Starring as the conflicted, superficial young lovers in “the Importance of Being Earnest” are (top, left) Alex Williams as John, Angela Billman as Gwendolen, (front, left) Aaron Murphy as Algernon and Hannah Spina as Cecily. Oscar Wilde’s most popular comedy will be performed on the Theatre Cedar Rapids main stage Jan. 27 to Feb. 18, 2012, paired with “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde” in the Grandon Studio for TCR’s Linge Series. (Alisabeth photo)

By Diana Nollen/ SourceMedia Group

“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.”

 “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

Oscar Wilde penned both lines in his celebrated play, “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

The first captures the essence of his comedic indictment of shallow socialites.

The latter foreshadows the real-life trials he soon would face. It is inscribed on the opening pages of “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde,” the 1997 drama in which his private life unfolds and unravels in a most public way.

Theatre Cedar Rapids is staging both plays as its winter Linge Series pairing. The frothy “Earnest” opens Friday (1/27) in the 550-seat main stage and runs through Feb. 18, 2012. The somber “Gross Indecency” will be staged Feb. 10 to March 3, 2012, in the intimate 90-seat Grandon Theatre on TCR’s lower level.

Audience members can see the shows back-to-back, in either order, and can grab a 20 percent discount for purchasing tickets to both.

“It seems to me, the interesting way to do it would be to see ‘Earnest’ first, then ‘Gross Indecency.’ I think there’s more emotional bang for your buck for that,” says Jason Alberty, 42, of Cedar Rapids, who is directing “Gross Indecency.”

He loves that Theatre Cedar Rapids is overlapping the shows.

“It’s just brilliant to me,” he says. “There had been discussion of pairing shows for a while, and for one reason or another, it just didn’t happen.

“This is just such a unique theatrical experience,” says Alberty, a former language arts teacher who is now a freelance writer. “To be able to see a show written by a playwright and then see just as compelling a show about the life of that playwright, is absolutely compelling. Of course, I’m a theater geek.”

Jason Alberty, director of "Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde" (Liz Martin/SourceMedia Group News)

Even though the two plays are polar opposites, Alberty says Wilde’s humor shines through the documentary-style “Gross Indecency,” in which the married Wilde eventually is convicted of having an inappropriate relationship with a man. (See related story.)

“During the first trial, he was quite witty in a lot of his responses and there are other things within the play that come off as humorous,” Alberty says. “Audiences will get the chance to laugh a little bit.”

Director Leslie Charipar and her “The Importance of Being Earnest” cast will provide the belly laughs.

Forbidden loves and double lives are themes running through both scripts, but “Earnest” plays out more like a Victorian version of a reality TV show, as two young ladies both profess their love to men named Ernest. Neither suitor really is named Ernest, of course, but both go to incredible lengths to perpetuate the charade.

Angela Meisterling Billman, 25, of Cedar Rapids, leads the superficial romp as one of the perfectly coifed and corseted socialites.

“Gwendolen is extremely uppity. She is very snotty. She knows what she wants in life, she knows what she wants in a man, but she also has this side to her that is longing for love and is also wanting to separate from her mother,” Billman says. “She doesn’t want to become her mother, but in the ways she presents herself, she has become her mother.”

As an actress, she has to find a delicate balance.

“I want Gwendolen to be likable to an audience, but I know that most of her lines are not likable. The audience is not going to immediately like her — there has to be something redeeming about her that draws them in to her.”

Today, Gwendolen would be a Paris Hilton, Billman says.

“(Hilton) is very strong-willed and she cares what the media thinks but she doesn’t care what the media thinks. She’s gonna do what she wants to do, regardless of how everyone will interpret it and I think that’s how Gwendolen would behave, as well,” Billman says. “Plus, she comes from riches and has an idea of what she wants her life to look like.”

Leslie Charipar, director of "The Importance of Being Earnest"

Audiences will “see how funny it is, how hilarious it is,” says Charipar, 45, of Cedar Rapids, Theatre Cedar Rapids’ artistic director. “It is one of the funniest and most enduring comedies in theater. It’s that ‘mistaken identity and mayhem ensues’ kind of idea. …

“What makes this particularly funny I think, especially in 2012, it’s so far removed from where we are in the world. Our social mores are so completely different from what they were then, that it’s easy to laugh at these people.”

That removal from modern times also presents one of the play’s greatest challenges for actors and audiences, alike.

“It’s so much a product of its time that people might tune out,” Charipar says. “The characters speak a different language; all the rules of the game are different than what they are now. We’re all loosely aware of what those rules were in those more formal times.

“We’re blowing it over the top. I’m telling the cast to approach this as a combination of ‘Carol Burnett’ and ‘Fawlty Towers.’ The characters aren’t complicated. They aren’t complex. They’re ‘types’ of people — truly, purely comedic characters. We’ve spent so much time cracking ourselves up in rehearsals.”

Jim Kern, actor, "The Importance of Being Earnest"

Jim Kern is relishing his return to the TCR stage after recently retiring from his role as Brucemore’s executive director.

“I had secretly hoped this would be part of the retirement plan,” he says. “It’s like riding a bicycle. You get back on and it feels like you really haven’t been off.”

Also a former teacher and professional actor, Kern, 62, of Cedar Rapids, hasn’t been in the show, directed it or taught it, but he admires Wilde’s artistry.

“He’s an incredible writer and yet he clearly is writing for society and not necessarily for depth of character,” Kern says. “All of the characters are stereotypes and prototypes of a society he was in essence making fun of.”

He saw a revival of “Earnest” last spring on Broadway.

“It was delightful,” he says, as is the local production in which he plays The Reverend Canon Chasuble.

“This one is particularly delightful because the depth of the cast is really quite strong,” he says. “We’re just having a ball. We had instant trust with each other and with a show like this, you just have to.”

Billman, who has had leading roles in several TCR shows, including “West Side Story,” “Peter Pan” and “Seussical,” says “Earnest” rehearsals are “a hoot and a holler every time. I’ve always wanted to act with every one of these people.”

ARTS EXTRA

What: “The Importance of Being Earnest”

When: Jan. 27 through Feb. 18, 2012; 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Mainstage, Theatre Cedar Rapids, 102 Third St. SE

Tickets: $25 and $20 adults, $15 students; 20 percent “Wild for Wilde” discount; (319) 366-8591 or www.theatrecr.org

Synopsis: Revolves around two young gentlemen living in 1890s England who use the same pseudonym (“Ernest”) on the sly, which is fine until they both fall in love with women using that name, which leads to a comedy of mistaken identities. (Source: theatrecr.org)

What: “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde”

When: Feb. 10 to March 3, 2012; 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Grandon Studio, lower level, Theatre Cedar Rapids, 102 Third St. SE

Tickets: Adults $17.50 and $20, $15 students; 20 percent “Wild for Wilde” discount; (319) 366-8591 or www.theatrecr.org

Synopsis: Trial transcripts, personal correspondence, interviews and other source materials tell the story of the downfall of the great man of letters whose artistic genius has long been overshadowed by the scandal surrounding his imprisonment. (Source: Google books)

Information: www.theatrecr.org