WESTPORT–Following this Sunday’s performance of “The Importance of Being Earnest,” the Westport Country Playhouse will present a free symposium on the classic satire’s playwright, Oscar Wilde.

Called “The Importance of Oscar Wilde,” the discussion is part of the playhouse’s Sunday Symposium series. Open to the public, it will include a dialogue with the audience and will immediately follow the performance, which begins at 3 p.m. 

New York University Professor John Waters will be the guest for the event, which playhouse Artistic Director Mark Shanahan will moderate.

“As we open our wonderful production of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest,’ I’m excited to invite John Waters to speak with our audience about the legacy of Oscar Wilde and the ways in which his masterwork speaks to us today,” said Shanahan.

First performed in 1895 in London, “The Importance of Being Earnest” is a satire skewering love, marriage and high society.

Waters holds a joint appointment in NYU’s English Department and the Irish Studies Program based at the school’s Glucksman Ireland House. He was the founding director of the interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Irish and Irish-American studies.

He teaches courses in Irish writing from the 17th century to the present, with a special emphasis on Irish modernism, Joyce and Beckett, contemporary poetry and Irish drama. He also teaches courses on exile and migration for the NYU College Core Program.

“The Importance of Being Earnest,” directed by Melissa Rain Anderson, runs through Nov. 15 at the playhouse, 25 Powers Court, Westport. Details here. 

A complete schedule of Playhouse events is available at westportplayhouse.org. All play titles, artists, dates, and times are subject to change.