. . . . . . .  About  . . . . . . .  

   . . . .  Notes  . . . .  

Photos

 the play

the adaptor

Director

Dramaturg

Quiz

Cast

About the Author
In the 225 years since Jane Austen was born on December 16th of 1775, thousands of papers, hundreds of books, and dozens of printed poems have been written about her. Societies have been formed devoted to Austen and her writings. A search of the World Wide Web provides 54,060 Austen sites (from “Jane Austen’s Great Thought of the Day” to “Jane Austen Must Die”). Yet, during her relatively short life—she died on July 18, 1817 at the age of 42—she traveled no more than a few hundred miles from her birth place in Steventon in Hants, England. She wasn’t even allowed to take full credit for her books.  (“By a Lady” is what the title page said.) Jane Austen has become a cultural touchstone, but the facts of her life are strikingly humble.  The seventh child of the Reverend George Austen and Cassandra Leigh, Jane’s early years were spent in the comfortable manner afforded late 18th-century clergymen’s families. At the age of six, Jane began attending Mrs. Cawley’s boarding school in Oxford with her older sister, Cassandra. In 1785 they spent one year at Abbey School, Reading and then returned to their parents.  Between 12 and 17, Jane wrote twenty-seven pieces of juvenilia, including a witty history of Britain.  In 1796, before she was 21, Austen visited Kent and upon her return home began First Impressions, in which her heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, likewise “not yet one-and-twenty” visits Kent. Rejected by publisher Thomas Cadell in 1797, the novel was revised, retitled Pride and Prejudice, and published in 1813.
Five additional novels were published anonymously but with success. In spite of this, and like the ladies in Pride and Prejudice, Austen knew personally the economic impact of not being married. After her father’s sudden death in 1805, Jane, her mother, and sister had to rely on the generosity of her brothers. Her last 12 years were spent writing in a modest cottage in Chawton, Hampshire.  In the 20th century, her writings have never been out of print.

Production Credits
Director, Tony Vezner
Stage Manager, Sue Turner
Assistant Stage Managers,
      Catherine Bloomer,  Jan Mahlstedt
Costume Designer, Patti Roeder
Costume Crew, Amy Coons, Lori D’Asta, Beth       Hubbartt, Sabina Nelson, Martha Niles,             Margaret Nikoleit, Lori B. Proksa, Susan             Remy, Jane Stacy
Dance Master, Desmond F. Strobel
Dramaturg, Carol Dapogny
Lighting Designer, Mary Ellen Schutt
Lighting Crew, Benton Bullwinkel, Art Kelly,  
      Sandy Liakus
Makeup Designers, Peg Callaghan, Betty Nelson
Makeup Crew, Inge Baugh, Bridget Kellens             Bittman, Mary Ellen Druyan, Charlie Egan, Marcia Grohne,
      Janeen Jewell, Jeanne Krichbaum, Debbie       McHenry, Diane Oppenheim, Tom Pfeil,             Carolyn Redding, Ginny Richardson,                   Stephanie Robey, Elizabeth Roche
Properties Designer, Brian Centers 
Properties Crew Maggie Bogovitch, Sandra             Buboltz, Mike DeKovic, Bonnie Hilton, Dennis       Hudson, Kim Hurley, Kathleen Kusper,             Arlene Page, Liz Steele
Set Designer, Rick Young
Set Construction Chair, Tom Squillo
Set Construction Crew, Mike DeKovic, Joe             Delaloye,  Mark Favoino, Kirby Harris, Mark       Hewitt, Mike Huth, Art Kelly, Mike Mallon,       Tom Pfeil, Rich Ptacek, Fred Sauers
Set Painting Chair, Ann Marie Hultgren
Set Painting Crew, Jani Bodell, Tricia Boren, 
      Harry Hultgren, Kathleen Kusper, 
      Carolyn Redding, Susan Remy, Sandy             Squillo, Tony Vezner
Sound Designer, Betsy Gurlacz
Technical Director, Rick Young
Production Activities Chair, Megan Wells
Production Box Office Chair, Terry Fanning
Production Box Office Crew, George Dempsey, 
      Mary Dempsey, Barbara Lupo, Jill Neely, 
      Mary Ellen Schutt, Sandy Squillo, Don             Strueber, Virginia Swinnen
Production Hospitality Chair, Carol Clarke
Production Hospitality Crew, David Briggs, 
      Jodie Briggs, Mary Clarke, Roger Clarke, 
      Mary O’Dowd, Charlie Egan, Liz Egan, 
      Martha Hogenboom, Ann Marie Hultgren, 
      Harry Hultgren, Pat Huth, Carin Klock, Mary       Pavia, Connie Sierzputowski, Jeanette Taft,       Gregg Valek, Lenka Valek, Virginia Welch
Production Hospitality Baking Crew, Lori D’Asta, 
      Rose Delaloye, Karen Holbert, Mary                   O’Dowd, Bonnie Hilton, Virginia Swinnen
Production House Managers, Dave Bremer, 
      George Dempsey, Jim Dutton, Harry                   Hultgren, Roland Imes, Terry Locke, Mike       Mallon, George Petros, Bill Rotz, Tom Schutt
Production Program Chair, Stephanie Williams
Production Publicity Chair, Linda Auer
Website, Judy DiVita

