We are so pleased to announce that Verde Valley Theatre has decided to stage an original dramatization of a minor work by Jane Austen for its March 2010 production.
This production will be a first for VVT: A rehearsed reading of one of its members' original scripts. The staging will be contemporary: we will forgo the traditional sets of so many of our shows and rely on lighting and sound to engage the audience's imagination while keeping up a strong pace as the action unfolds. We will be inviting viewers' input to improve the script. And we will be running the show for one week only instead of the usual three.
Though never published during her lifetime, Jane Austen completed this her first novel when she was around 19 years old. It was a novel of letters, a common literary device back in the 18th century. Little is known about the circumstances surrounding the creation of the manuscript. Jane Austen never gave it a title, and it was not published until many years after her death--even then, over strenuous though unexplained objections by other family members. The publisher simply named it after the main character, Lady Susan, and it became a sensation among Jane Austen devotees, such as your humble blogger. Even so, it was never counted among her major literary accomplishments, and has been relegated heretofore to collections catagorized as 'minor works' or 'juvenilia.' Shame!
Lady Susan is the 19-year-old Jane Austen's recounting of the eponymous heroine's romantic rampages through the hearts of the men she ensnares with her charms--and the wretched women she leaves in her wake. We follow her exploits as she grapples with the challenge of securing enough money to survive along with her daughter in a society determined to hold women in check by keeping them forever at the financial mercy of their menfolk. The one way out is matrimony. And matrimony has been the grail of romantic female aspirations since the dawn of money.
Even at this early age, Jane Austen offers us all the insight into the deepest darkest motivators of social discourse which keep her as essential to understanding the human heart today as she ever was two hundred plus years ago. And she presents her story with all the wit and elegance of language that ensures her generation after generation of appreciative fans.
It is my plan for this production that cast and crew be given an opportunity to deepen their knowledge of this extraordinary writer, her gifts and the society in which she lived. In terms of stagecraft, we shall try to gain a little familiarity with English accents and intonation. And actors will be encouraged to overcome the acoustical challenges of our Clarkdale Memorial Auditorium.
Reminder: Auditions are this Dec. 9 and 10, 7 pm, at the Clarkdale Grand Theatre, 919 Main Street, opposite the 10-12 Lounge and the Classic Car Gas Station. The show will run from March 4-7, 2010, only. There are still plenty of ways to get involved, on or off stage, so please come to the auditions to get all the information.
You may also email the director at michellelambeau@gmail.com, or call 928.282.4664.
Thank you!
Michelle Lambeau
Writer, Director
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