Due to the generous support of donors across the globe, the Jane Austen House has survived the COVID-19 pandemic and REOPENED on August 8th, 2020! 

According to the website, visiting there will be "a different experience" and "a far more intimate one."  The number of visitors are now limited each day and to timed hourly visits with face coverings required.

Immerse yourself in the world of Jane Austen with a new multi-sensory experience. Those visiting the Jane Austen House will step back in time to 1816 and experience the Austen family's daily life--including a leisurely family breakfast and Jane's early morning piano practice.

New exhibits are also displayed, including a newly dressed Historic Kitchen. There's now audio throughout the house in which visitors listen to recordings from Jane's novels, her letters, and the recipes from Martha Lloyd's Household Book.

All tickets for general admission must be booked in advance. Now, for the very first time, exclusive access is also offered with a special group ticket for up to 15 people for one hour of private viewing which must also be pre-booked.

For more information, please visit the Jane Austen House website: janeaustens.house/reopening/

This year’s panel of judges for the JASNA Southwest Region's Young Filmmakers Contest is stupendous! Entrants will receive comments and commendations from the likes of:

• Ashley Clements, star of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and a writer/producer, including an upcoming modern adaptation of Macbeth 
• Laurie Viera Rigler, author of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict and its sequel and creator of the Babelgum Original web series Sex and the Austen Girl
• Thomas Rigler, Emmy-winning director, executive producer, and nonfiction showrunner 
• Robin Swicord, director and screenwriter of the film based on The Jane Austen Book Club (among other credits)
• Kenneth Turan, longtime (recently retired) film critic for the Los Angeles Times
• Aydrea Walden, writer/producer/actor and creator of the Webby-nominated Black Girl in a Big Dress 

The Jane Austen Centre is a for-profit business (not a charity), but it does provide a wonderful Jane Austen experience to visitors in Bath, England. While JASNA doesn't sponsor the Jane Austen Centre, we share this information for anyone who may be interested:

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/jane-austen-centre-fundraiser

Professor Emeritus, Pauline Beard
Regional Member Profile
By Vonnie Alto, Secretary

Our JASNA Oregon & SW Washington Region is thrilled that our member, Pauline Beard, Professor Emeritus is our 2019 Tribute Grant Honoree! Pauline has been an active member of our region for 30 years. She has served as Regional Coordinator, discussion leader numerous times, and co-chaired the committee that planned the 2010 AGM in Portland. She's always willing to assist and provide her expertise and knowledge of Jane Austen to discussions and other regional events.

Pauline enjoyed teaching about Jane Austen at Pacific University in Forest Grove. She presented papers at 5 AGM's! Two of her essays are published in Persuasions On-Line. Another essay on illness in Austen novels has 891 downloads in Common Knowledge Pacific University. Pauline also has a YouTube video of a satire on Pride And Prejudice And Zombies. 

We are delighted that Pauline was profiled on the back cover of JASNA News, Spring 2019 which was the final issue of former Editor, Sheryl Craig.

Later, Pauline was profiled again in JASNA News, Winter 2020 for the "Member Profile" section, nominated by our region.

To honor Pauline, we photographed her at our March meeting at the elegant Portland Mirabella. Congratulations Pauline! We appreciate your many years of devotion to our Oregon/SW Washington Region!  

Ceil Huntington
Regional Member Profile
By Vonnie Alto, Secretary

Here is Ceil Huntington, philanthropist and patron of the arts, at the Mirabella Portland retirement community. She graciously agreed to an impromptu photo shoot just because we love her! Ceil was our 2017 Co-Honoree for our region's Tribute Grant.  We are so thankful for her contributions to JASNA and also for promoting great literature!. 

