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VOL. 4 NO.11
The Importance of Being Earnest KCHS Drama Club performance takes 3rd place in state theater competition JAMES PREMINGER Story and photos by District Public Relations Specialist Is it a serious drama or a light comedy? The answer is both. The Importance of being Earnest, performed by the Kirtland Central High School Drama Club Nov. 22 and 23 at the Brooks/Isham Performing Arts Center, kept the audience – not knowing how the complex plot of tangled relationships and deception would resolve – on the edge of their seats. The social satire of Oscar Wilde’s 1895 Victorian classic play, The Importance of being Earnest, A Trivial Play for Serious People, lands somewhere between Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing and the Marx Brothers’ film A Night at the Opera, minus the overt gags. Our ambition and our institutions are parodied. The joke is on us. The dialogue from the two male protagonists – played by KCHS sophomore actors Alex Torres as Algernon Moncreiff, and Patrick GrubbsHaskie as Mr. Jack “Earnest” Worthing – was witty, purposely full of Victorian double speak, and fast. Blink and you’ll miss a hidden joke. The two actors – who must be convincing for the plot
Patrick Grubbs-Haskie, Kara Mike, Alex Torres, and Hannah Berg as Mr. Gribsby.
Back stage interviews Kirtland Central High School actors Felicia Bahe, left, as Miss Prism; Zachary Joe, with the cane, as the Rev. Canon Chausble; Betsey Roundy, center, as Lady Bracknell; and Patrick Grubbs-Haskie, right, as Mr. Jack “Ernest” Worthing, perform Act III from The Importance of Being Earnest Nov. 8 at the Four Corners Theatre Festival at San Juan College, which drew competition from 19 high schools from across New Mexico.
to unfold – successfully anchored their roles. Torres, who had three acts of dialogue to learn, joined the cast late. “I was here two weeks before (the San Juan College Nov. 8 performance),” Torres said. “I wasn’t doing anything and I figured it was worth a try
– to try something new. I’ve never been in a theatrical performance before.” Asked what he thought the most interesting thing about the role was, Torres said, “The fact that Algernon lies but gets what
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Patrick Grubbs-Haskie, Kara Mike, Sera Fuller, and Alex Torres.
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KCHS drama student teacher Corey Ward: I chose the play because it was free – it’s out of rights. And we could adapt it, which was something very important to us. We could change it without having to ask the publisher if it was OK. And the last reason: It’s really acting driven. A lot of the plays have spectacle. Lights are a big part of it; movement is a big part of it. I really wanted this to be about acting. So the kids’ success is based on their ability to act and react with each other as an ensemble. I felt choosing this play would force them to grow as a group and individually, more than a piece that wasn’t so acting driven. This play fits right back when the modern plays were just starting. It was kind of right in the middle of the change. It was really critical. It’s comedic but really satirical, it’s really poignant. I’m a student teacher from Indiana University. I came out here (to the Central Consolidated School District in Kirtland, N.M.) to teach drama, and we really threw it into full gear. We didn’t hold anything back. We went to (the state theater competition) festival and we brought a oneact, which hasn’t happened for a couple years, we brought monologues, we got the school involved, we got the buyout going again, we have the play (performed at the Brooks/Isham Performing Arts Center at Kirtland Central High School). And there’s a whole drama class that is independent from this. They’re learning
Annual Christmas parade
Kate Malone
Corey Ward
Chris Overson
Photographic Society
Winners of the holiday event
Annual winter show at Farmington Civic Center
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