishes of love and thanks to his many supporters; especially Dr. AAHW. Matthew is thrilled to be returning to the Stratford Festival. Matthew is also B.

Birmingham Conservatory 2012/2013

2026: Trinculo in The Tempest, Attilio in Saturday, Sunday, Monday and understudy in The Importance of Being Earnest. 13th season. Josue is a Métis actor, teaching artist and mask maker from the traditional lands of the Dane-zaa, Treaty 8, Fort St. John, B.C. Stratford: Nick in The Art of War, Lazarus in The Diviners, Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, Anne of Green Gables, Cymbeline, King Lear, Hamlet, Death and the King's Horseman, Merry Wives of Windsor, Front Page, Comedy of Errors, Napoli Milionaria!, Tempest, Timon of Athens, Madwoman of Chaillot, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aeneid, Taming of the Shrew, Love's Labour's Lost, Beaux' Stratagem, Mary Stuart, Measure for Measure, Othello. Vancouver: Four seasons at Bard on the Beach; The Exquisite Hour (Relephant); Wizard of Oz, Seussical (Carousel); Emperor's New Threads (Axis). Training: Birmingham Conservatory, director Martha Henry; Studio 58; Canadian National Voice Intensive. Instagram: @laboucanej.

(he/him)

2026: Adrian in The Tempest and understudy in The Importance of Being Earnest and Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Young man 4/Young Walter in The Inheritance (Canadian Stage); Jamie in This Feels like the End (Toronto Fringe Next Stage Festival); Zack in Boys, Girls, and Other Mythological Creatures (Theatre Orangeville), Clay in The Miser (Odyssey Theatre); Devon in TomorrowLove (TMU); Andrew Kushnir in The Division (TMU); Edward II in Edward II (TMU); Duncan in Punch Up (Theatre on the Ridge). Film/TV: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (CBS). Training: Toronto Metropolitan University's School of Performance, Citadel Theatre Young Acting Company Online: @Landonnesbitt26. Et cetera: A giant thank you to my friends, family and the TH team.

2026: Merriman in The Importance of Being Earnest, Michele in Saturday, Sunday, Monday and understudy in Death of a Salesman. Third season.

Birmingham Conservatory, 2025/2026

2026: Ferdinand in The Tempest and understudy in The Importance of Being Ernest and Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Second season. Stratford: The Winter's Tale, Macbeth. Elsewhere: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Segal Centre/RMTC), Fall On Your Knees (Canadian Stage/Neptune Theatre/NAC/Grand Theatre), Simone: Half and Half (Black Theatre Workshop), Pool: No Water (Persephone Productions), Much Ado About Nothing (Repercussion Theatre). Film/TV: Witchboard, The Dachshund Wears Prada, Terror Train, The Christmas Checklist, About Sex, le 23 décembre, Matthias et Maxime. Training: Bishop's University, Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre. Awards: Peter Donaldson Award, META for Outstanding Supporting Actor. Online: @airbnbeyonce. Et cetera: Thank you to the audiences and everyone at the Festival. Thanks to my agent Marc, and endless love to my family, friends, and Kevin!

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.