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High school students at Chilton Christian Academy are gearing up to perform “The Importance of Being Earnest” play March 25 at 7 p.m.

Students in grades 10 through 12 have worked to put together the production from designing and building the set, creating their own costumes and memorizing scripts.

“We like to do plays based off of the literature we cover in school,” said CCA English teacher Charlotte Johnson, who also serves as director of the play. “We studied this play in class and thought it would be fun to perform.”

The play is approximately 90 minutes and has two brief intermissions for the cast and crew to change sets.

Johnson said during the first intermission, there will be light refreshments served.

Although the school will still hold a play this spring titled, “The Princess Bride,” on May 13, 14 and 15, Johnson said she had a large group of seniors this year and wanted to put together a secondary play.

“This is a smart comedy,” Johnson said. “These are some of the best actors we have in this show.”

The school does not have a theater department, but Johnson said the students have stayed after school each day for the last 2-3 weeks in preparation for the performance.

“It is a team effort for sure,” Johnson said. “Everyone works together to get the sets ready, the costumes, the lighting. We also don’t have auditions. I assign each student their part.”

“The Importance of Being Earnest” was written by Oscar Wilde, and much of the humor in the play is derived from identity confusion.

Everyone in the play is not who he or she seems to be on the surface.

Most of the things the characters say are “ridiculous,” which is known as “Theater of the Absurd,” Johnson said.

“Theater of the Absurd is when the characters keep saying silly, confusing, nonsensical things, but they say them with a straight face and serious nature,” Johnson said.

The play will be held at Jemison City Hall beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students and will be available for purchase at the door.

“Jemison City Hall has been wonderful to us,” Johnson said. “Mayor Eddie Reed and Tammie McGriff have really worked so hard to make sure we have everything we need.”

Johnson said the students will also perform matinee performances of the play for both Jemison and Thorsby High Schools on Friday, beginning at 9 a.m.

“We thought it would be a neat idea to invite the local schools to come and watch,” Johnson said. “This is the type of play that needs to be performed more than once so we invited both Jemison and Thorsby High schools to come. We had to split the performances for Jemison up into two different times because of the number of students coming and the auditorium only holds 300.”

For more information about the play, call Chilton Christian Academy at (205) 688-4454.