PASADENA, CA -- Last Chance to catch Tony Award-winner Shirley Knight and "Can't Buy Me Love" film star Patrick Dempsey heading the cast of Sheldon Epps' production of The Importance of Being Earnest. The show began performances May 7 and opened May 16 at the Pasadena Playhouse for a run through June 20.

In a statement, Epps called Oscar Wilde's comedy about manufactured mistaken identity "one of the most clever and witty plays in the English language...this special company of actors will introduce to Playhouse audiences the incredible talents of Knight and Dempsey, as well as celebrate the return of Kaitlin Hopkins, Robert Curtis Brown, Morgan Rusler and David Purdham."

Hopkins is Knight's daughter; they will play Gwendolen Fairfax and Lady Bracknell, respectively. The last time they performed together was in 1984 in a production of Come Back, Little Sheba in New York.

Knight most recently appeared on Broadway in Horton Foote's The Young Man from Atlanta in 1997, for which she received a Tony nomination. She last performed in L.A. in the 1976 production of Kennedy's Children by Robert Patrick at the James Doolittle in the Tony award-winning role of Carla.

Hopkins most recently appeared in the West Coast premiere of Only a Kingdom at the Pasadena Playhouse in Dec. 1998.Dempsey will be making his Playhouse debut in the role of Algernon Moncrieff.

Pasadena Playhouse is at 39 S. El Molino Ave. Call Telecharge at (800) 233-3123 or visit www.pasadenaplayhouse.org

-- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent