STERLING — A Wilde comedy is next for the Sterling College Theatre stage. Oscar Wilde’s classic play “An Ideal Husband” will be staged for two performances at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 9 and a matinee performance at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 9 in Culbertson Auditorium on the Sterling College campus.
Oscar Wilde was a playwright of 19th century England best known for his signature combination of wit and wisdom. He wrote numerous plays as well as essays, poetry, and novels. His most famous play is iconic farce “The Important of Being Earnest.” “An Ideal Husband” is among his best-known but not as often seen comedies.
The play centers on a young couple, Robert and Gertrude Chiltern, played by Justin Smiley from Tulsa, Okla., and Maria Urwiller from Hutchinson. The couple adore each other and are the toast of English society. Their bliss ends when Mrs. Cheveley, played by Catherine Gutteridge of Oklahoma City, arrives in London. She blackmails Robert, threatening to reveal a former indiscretion that could ruin his career, unless he supports an immoral financial scheme before parliament. Robert acquiesces, worried about his political career but more concerned that Gertrude will learn the truth and reject him.
Despite Robert’s best efforts, Gertrude eventually discovers the truth, and her faith in him is wrecked. Both Robert and Gertrude confide in their mutual friend, Lord Goring, played by Dawson Urwiller of Hutchinson. Although an idle man who enjoys triviality, Goring realizes he is the only one who can save his friends’ lives from total ruin. And if he succeeds, he might even deserve the favor of Robert’s younger sister Mabel, played by Brooklyn Nisly of Hutchinson.
The production is directed by senior theater student Ava Bachert of Sterling as her senior project. Her husband Micah Bachert is not only in the cast, but he is designing the set as his senior project as well.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and are available online at www.sterling.edu/arts or at the door before each performance.
