Theater teacher Christian Penuelas said he has been waiting for years to produce it at Sunny Hills after enjoying its text and humor in multiple other performances.
La Habra High School Advanced Placement English Literature teacher and guest director Alfonso Neavez said he has been waiting to direct it after teaching his favorite play to students for seven years.
Senior Michael Olivares said he came to love it after his sophomore year when he first watched a version of the play and performed one of its scenes with a classmate.
This year, Penuelas said, the stars aligned to allow the Lancer Theatre Co. to present Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” for its 2025 fall play, with Olivares playing the lead.
The three-act performance follows John Worthing, who lives a life as “Jack” in the countryside but “Earnest” in the city. Shenanigans ensue when he and his best friend, Algernon Moncrieff, fall in love with women in the city and in the country, respectively, under the pseudonym “Earnest.” Their love interests reciprocate their feelings; however, the men soon learn it is not love for them, but their name.
“It’s such a fun piece, such a witty script,” Penuelas said. “It’s probably the most challenging text for actors that we’ve done.”
For years, the theater teacher wanted to choose this play for his students to perform, but his and his friend Neavez’s schedules had never aligned. Penuelas said “The Importance of Being Earnest” was one of his favorite texts, and he wanted to invite Neavez, who directed him in the past and was free enough to do so, to organize production.
“I talked to Mr. Neavez when I first got hired here five years ago, and we were hanging out, and I asked him, ‘Hey, if there’s one play you want to direct, what would it be?’ He told me, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest,’ so we’ve been trying to make this work for the past five years.” Penuelas said.
In his time at Sunny Hills, Penuelas has stepped away from the director’s role for the Lancer Theatre Co. productions four times. He said his personal philosophy is that his students should have the opportunity to work with different directors.
“In the real world, you’re going to be working with tons of different people; most people don’t get the chance to work with the same director over and over and over again,” the theater teacher said. “Logistically, I had a child last year, and so it’s been nice to be able to get some outside help because running a theater program is a ton of work. I’ll still be able to … have the theater program running and be able to take care of my family.”
Over the years, adult directors have led several shows, the most recent being the 2024-2025 school year musical, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” directed by Rancho-Starbuck Intermediate School teacher Annie Pagano and choreographer Brennen Logan. The spring play, “Pride and Prejudice,” however, was directed by then-senior Caleb Van Hook.
“It was a long process trying to figure out if I wanted to direct, but it was really exciting once it all fell into place and we got started with rehearsals,” Van Hook said.
Penuelas shared that he was fortunate to allow the then-senior to direct the spring play, which brought an extension of learning to the student, and that he is hoping to give other students similar chances in special circumstances.
Neavez first met Penuelas when he guest-directed a play, and cast then-high school senior Penuelas in the role of Phil in “Almost, Maine” in 2010. Since the fifth grade and on to high school, Neavez received theater experience and eventually began directing as he got busier in life.
“I love that I’m able to still direct and still be involved in theater in some way, but I think also part of it is I enjoy working with [Penuelas],” Neavez said. “So it’s not only like directing but it’s being able to create this show with someone whom I respect and hold in very high regard.”
Neavez acknowledged the immense amount of trust the theater teacher has placed in him in his knowledge and expertise.
“He’s trusting me, and it’s certainly an honor for him to ask me to do that, and I don’t want to let him down,” Neavez said.
With seven rehearsals under his belt, as of Monday, Oct. 6, the English teacher said he tries to help his actors take risks in exploring and developing their characters by redirecting them to try new things. Usually, rehearsals take place after school for two hours in the Performing Arts Center, with certain cast members rotating depending on the scene, as shown on the Google Calendar created for keeping the actors up to date. Olivares said the cast is expected to work on their lines and analyze the text independently outside of rehearsal.
“What I’m trying to empower my actors to do is to explore and take those risks, and let those awkward moments happen now,” Neavez said. “That way I can identify, as director, ‘hey, that works,’ [or] ‘that didn’t work.’”
The guest director said he wants the cast to make definitive choices based on their characters and their interactions with each other, and the goal is to figure out the interpretation of the characters.
“In the traditional sense, I’m not trying to reinvent ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ in any way; what Oscar Wilde wrote in 1895 I feel is strong, and I’m trying to honor that text,” he said. “When we rehearse, there might be something an actor does that I didn’t even plan for in rehearsal where we might keep that, [as] we’re in the discovery phase right now.”
During auditions, students read a few lines from a character of their choice. Based on those readings, the director cast them into roles he thought they would fit. Olivares confirmed and said that on the first day of rehearsals, the cast got together to read through the play together and familiarize themselves with it; they also got to see Neavez’s work style.
“This new director, he’s really nice; he’s really supportive,” said junior Jun Lee, who was cast as Algernon in the play. “He also knows a lot about the play in general, so that really helps because he’s a big fan of it.”
Lee said he auditioned for the role as he sees it fits his comedic acting abilities.
“The material itself is really hard because this was written [in] Victorian England with upper-class vocabularies in mind,” Lee said. “I’m looking forward to trying to see the subtleties in the lines because there’s a lot of British humor or subtle humor that goes over my head … I’m interested in getting to know the material more so I can make my own choices based off that.”
Lee will perform alongside his co-star Olivares, who will play the main character, Jack, also known as Earnest.
“One of the biggest things I’m looking forward to is all of the hijinks [with] co-star,” Olivares said. “I’m more of the straight man, I do have my fluctuations of highs and lows, but the way Jun gives the punchlines to everything, it’s so much fun.”
Since his sophomore year, Olivares had loved the play, and once he heard that the fall play was going to be “The Importance of Being Earnest,” he said he felt ecstatic. Though he auditioned for any role, he ended up being cast as the protagonist, which he said will challenge him to adopt the nuances of the Earnest/Jack character.
“The biggest challenge for me personally is [that] I’m not used to playing a straight man character,” the senior said. “As of right now, … I’m trying to find a balance between this person who’s very easily angered, very short temper, but he’s still collected.”
As a British comedy that pokes fun at Victorian upper-class society, the play remains appealing on several different levels and relevant today, the guest director said.
“It’s a wonderful story; it’s an incredibly humorous story, and I want to honor that humor and that tradition of the last 130 years since it was first produced,” Neavez said.
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