David Morton (center) stars as Oscar Wilde in the play “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde,” chronicling the downfall of the celebrated playwright of “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Theatre Cedar Rapids will stage the play Feb. 10 to March 3 in the Grandon Studio as part of the Linge Series. The cast also features (from left) Paul Freese, Greg Smith, Matthew James, Keith Kenel, Bryant Duffy, Kevin Burford and Andrew Clancey. Not pictured: Mike Wilhelm. (Rob Merritt/Theatre Cedar Rapids photo)

By Diana Nollen/ SourceMedia Group

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was the rock star of his day, part of the upper echelon of the Victorian British society he thumbed and the decadence he embraced in his writings, from the novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” to the plays “Lady Windermere’s Fan,” “The Importance of Being Earnest” and “An Ideal Husband.”

Born in Dublin on Oct. 16, 1854, to a doctor and a writer/linguist, he married, fathered two children and became the most celebrated playwright of his day.

His world came crashing down in 1895, after his male lover’s father accused him of sodomy. Wilde denied having an inappropriate relationship, sued him for libel, but lost the case and was later charged and convicted of “gross indecency.” Wilde was sentenced to two years of hard labor and died penniless in Paris on Nov. 30, 1900.

“His destitution occurred pretty much overnight,” says Jason Alberty, director of “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde,” presented in Theatre Cedar Rapids’ Grandon Studio from Feb. 10 to March 3. “One of the interesting things about him is that even though he had a small number of works, in the show it’s noted that within 50 years of his death, he was the second-most widely read British writer, right after Shakespeare.”

Beyond being a poet and playwright, Alberty calls Wilde “a provocateur.”

“He didn’t really care about social conventions. He was a hedonist. He refers to himself as an ‘aesthete.’ The aesthetic was more important to him than the practicality.

“He became a spark for the gay movement. Up until his trial, homosexuality wasn’t even a thing, and his trial created that,” Alberty says. “He admits to enjoying the company of young men, but that’s part of the thing — he never comes out and says ‘I’m a homosexual because that notion didn’t exist. His main lover says this in the play. That concept was untenable.”

“The challenge is to find his humanness, not to prejudge him,” says David Morton, 48, of Cedar Rapids, who plays Wilde in the documentary-style play. “Living that totally separate life — that’s just so weird to me. That double life to me would just drive me insane. As a gay man I could never pretend to be something I wasn’t. But homosexuality then was totally different. There wasn’t even a term for homosexuality.”

Morton is hoping the audiences, who act as a sort of jury through the trials, will leave wanting to know more about the man he likes very much.

“I admire that he believes so much in his art, the sanctity of art, the spirituality of art. … He was just all about being an artist and making a difference with his art,” Morton says. “I would have loved to hang out with him, have a drink, have him coach me as an actor.

“I would love to talk to him today,” Morton says. “I wish you could pull these kind of historical figures out from wherever they are and just talk to them about not only their life but your own and how their perspective would have changed.”

FAST TAKE

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: http://www.theatrecr.org/