Wilde Comedy Is Jolly Good : ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ closes Saturday at the Civic Arts Plaza.

The Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza’s Forum Theatre becomes the county’s largest drawing room for the Tour de Force Repertory Company’s staging of Oscar Wilde’s quintessential drawing-room comedy, “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

It’s set in the era and social stratum where people serve cucumber sandwiches and use words like beastly to describe deportment that falls short of standard; and a fine cast (including a few gen-u-wine Brits) deliver quite nicely under director Gary Romm.

Stephen Alan Carver and Kevin P. Kern star as Algernon Moncrieff and John Worthing, young gentlemen with too much money, too little to do, and eyes on a pair of fetching young ladies played by Wendy A. Hall and Leigh Sandness, respectively. Adrienne Maria Hewitt co-stars as the Sandness character’s guardian, and Bernard Webber and Lew Silverman are notable as Moncrieff and Worthing’s manservants.

There’s romance, mistaken identity and an ending right out of Gilbert and Sullivan. Seemingly every other line is one of Wilde’s arch epigrams. “I never travel without my diary,” explains Hewitt’s character. “One should always have something sensational to read in the train.”

Casting Call

* Comedy Tonight Productions will hold auditions Saturday for “Schoolhouse Rock,” to be performed May 23-June 29 in Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks. Auditions will be at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, 3050 E. Los Angeles Ave. Call (805) 389-3193.

* The Santa Paula Theater Center will hold auditions Saturday for Neil Simon’s “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” from 1-4 p.m. at 125 S. 7th St., Santa Paula. Director David Ralphe asks that those auditioning be familiar with the play, bring a prepared comic monologue of their choosing and expect to do cold readings. Also, bring a current head shot and resume. Call (805) 525-3073.

* The Conejo Players will hold auditions for the drama “Rashomon” on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. and Monday and Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Players’ theater, 351 S. Moorpark Road, Thousand Oaks. Fay and Michael Kanin’s script is based on the stories of Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Performances will be June 20-July 19. Call (805) 495-6391.

* Auditions will be held at 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday for the Ojai Art Center production of Bill Spellman’s farcical melodrama, “The Debt.” Parts are available for four men and two women, ages 18-50. The ingenue should sing soprano; an older woman should sing alto; and the actor playing an Irish cop should sing well, says director David Douglas. Auditions will be held at the Art Center, 113 S. Montgomery St., Ojai. Performances will take place June 12-July 14.

BE THERE

“The Importance of Being Earnest” concludes Sat. at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza Forum Theater, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. Performances are Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2:30 and 8 p.m. Tickets are $18, $12 for students. Call (805) 446-0237.