Ceil is both an original member of our region and also a longtime volunteer for the Literary Arts: 31 years on the Oregon Book Awards & Fellowship Advisory Council. More recently, she served as a tremendous fundraiser for the Brian Booth Writers’ Fund, an endowment for emerging writers. Ceil was also our spokeswoman for the 2010 AGM which we hosted and the face of our region in an article published about the Portland AGM in The Oregonian that same year. She has inspired the membership by arranging many of our meetings at beautiful locations, including hosting many Reading Groups at the elegant Mirabella Portland retirement community in Portland.

We couldn't resist photographing Ceil following our November reading group discussion. What a lovely woman!

Member Chair, Marcia Hamley
Hostess: Alexandra Guerra
"AGM Sharing and 2020 Planning"
By Vonnie Alto, Secretary

In November, our region gathered at the lovely home of Alexandra Guerra who had previously donated her entire teacup collection to our region before departing with her family for an extended stay in her native Ecuador. We are delighted that she is back!

We held our first meeting with both Margaret Christmann and Marcia Hamley as Regional Co-Coordinators! We had so much to discuss that we tabled our book discussion of Jane Austen: Secret Radical by Nancy Kelly for January 2020. Instead, we focused on our region. We enjoyed delectable food, each other’s company, and voted for our 2020 reading group topics.

Those who attended the AGM in Williamsburg, VA treated us to a recap of their adventures there:

•  Our own, Collins Hemingway gave a breakout session titled, "Northanger Abbey: The Bridge to Jane Austen's Mature Works."  Collins showed how Jane Austen developed as a fiction writer from her early juvenile parody into novels with complex characterizations and relationships.  
• Our Tribute Grant recipient, Lauren Brusse thanked our region for the opportunity. She is really grateful for the experience as she is now "informed enough to be dangerous."  Lauren took an English County Dance class and participated in a Regency murder mystery of "Who Killed Mrs. Thorpe?"
• Margaret Christmann and Lisa Perrine loved Willamsburg. Following the AGM, they added on another 1.5 days to see the surrounding tourist sites.
• Arnie Perlstein loved the Plenary Talks. His favorite talk was given by Roger Moore on the Reformation titled,  "Northanger Before The Tilneys: Austen's Abbey & the Religious Past."  
• Mary Margaret and Lauri Conway both raved about Jim Nagle who gave a breakout session titled, "The British Army: Its Importance to Regency England And To Jane Austen."  Lauri always makes a point to attend his talks.
• Lauri also loved the Glass Armonica, a Benjamin Franklin invention. The crystal concert was her favorite event.

Marcia Hamley offered a list of the talks/speakers she enjoyed:

• Sisterhood: A History of Cassandra and Jane Austen in Four Objects” by Kelly McDonald.
  • McDonald showed several historical objects that the Austen sisters would have had: a portable writing slant desk, letters, a diary, a commonplace book (similar to a scrapbook), some silhouettes, and a piece of mourning jewelry.
• “The Magnificent Miss Moreland” by Jocelyn Harris.
  • Catherine has lots of strength and shows personal growth throughout the story. Marcia says that Henry was intellectually teasing Catherine because he respected her ability to give as good as she got.
• “The Lost Copies of Northanger Abbey” by Janine Barchas.
  • Cheaper printings of Austen’s books for the masses.
  • Barchas did a lot of research on the topic for all of Jane Austen’s books, and has a fully illustrated book about it called, The Lost Books of Jane Austen.
• “The Gothic Key to Northanger Abbey” by Marsha Huff.
  • Background information on gothics in general.
  • The metafictional “wink” at readers in Austen’s style of writing.
  • A detailed analysis of the references in NA to the plot of The Mysteries of Udolpho. Marcia says that Pauline Beard’s talk at our September meeting prepared her well for Huff’s analysis of Gothics.
• “The Words And Wisdom of Northanger Abbey” by Devoney Looser.
  • Novels were looked down as not worthy literature.
  • NA is one of Austen’s least adaptable novels but filled with many wonderful quotable quips.
  • A discussion of Austen’s word choices, including the name, “Northanger.” Abbey. The speaker passed out a handout about the discussion on Beechen Cliff about the word, “nice” and all its varied meanings. The handout included all the meanings in the OED that were possible at the time.
  • Looser also argued that NA was not just a “transitional” work between the Juvenilia and her “mature works", but that it also deserved consideration among all novels.

