'LADY SUSAN' Makes the Cover of Kudos Magazine!

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Kudos Magazine, March 3, 2010

Note: Unfortunately, this link is replaced by Kudos every week, so our show is no longer on the cover. But it was, and perhaps if you visit the link and look up the cover article, "VVT Reads Lady Susan," you will find us again!

Another Sneak Peak at the Program for LADY SUSAN

Jane Austen and the Story of Lady Susan

by Michelle Lambeau

Beloved English novelist Jane Austen lived  between 1775 and 1817 in a selection of small country villages within a day’s journey of London. Born into a large family of the gentry, Jane was gifted from an early age with insight into what makes people tick, the talent for comedy that never lags far behind, and an eye for the strategies deployed by families to gain society’s ultimate prize: a brilliant match for its ladies into families of wealth and connections. She had a knack for storytelling, too, and a taste for the limelight, leading her to spend hours scribbling on bits of paper, then read her tales aloud to family and friends of an evening. She was prolific from a young age and, alongside Lady Susan, written when she was about nineteen, her best loved works, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey (her very own spoof of the gothic novels popular in her day), were written by the time she was twenty-three. Twenty-three! Encouraged by the enjoyment her ‘little stories’ gave to an ever-widening circle of admirers, she went on to try her hand at literature of a more sophisticated nature and acquitted herself brilliantly with Emma, Mansfield Park and the darker novel Persuasion, the last one she would ever complete. Even as she labored on the last three, she devoted time in her late twenties and thirties to polishing Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey for publication, and each one was well received by the public upon its release.

A different fate, though, was reserved for Lady Susan. It is a novel of letters, for some reason, her only attempt at the style. In the first flush of my enthusiasm for seeing the work performed on stage, I had imagined a set up with one actor for each letter writer, reading each letter in turn, which was the closest thing I could imagine to the way the very first audiences experienced it (though of course it would have been with the Author herself doing all the parts, and doubtless having prodigious fun in the process). It quickly became apparent that such a production would take about four hours, and I would be hard-pressed to find actors available to perform—or an audience willing to sit through it. So I started over. A number of times, in fact. But I digress. There are vastly more interesting mysteries surrounding the literary destiny of Lady Susan and much sleuthing to be done by some eager forensic scholar: The manuscript was never revisited by the Author. It was never polished and revised for publication. In fact, Jane Austen never even gave it a title (and everyone knows that a book without a title is like a child without a name. ‘Lady Susan’ was assigned it by the publishing house that took it on.) It was only published forty years after her death, by a nephew who had been placed in charge of her estate. And James Edward Austen’s decision was a controversial one: the historical record points to strong family objections but, tantalizingly, fails to spell out what they were. The leading theories are that either Lady Susan’s exploits were too unseemly to find favor in the Author’s decorous social circle, or else that her transgressions too closely described those of an actual family member.  In an age when respectability was essential to the successful connecting of families by marriage, and where the doings of a single member could ruin a good name for generations, such a breach of decorum by a brash adolescent would have been given short shrift indeed.

 Whatever the case may be, authorities in charge of such matters have consigned Lady Susan to the mortifying doom of ‘juvenilia’ and ‘minor works’ where it languishes to this day, to be stumbled upon only by the most ardent of fans who will not be satisfied until they have perused every last scrap of scribble ever scratched out by her hand. And so the ambition of this play goes just a little beyond the revival of a hidden gem: the hope is to see Lady Susan promoted to the same rank as the other great Austen romances. The evidence presented to you this night begins with the clear development and resolution of plot by a teenage writer who is clearly a virtuoso storyteller.  Note in particular that she eschews such sensationalistic contrivances as sudden accidents, fires, lightning strikes, falling off cliffs and the like, to move her story along. Instead, she allows character alone to rule fate, in graceful application of one of literature’s loftiest concepts. Jane Austen continues in this manner throughout her career: you will not find her villains dispatched by acts of nature or divine retribution; rather, she is content to leave them exactly as they were, unchanged and unmoved by anything that might have befallen. The heroes, on the other hand, are put through a wringer, but come out the other end transformed and made better by their struggles... And the entire text is liberally sprinkled with the wit and insight of a young woman who delights in her own intelligence, bringing each tale to its most satisfying conclusion of matrimony while entertaining and edifying her readers all along the way. We see in Lady Susan early glimmerings of the imaginative genius of Jane Austen: a specialist in romance who never married, an authority on the trappings of wealth and position who was raised to do without, a young woman whose fulfillment ultimately lay in creating worlds where the very richest, handsomest, worthiest, and most eligible of men invariably lost their hearts to strong, smart women who were not necessarily the prettiest, but whose virtues of intellect, wit and character would never fade. Now you decide.                                ~ Michelle Lambeau

Meet The Cast of "LADY SUSAN!"

Back row (left to right): Guy Darland, Brent Jones, James Ball, Ashly Lawler, Jesse Majewski

Seated: Alyssa Majewski, Linda Damita.  Kneeling: Tera Ponce
(Photo by Kitson Southward)

Sneak Peak at the Director's Notes for "Lady Susan"

So What is it with Readers’ Theatre Anyway?

by Michelle Lambeau

Verde Valley Theatre's production of Lady Susan presented as Readers’ Theatre is a first for the area. We look forward to discovering how Verde Valley theatre-goers respond to this break from the usual fare. Besides, the formula suits to the script in more ways than one.

