Festival Theatre will soon be presenting their second outdoor production of the summer at Austin Gardens, The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde. Currently, they’re headed into the final weekend of Hamlet, an excellent production that you really should see if you haven’t already. The final five performances begin tonight. (Among the many edifications is discovering where half the idioms in the English language originate.)
Meanwhile, also this weekend, the Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park is highlighting the importance of being Ernest as they celebrate our most famous native son’s 115th birthday (had he lived, that is).
This year’s celebration features “A Night in Paris” at the Scoville Square building, 137 N. Oak Park Ave. (southwest corner of Oak Park Avenue and Lake Street). As anyone who saw Woody Allen’s film, Midnight in Paris, or read the marvelous A Moveable Feast knows, Paris was a major inspiration for the ex-patriate author.
Sandra Spanier, editor of the Hemingway Letters Project will read from his Paris letters to recreate his life there. French music and cocktails will intensify the mood. Attendees are invited to dress in 1920s style.
Sunday, the focus shifts to the younger set with a “Children’s Run with the Bulls” between Scoville Park and the Birthplace Home, 339 N. Oak Park Ave., scheduled for noon.
For more information about the upcoming Hemingway birthday weekend (there is a fee), call 708-848-2222, visit ehfop.org, or email ehfop@sbcglobal.net.