What a lovely afternoon of regional business, excellent conversation, and Jane Austen fun!
.

Reading Group Discussion of “Gothic Novels And Northanger Abbey”
Discussion Leader: Pauline Beard
Hostess: Pauline Beard
By Vonnie Alto, Secretary
 

Reading Group Discussion of “Gothic Novels And Northanger Abbey”
Discussion Leader: Pauline Beard
Hostess: Pauline Beard
By Vonnie Alto, Secretary
 
 In September, Professor Emeritus, Pauline Beard both hosted and led our reading group discussion at her lovely home, Chateau Beard on “Gothic Novels and Northanger Abbey.”
 
We dined on a lovely tea spread of  finger sandwiches, chicken broccoli salad, berry pie, grapes, banana nut bread, short breads, an assortment of cheese, crackers, and gourmet cookies,.
 
Elections were held. We now have two Co-Region Coordinators. Margaret Christmann stays on board but now Marcia Hamley is Co-Region Coordinator with her. Also new on board is Sylvia Foster as Treasurer 2. Suzanne Frye remains as Treasurer 1 and Vonnie Alto as Secretary.  
 
We then discussed “Gothic Novels and Northanger Abbey.” A fascinating and intoxicating exchange of ideas followed!
 
First, we looked at Gothic Tropes from The Gothic Wanderer: From Transgression to Redemption  by Tyler Tichelaar:

• Confusing and convoluted plot devices.
• A beautiful, vulnerable heroine, who is orphaned with some secrecy about her family and who eventually becomes rich.
• The heroine’s guardian is after her fortune, which she is unaware of (often involving land and property and money.
• The heroine is often abducted and forced into frightening situations, sometimes helped by maids or ancient housekeepers.
• Exotic settings: France, Italy, etc. with forests, castles, abbeys with locked rooms and closets and dark secrets of the ancestors of the families. 
• The hero is always dashing and good looking.
• The lovers can’t get together.
• Secret passageways
• Gloomy passages.
• Clanging trapdoors.
• Evil men are often related to the heroine.
• Supernatural warnings.
• Ghosts and demonic beings.
• Women fleeing.
• Servants help/hinder.
• The secrets are revealed and the heroine is rescued by a gallant young man who falls in love instantly with the heroine but has to suffer before they're married.

 
This led us to examine the Gothic books that Isabelle Thorpe recommended to Catherine Morland  in Northanger Abbey (1798-1799). They are known as the “Horrid 7” in the following order of their appearance: The Castle of Wolfenbach, (1793) Clermont (1798), The Mysterious Warning (1796), The Necromancer (1794), The Midnight Bell (1798), Horrid Mysteries (1796), and The Orphan of the Rhine (1798). Interestingly, these titles were part of a heyday clustering of Gothic books published by both women and men in the 1790s.
 
Then there’s Ann Radcliffe’s influence (1764-1823). Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) was one of the most popular Gothic novels during its time. Catherine Morland is completely obsessed with reading it. Our group had a fun time comparing and contrasting the description of Radcliffe’s castle with that of Northanger Abbey. Although there wasn’t time for us to read more than a one page comparison, none of us fainted or required smelling salts to recover from our macabre dissection.
.
Lastly, we turned our attention Catherine Morland; her interest in Gothic novels, her lively imagination, and the harsh reality of her life as a Gothic heroine.  For some of us, Northanger Abbey is our favorite Jane Austen novel. We all agreed that Northanger Abbey is a more complex work of fiction than initially seems and that Catherine is a strong heroine who doesn’t faint or go into a coma.
 
For more on this topic, see the accompanying handouts.
 

