First of all, congratulations on your first directing gig!  All I can say is: Get yourself a seasoned stage manager.  They are worth their weight in gold and will be able to help you over the many hurdles to come.

As for your scheduling questions, much is dependent on your actor's schedules as well as your own personal preferences.

Four weeks is fairly typical for a straight play (non-musical) and it CAN be done!

Whenever I direct, I prefer to get the rough blocking done right away, usually after three or four rehearsals.  This gives you about a week-and-a-half to rehearse scenes, beats and business individually, refining the blocking as you go.

By the end of this process, (end of 2nd week) I  prefer my actors to be off-book.  (Some actors choose to do it ahead of time, but I don't require it.)  Unless it's a scene that requires a great deal of physical business -- a fight, a dance, the handling of many props, etc -- then I prefer them off book sooner for that specific scene.  This gives us then our entire third week to rehearse scenes off book.  (Of course, this happens only in a perfect world.  Actors are typically still calling for lines well into Week 3).

This Week 2/Week 3 is fairly flexible, but as we approach Week 4 we begin to incorporate costumes, ACTUAL props (instead of rehearsal ones) and before you know it, we're into Tech Week (Week 4) where we're dealing with lights, costume changes, set changes, etc. while trying to run the play from top to bottom without stopping.  (Actors DEFINITELY must be off book and forbidden to call for lines by this point).

The trick is to tell your actors you want them to be off-book by a certain date (and make that a date earlier than you really expect).  Actors love to have goals to shoot for and it gives you one less thing to worry about.

Best of luck to you!

I also agree that 4 weeks is short, but like Topper says it can be done. I like to have 20-25 rehearsals, so if you can get your cast together every night and they work on their lines constantly, you'll be fine. There is a lot of language and a lot of playing with language, so it will intense. I agree with Topper, at the end of the second week they should be off book. They probably won't be totally off book until the middle of the next week, but don't tell them that. It will be a very full 4 weeks. Have fun with it.

Linda

Four weeks is doable but manic.    We do 7 - 8 weeks for our shows.  Part of our problem is depending on where in the season the show is we might only have four weeks to get a set built.   We're lucky enough to have our own space and have a rehearsal room at our disposal.  While one show is in production the other can be rehearsing.  The 2nd and 4th show of the season though always has a shorter build window which oddly enough hasn't stopped us from doing some of our more elaborate sets.

Good luck with your first directing foray!

I agree with all this advice.  As an actor, I tend to put down the book just as soon as the director shoots it out of my hand.  I wouldn't call it laziness (of course, I wouldn't!), it's a security blanket.  I don't need it . . . not really . . .  but it's nice to know it's there.  Also, it is a little known fact that if a script is carried in the back pocket, the lines can actually penetrate directly into the butt and reach the actor's brain (not always a lengthy trip).    So you might let them CARRY scripts for a bit without LOOKING at them.

Good luck at auditions, and if you need a Reverend, I come cheap.

4 weeks?!  Zounds!  Even rehearsing every night, I don't see how your actors will have time to get off book in two weeks if they are in rehearsal 5 nights a week.  Earnest has such a small cast, it's hard to call them in for rehearsal in segments.  About the only one with a little bit of freedom is Lady Bracknell, who is only one in Act I and the end of Act III. 

Whatever you do, get your read through done the first night (or skip it all together), and get your blocking done by the middle of the second week--no later. 

Even though this is CT and the members are here for bonding with one another as well as acting, you'll need to stress the importance of working on lines, blocking, and character development when they are in the rehearsal but not working with you for the moment.

As a director, you need to be entirely prepared for every rehearsal.  If you haven't pre-blocked your scenes, you want to get those done now in your book, so you only have to dictate the movements and walk through them in the actual rehearsals.

Lastly, start each and every rehearsal ON TIME--even if only 1 actor is there.  Make the other actors stay late to make-up what they missed.

Have a good show!  Earnest is one of my all-time favorite plays!