CURTAIN CALL: Quintessence Theatre Group's lofty endeavors

With his revamped production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Quintessence Theater Group's Alex Burns is hoping to grab the attention of Mt. Airy's youngsters.

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CURTAIN CALL: Quintessence Theatre Group's lofty endeavors

POSTED: Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 1:00 PM

Each week, Peter Chawaga breezes past those big-name theater companies to turn a spotlight on the city's indie stages.

Alex Burns, the artistic director of the Quintessence Theatre Group, has a bold vision, “we want to make sure we keep figuring out how to get young adults to come — not on a school trip, but on a Friday night instead of going to a movie." It might seem like a daunting task — especially for his first season — but if their latest production, The Importance of Being Earnest, is any indication, I'm betting on success.

Sticking to the original script, Burns decided to set Oscar Wilde’s trivial comedy in 1960s London, a considerable update for a play published in 1899. The style, dress and conventions of the Flower Power decade lend themselves perfectly to Wilde’s comedy about social conventions, love and, of course, sincerity. The impressive production is accommodated perfectly by the Sedgwick Theater, a renovated 1920s movie house in Mt. Airy — the neighborhood he's working overtime to turn on to his artistic endeavors.

“We’re gonna be out on the street meeting as many people as possible," says Burns. "Part of the big push is to convince people that they want to have a professional theater in the community.” There's hope that as word spreads, more people will realize that there's an alternative to seeing Hollywood’s latest remakes every weekend.

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