Professor Emeritus, Pauline Beard
Regional Member Profile
By Vonnie alto, Secretary

 Here are some fun photos of Pauline Beard, Professor Emeritus. She traveled to England and Europe this  summer 2019. Of course, she visited the Jane Austen Centre in Bath. Here she is there in period costume with her brother's family.

In the first photo, Pauline is wearing a white day hat and pink cotton dress with a short jacket over the top. Her great niece is seated, also wearing a cotton dress with a mop cap and cleverly hiding her cell phone behind her fan. Pauline's nephew is wearing a military uniform and hiding his shorts behind the chair. His wife is wearing a more silky dress with a velvet jacket and a silky day hat.

In the second photo, a Mr. Darcy look-alike poses with Pauline and her sister-in-law. A fun time was had by all!

Later, Pauline journeyed to Portugal. Here she is outside the book shop where J.K.Rowling wrote Harry Potter and got the idea for her spectacular fictional book shop. What is interesting is that Rowling taught English in Porto in the 90s, and is said to have written some of the series in the shop.

There are huge lines of 4,000-5,000 people a day! They're there to  buy tickets and then to get to the door with their ticket! The shop got so crowded that the owners had to start charging entry as fans flocked in to take photos without buying a book.

Jane Austen and the Theater
Spring Tea 2019
Fairway Village Club House
Vancouver, WA
Hosts: Nan and David Williams
Speaker: Kimberly Brangwin Milham
By Vonnie Alto, Secretary
 
For the third year in a row, our region held its annual Spring Tea at the beautiful Fairway Village Club House in Vancouver, WA on Sunday, April 28th. Nan Williams and her husband, David were the hosts.

This year, Val Bloye with Mary-Elise Diedrich assisting made the table decorations to compliment our theatrical theme. Charming baskets of fresh and dried flowers adorned the tables with miniature two-sided placards advertising Georgian theaters and plays of the era with period actors/actresses. 

Our tea table included a potluck style of scrumptious main dishes and delectable desserts which included baked ham, beef summer sausage, a cheese plate platter, tea sandwiches, shrimp, lentil salad, chicken salad,  pretzels, cherry tomatoes, banana nut bread, Devonshire scones with clotted cream, Ruby Berry Eton Mess, shortbread, chocolate chip cookies, and savory caramels.     

Many of our ton dressed in Regency and Georgian costume to celebrate our Spring Tea. Of course, we held our own emporium of Jane Austen books, merchandise, and Regency era attire which raised over $200! This helped fund our annual Tribute Grant for one person each year to attend the JASNA AGM who has never been there.

Amid our festivities, Tribute Grant Creator and former Region Coordinator, Kim Higgins, announced our 2019 Tribute Grant Recipient: Lauren Bruss.  Lauren has been a member of our region since 2015 and claims to have read all of Jane Austen's works by the time she finished high school. One of Lauren's favorite novels is Northanger Abbey, as she has always related strongly to the novel's heroine. We are delighted that Lauren was awarded our Tribute Grant so that she could delve further into the world of Catherine Morland at the Williamsburg AGM--the ideal environment for Lauren to seek a a little mischief and adventure of her own!

Our Spring Tea speaker this year was Kimberly Brangwin Milham who is an active JASNA member and a renowned expert on theater, food, crime, and etiquette. She has performed in numerous plays for regional meetings and the national JASNA AGM. We were in for quite a treat. Kimberly’s extensive knowledge of Jane Austen and the Regency ere allowed us all to experience Georgian theater.
 
Kimberly attended dressed in Georgian attire and enthralled us all with her knowledge of the risqué world of Georgian theater, its high drama both on and off the stage. She gave a lively and informative discourse with anecdotes, humor, and slide projector visuals about the actors and actresses and playhouses in London and Bath during the time of Jane Austen, including Jane Austen's love of theater.—whether performing in home theatricals with her family at holidays or attending the grand theaters of London or Bath.
 