Playreadings have long been a favorite hobby of mine.  Often our busy lives, jobs and commitments make it hard to find time to devote to the theatre. Playreadings offer a unique opportunity for like-minded amateurs to indulge in a few hours’ sharing of their passion and fun. And then there are the newcomers to acting who get their first taste of performing in an informal setting and gain from gleaning a bit of the group experience before taking on the challenges of an actual show. And who among the long-time participants would deny the satisfaction of getting a chance to sink their teeth into a part that they are unlikely to ever be cast in for want of such trifles as the right age, gender, physique—or even ability?

And for the broader community there is benefit, too. From remotest antiquity plays were meant to be experienced by the group as a whole, a ritual interaction between players and audience; not read from a book or viewed in isolation on a screen. And yet creating the experience today often calls for technical and financial means that exceed what all but the wealthiest of companies can afford. Thus it is that so many excellent works sink into obscurity: not for any want of merit, but from being turned down time after time by the budget and technical committees.  Public readings, carefully rehearsed, are a simple way to offer nearly any script to an audience in a manner close to the original intention—with added benefit in terms of pace, so vital to contemporary audiences who are unwilling to sit through lengthy changes of scene.

Over the course of many years spent attending and participating in playreadings, I have developed a theory of the practice which goes beyond the usual semi-circle of performers on stools to offer a spectacle designed to be visually more engaging, through use of costumes, props and stylized stage movement. And when VVT asked me to direct a show and selected my never-yet produced adaptation of Jane Austen, I was offered the perfect venue to try out the theory and the play. The cast has been stretched far to explore this new take on workshopping and performing a script, and has accommodated a flurry of rewrites and adaptations throughout the process—which made memorization undesirable, but demanded more in terms of flexibility.

Audience feedback will be the last important input to the process. Experts have and will continue to offer learned opinions, but theatre is first and foremost an undertaking by the community and for the community, so we all look forward to finding out whether the Verde Valley might care to see more of this (or not!) in the future.

~ Michelle Lambeau, Director

Sneak Peak at Preparations for VVT's production of LADY SUSAN, opening March 3 in Clarkdale, AZ!

LADY SUSAN Gets Two New Crew Members!

The start of our 2010 rehearsal session saw the arrival of two new volunteers for our March production of Lady Susan. 

Terry Allen, who joined Verde Valley Theatre during last year's production of Moonlight and Valentino will be broadening her skills to cover lighting. And we are delighted to have the help of Mingus Union High School senior Mary Pritchard. She heads off to college in the fall with plans to study technical theatre, so we are lucky to have her help us out one last time.

'LADY SUSAN' Production Team Taking Shape!

The Staff and Crew for Verde Valley Theatre's March 2010 production of Lady Susan will be joining the Cast this Thursday, December 17 for the first production meeting and read through.  We are delighted to have assembled some of the most talented managers, technicians and artists in the Verde Valley to help create the show:


Director Michelle Lambeau will be assisted by Danielle Bonfig. Co-producer Guy Darland will double as lighting designer (on top of playing the role of Charles Vernon).  Amy Bayless will be stage manager. Our set will be put together by photographer Kitson Southward, assisted by Madison Leavens. Props will be created and managed by Cathy Ransom, and Sarah Ann Lesslie has agreed to take charge of costumes and make-up. Clemie Cyburt will lend a hand with the sewing, and James Ball, already appearing as Sir James, will arrange and perform our show's music. Jesse Majewski, who will also appear as Mr Johnson, has agreed to design the graphics and program. Carla Armstrong will be our House Manager, and we hope to secure the assistance of  Rachel Rehborg and Jessica Summers to operate sound and lights.


There's going to be plenty to do, and we would love to have you involved if you can join us! Contact the director Michelle Lambeau at michellelambeau@gmail.com or co-producer Guy Darland at ghdarland@gmail.com to find out how!

Announcing VVT's March 2010 Production of 'LADY SUSAN' dramatized from a Jane Austen piece by Michelle Lambeau

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

Fundraiser for Mingus Union High School's Drama Department Oct. 2-3 at 7pm

We are particularly happy to announce this show since we've been invited to play the congas and percussion as part of the jazz band!

Journey On will feature Abby Fritts, mezzo soprano, under the direction of Sandy Reid, vocal coach, arranger and accompanist and James Ball, instrumental director, arranger, vocalist, and production manager. The show will lead us on a journey through life and beyond through a variety of musical styles including, Classical, Jazz, Blues, Pop & Broadway Show tunes. Fritts will be joined by a small ensemble of vocalists from the area for several numbers. The show will also include jazz band accompaniments and features of local instrumental talent. The show is a benefit for the MUHS Theater Department.

Tickets - $10.00 adult, $6 student – All seats reserved. For reservations and information, please call 284-3598 or email at afritts@cableone.net.