By KATIE ULRICH ’29
Updated 11:50 a.m. EDT, 14 Nov 2025
Lyric Theatre’s fall semester play is “The Importance of Being Earnest”, written by Oscar Wilde. The performance will take place on Nov. 20, 21 and 22 at 7:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall.
The show is a comedy following the double lives of characters Jack and Algernon. “It’s generally considered one of the greatest plays ever, and that’s because it’s so extremely well written,” said Lyric Theatre Director Amanda Cox, “[Wilde] has a way of writing, not only plot-wise, but [in] his choice of words that makes every line funny,” added Cox.
Cox grew up hearing about “The Importance of Being Earnest”; both her parents acted in it and frequently referenced it. “There are at least five quotes from the play that my parents said throughout my life,” she shared. “And so I find that those are especially [my] favorite parts.”
An excerpt of the play was performed at the Homecoming Collage Concert this October as a teaser. Music graduate student and stage manager Joshua Arizmendi said this scene is his favorite from the play– “Just seeing how Luc [Pereira] and John [Hutmire] … interact with each other, it just seems so natural, and it’s so entertaining.” He continued, “It’s cool to see how they’re finding themselves within the characters.”
Cox believes that the actors are “perfect” in their parts. “They’re so inventive. They’re so willing to try crazy things and take risks and see what works.” Throughout the semester, the cast experimented and improvised to “delve into” their characters. After so much preparation, Cox looks forward to Houghton seeing its theater students in their element.
Music graduate student Lydia Rech, who plays Gwendolen, also believes the audience will enjoy the story. “You’re going to be sitting there, laughing till you’re crying or your face hurts,” she commented. One of her favorite quirks of the play has been managing a British accent. “[Making] it very authentic and accurate to the setting of the show has been a fun challenge,” she said.
Rech appreciates the Christ-centered nature of Lyric Theatre; “I love the stories [Cox] picks, and the way that she always brings it around to have some sort of message about either redemption or reminding us what our identity is in Christ, and that we are loved, and that we are the body of Christ, we are a family.” Arizmendi agreed– “I saw that [the students] … were really putting in effort to hone their crafts for God’s glory.”
Student tickets to the show will be sold for $5 ahead of time and at the door. According to Cox, the performance is not to be missed.
“I think that students will really enjoy watching their student colleagues being crazy and getting mad at each other, and falling in love and falling out of love and falling back into love, and just the absolute chaos,” Cox said.★