What Did We Learn About the World of Georgian Theater?

• Plays began in the afternoon. The entire theater showing could last as long as 6 hours.  Prior to a theater showing, dancers and singers performed. Good plays were often performed twice.
•  A play’s run was approximately 1-2 weeks.  
• There was no copyright, so there was lots of stealing of plots and lines.
•  The perception of theater is “possibility.”
•  Theater is ephemeral. It’s enticing and offers illusions and dreams. The actors are not being themselves. Women show their legs. Men dressed as women.  Indeed, cross dressing for both men and women was a crowd pleaser. Age, size, infirmity, and infamous/famous reputations didn’t limit an actor’s appeal. Once you became known for a role, you could play it for decades.  
• Actors and actresses had longevity in their careers. Muted lighting of candles and lamps, rouge  makeup, and physical distance from the audience made it possible for older actors to act.
• In 1807, London had gas lamps. Actors found lamp light more flattering than oil lamps. In 1817, cold gas was used to light Covent Garden with a green light.
•  Theater was a big part of the middle and upper class and a welcome venue for them. The gentry thought that the theater was about seeing and being seen and coming and going.  
• Legitimate theater was real theater and not musical theater.
•  The audience and actors expected a participatory experience. Performances were often interrupted by guffaws and applause.  
• Fire destroyed theaters and happened frequently due to hazardous lighting and draperies. In 1808, a fire destroyed Covent Garden. It started at 4 am and within 3-4 hours, the entire theater was demolished. In 1809, Drury Lane burned.  In 1811, the theater was rebuilt which Jane Austen attended with her brother.
•  Most towns had their own theaters, in a horseshoe shape circle. The larger ones were built for 800 people and crowded.  
• The Monthly Mirror was similar to People magazine, filled with gossip about the actors and very personality driven.
•  Memoirs of actresses were greatly sought after whether or not they were true.

 
 The Actors of Georgian Theater:

• Famous actors were David Garrick (1717-1779) and John Kemble (1757-1823).  Kemble created a legacy. His older sister, Sarah Siddons achieved famed with him on the stage. His nephews and grandson continued his legacy as an actor.  
• Sarah Siddons (1775-1831) was a famous actress of Drury Lane. Women would faint away at her drama. Theater goers really thought she had died during her death scenes and moaned in terror.
• Edmund Kean (1787-1833) as Othello theatrically died in his last performance in 1833 when he collapsed into the arms of his son, Charles who played Iago. Kean died 2 months later.  
• Mrs. Dorothea Jordan (1761-1816) had several pregnancies during 20 years while acting. People loved her best in low cast roles of country maids because of her sassy humor.

 
Playwrights that Jane Austen Saw:

• Susannah Centlivre (1667-1723) was an English poet and actress and also “the most successful female playwright of the 18th century.” She published 17 plays.    
• Hannah Cowley (1743-1809) was an English dramatist and poet. She wrote 13 plays including the romantic comedy, The Belle’s Strategem about marriage and how women strive to overcome the injustices imposed by social customs and traditions as well as family life.
• Elizabeth Inchbald (1753-1821) wrote Lover’s Vows (most famous because Jane Austen made it famous when she referred to it in Mansfield Park),  
• Richard Sheridan (1751-1816) wrote The Rivals and School for Scandal which are his most popular plays which are still performed today.

 
Jane Austen’s Love of Theater:

• Jane Austen’s writings have a modern feel which makes it easy for adaptation. Jane understood dramatic elements. She also understood the structure of plays into acts. She used to read plays aloud with her family. One of her brothers noted that he thought her talents far exceeded the written works and sometimes the performances.  
• Jane Austen’s writings were inspired from her visits to the theater.
•  In 1799, Jane attended her first professional play with her brother, called Lover’s Vows which she referred to in Mansfield Park.  Jane liked farce and saw The Devil to Pay by Charles Coffey.