EastLine Theatre And Westbury Arts Present New, Queer Adaptation Of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

EastLine Theatre, in association with Westbury Arts, will present the world premiere of Being Earnest by Long Island queer playwright Danny Higgins this June. This new adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest will begin performances at the Westbury performance space in June. Tickets for the performances are free with a refundable reservation.

This classic play, first performed in 1895, is given fresh life in this queer adaptation just in time for Pride month at Westbury Arts. Oscar Wilde's "trivial comedy for serious people" features two mixed up couples, two Ernests, a governess, a vicar, a dozen muffins, some cucumber sandwiches, one of theatre's most iconic aristocrats, and a butler who is done with all of it.

''My goal in writing Being Earnest is to reconsider Oscar Wilde's play through a modern lens of queerness," playwright Danny Higgins said of the work. "Wilde's original play premiered in a time when even the mention of queerness was outlawed onstage. In adapting it for a contemporary audience, I hope to bring out the inherently queer themes of the play, and say the quiet parts out loud, the things Oscar couldn't say himself."

Performances will take place at Westbury Arts starting on June 3rd and running through the 11th. Tickets are free with a refundable $20 reservation. They can be reserved at eastline.eventbrite.com. These reservations are refundable, in cash, following each performance. More information is available at eastlinetheatre.org or by calling 516-749-5047.

The world premiere of Being Earnest is adapted by Danny Higgins, directed by Nicole Savin & Danny Higgins, presented by EastLine Theatre in partnership with Westbury Arts, with support from the Huntington Arts Council, stage management by Julianna Frasca, and with costumes by Lynn Ciorciari.

The cast of Being Earnest features Peter Goike, Morgan Moffitt, Anthony Noto, Avery Powell, Matt Rosenberg, Van Whitaker, Andrea Woodbridge, and Karla Zamor.

EastLine Theatre is a nonprofit theatre company that BroadwayWorld calls 'Long Island's best kept secret'. EastLine aims to create theatre in unlikely spaces while re-examining the canon, exploring modern plays, and bringing original works to the attention of the community.

In summer 2021, EastLine toured Long Island parks with an acclaimed production of Romeo & Juliet. In recent years, EastLine has produced Prospero (Live), an original musical based on The Tempest; the Long Island premiere of Paula Vogel's Indecent; the black comedy Hand to God; a newly-commissioned adaptation of Antigone; a sold-out run of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus in a tiny blackbox space; and a production of Treasure Island that BroadwayWorld said was 'bursting at the seams with imagination'. EastLine will return to Westbury in September with Nilo Cruz's Pulitzer Prize-winning Anna in the Tropics.

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