Student actors in the USC Theater Department prepare to take the stage at the Longstreet Theatre, entering a Victorian-era England society whilst exploring themes of identity, relationships, deception and societal pressure.
“The Importance of Being Earnest” follows John "Jack" Worthing, a respectable young socialite who is living a double life. He goes by “Jack” in the country, but when he goes to the city he transforms into the fun-loving, carefree “Ernest.”
The play was written by Oscar Wilde and first performed in 1895. The comedy is a satire of Victorian-era England hypocrisy. Kevin Bush, the director of marketing and communications for the Department of Theatre and Dance, said the show is Wilde’s way to artistically poke fun at the norms of society at the time.
“‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ is very much in Oscar Wilde’s style of making fun of society’s rules and regulations and doing it in a way that is highly literate and plays with language in a really fun way,” Bush said.
Worthing's counterpart is Algernon Moncrieff. Similarly to Worthing, Moncrieff has created a fictional character named Bunbury in order to escape his social obligations.
Moncrieff will be played by third-year graduate acting student Dominic Delong-Rodgers. He described his character as a carefree, happy-go-lucky guy who takes pride in doing the opposite of what is expected of him.
“I think that is definitely one of the things that is still relatable in life," Delong-Rodgers said. "There’s a lot that’s expected of us, and it could be fun sometimes to just not give a care."
One unique aspect of this show that Delong-Rodgers said he particularly enjoys is the contrast between the accuracy of the costumes and the abstractness of the set.
“I think it leads to this very visually interesting world of the play where some things are very much of the real world and some things are very much of the world of whimsy and imagination,” Delong-Rodgers said. “There’s a good combination of people sort of living real life in a regular way and maybe some people are pushing the bounds of reality a little bit with some of the personas they take on and the people they pretend to be.”
De'on Turner (left) chases Dominic Delong-Rodgers (right), who balances a pastry platter, while practicing “The Importance of Being Earnest” in Longstreet Theatre on Nov. 3, 2025. Turner and Delong-Rodgers portray Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, respectively.
Second-year graduate lighting and scenic design student Victoria Rickards is in charge of the set design and lighting for this show. After learning the time and location of the play, Rickards hit the library and began pulling books about Victorian-era England. This led her to creating an abstract set composed of stripes and balloons.
“It is a very representational, not realistic design. It is far different from the costumes because the costumes are definitely very accurate to the time, but I think it works,” Rickards said.I wanted it to feel like a circus because that’s what the show feels like to me.”
Bush said Longstreet Theatre is an especially unique place to see a show. The theatre is in the round, meaning the stage is completely surrounded by the audience. He said the setting is intimate, even in cases where there may be 250 audience members.
“The production quality, the talent level is very near professional, if not fully professional quality or standard," Bush said. "It always promises to be a very worthwhile time, definitely worth the ticket price."
This will be Rickards' first ever set design and her first time doing a show in a theatre in the round. This changes her approach to lighting, the challenge offering a learning experience. Since the show is a comedy, Rickards said she hopes the audience will not be afraid to be reactive.
“I want the audience to understand that it’s a comedy, so we want to hear them laughing and enjoying it. It’s so fun when the audience is giving energy to the actors.” Rickards said. “It doesn’t take away from the performance, it actually adds a ton to it.”
The entire cast will be speaking in nineteenth-century English accents due to the show being set in Victorian-era England. Director and Associate Professor of Acting Dustin Whitehead said he is confident in his cast’s ability to master the dialect of the show. Furthermore, he said the language is a way to play into the comedic aspects of the performance.
“There’s a lot of instances in which a modern audience gets the joke and then some moments where they might be confused, but then we play up the awkwardness and the humor of that confusion and lean into it to make it fun for an audience of college students,” Whitehead said.
Looking past the language and jokes of the show, Whitehead said that the central themes of the show are still relatable today. He said the audience will be able to feel the emotions happening on stage and connect with the topics that are explored throughout the play.
“There’s multiple romances in the story. I think we can all relate to falling in love," Whitehead said. "We also can all relate to feeling silly in front of a group of people or feeling like you have to perform to keep up. I think we can all relate to the pressures of modern society and what is expected of us.”
The cast features six graduate students and three undergraduate students. This production will be the first time all six graduate acting students will be performing in a show together.
Third-year graduate acting student Elizabeth Wheless will play Gwendolen Fairfax, who is in love with John when he is pretending to be "Ernest.". Wheless said she is excited to see how her acting cohort’s friendship translates into their stage presence.
“We spend every day together teaching, learning and performing,” Wheless said. “It’s so fun because we know each other so well that getting to poke fun at each other on stage is just so natural. We crack each other up.”
But the actors won’t be having all the fun, Wheless said. She said that this show is a lot of fun for the audience as well. She said this show in particular offers an engaging experience for people new to the theatre world.
"I think that theatre is seen as this lofty art form sometimes that is not accessible to people that don’t know theatre. I don’t think that's what this show is. I think there is so much for people to look at, and sense, and feel and laugh at," Wheless said.
“The Importance of Being Earnest” will run from Nov. 7 through Nov. 16, in the Longstreet Theatre, located at 1300 Greene St. The play will run at 7:30 p.m. nightly from Wednesday to Saturday. Additional matinee performances will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 9 and Sunday, Nov. 16. Tickets are available online for purchase here.