Of  Manners, Money, and Marriage 
by Carol Dapogny
Between 1775 and 1817, the span of Jane Austen’s life, the structure of western society experienced great changes: the American and French Revolutions; the rule of England by the insane George III; the Regency of the dissolute George IV; and a move from aristocracy to meritocracy. Each of these events undermined the role of inherited social standing and placed a new emphasis on money and manners.  Before this time, behavior for the Court—“courtesy”— was very defined. Everyone knew how to act before the King, and one’s place in court defined one’s place in society at large. Away from the Court, among the general populace, common behavior remained crude.  Austen’s era, however, gave rise to the notion that the conduct of business outside of Court demanded new standards of civilization. Thus, one had to act with “civility”. Everyone could—and should—express him- or herself with civility, regardless of their standing at Court. 
The confrontation between Lady Catherine and Liz in Act II is the conflict between courtesy and civility. If 21st-century viewers mistakenly perceive Lady Catherine simply as a self-centered, haughty woman, then we miss her pivotal role as the traditionalist in a changing society. To arrive at a neighbor’s home with dirty petticoats, as Lizzie does, is lacking in courtesy, but to hurry to a sister’s side in concern for her health is exceedingly civil. Lady Catherine may disapprove, but Austen leaves no doubt which standard of behavior she considers better. It is significant that Austen’s romantic hero, Darcy, has chosen not to attend Court. His embrace of civility, of managing his own business, of establishing himself by action instead of inheritance, makes him a modern man. This is Austen’s way of expressing a personal displeasure with the Regent. 
Yet Pride and Prejudice has more on its mind than manners. It is also a story of money as expressed in the English law of primogeniture. With primogeniture, the firstborn son inherits land and money, other sons usually enter the ministry or navy, and daughters had either to marry well or be poor (which in the early 19th century—without plumbing or electricity—is a condition we cannot imagine). Longbourn, the Bennet home, is legally held in a kind of trust (a fee entail) for Mr. Bennet’s first-born son. Lacking a son, the home passes to Mr. Bennet’s closest male relative, Mr. Collins, whom the family has never even met. Thus the family is to be uprooted; the daughters potentially destitute. Austen bemoans this unhappy state.  In fact, Pride and Prejudice suggests that the pursuit of happiness is the very purpose of life. For women of the era, happiness required the security of a successful (or tolerable) marriage. Mrs. Bennet is by far the better parent when it comes to the well-being of her daughters, dedicated to their successful marriages. Charlotte Lucas is prudent to accept an offer of marriage (even from such an obsequious man) since it grants her a happy, secure future.  
For Austen, happiness is something to which all people have a basic right. She scorns courtesy, which values decorum over mutual respect. She disdains primogeniture, which values men over women. She views both pride and prejudice as the embodiment of a regard for the self over the happiness of others. Her lovers overcome these flaws, and their romance is the triumph of a society in change.