 Here's our JASNA members (production staff/cast) of Kate Hamill's Pride and Prejudice play at the Mask and Mirror Theater in Tigard, Oregon (left to right: Jeremy January as Darcy, David Jones as Stage Manager, Kathleen Jones as Stage Director, Ania Brown for Hair/Make up, and Annie Jones as Assistant Stage Manager).
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Matinee showing with our JASNA Member/Stage Director, Kathleen Bean Jones and three ensemble cast mates who also served as charming door greeters. The play runs from Feb 28 – Mar 16 2025, Fri/Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2:30pm. Location: Mask & Mirror Community Theatre, at Rise Church 10445 SW Canterbury Lane, Tigard, OR 97224 (formerly Calvin Presbyterian Church).  Here's our JASNA Members attending the matinee showing of Kate Hamill's adaptation of Pride And Prejudice, directed by our JASNA member, Kathleen Bean Jones at the Mask & Mirror Theatre. Picture left to right: Elaine Johnson, Vonnie Alto (Regional Coordinator), Cynthia Eckersley, and Kathleen Bean Jones. The play runs from Feb 28 – Mar 16 2025, Fri/Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2:30pm. Location: Mask & Mirror Community Theatre, at Rise Church 10445 SW Canterbury Lane, Tigard, OR 97224 (formerly Calvin Presbyterian Church). Opening NIght of Kate Hamill's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice at the Mask & Mirror Community Theatre in Tigard, OR. Here's our JASNA member and the stage director, Kathleen Bean Jones with the actress, Allison Burke, who plays Jane Bennet! Other JASNA members in the cast include: Jeremy January as Mr. Darcy, David Jones as Stage Manager, Annie Jones as Assistant Stage Manager/Dance Captain, and Ania Brown for Hair/Make up, The play runs from Feb 28 – Mar 16 2025, Fri/Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2:30pm. Location: Mask & Mirror Community Theatre, at Rise Church 10445 SW Canterbury Lane, Tigard, OR 97224 (formerly Calvin Presbyterian Church).  Dress rehearsal photos for Kate Hamill's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice at the Mask & Mirror Community Theatre in Tigard, OR, directed by our JASNA member, Kathleen Bean Jones! JASNA members in the cast include: Jeremy January as Mr. Darcy (standing in gray/black), David Jones as Stage Manager, and Annie Jones as Assistant Stage Manager/Dance Captain with Ania Brown (Hair/Make up, not pictured). The play runs from Feb 28 – Mar 16 2025, Fri/Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2:30pm. Location: Mask & Mirror Community Theatre, at Rise Church 10445 SW Canterbury Lane, Tigard, OR 97224 (formerly Calvin Presbyterian Church). Following up with a peak at the initial costume try on for Kate Hamill's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice at the Mask & Mirror Community Theatre in Tigard, OR, directed by our JASNA member, Kathleen Bean Jones with hair/makeup by our other JASNA member, Ania Brown. JASNA members in the cast include: Jeremy January as Mr. Darcy (wearing a black top hat), David Jones as Stage Manager, and Annie Jones as Assistant Stage Manager/Dance Captain. Note: three actors are missing. Guess who they are? The play runs from Feb 28 – Mar 16 2025, Fri/Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2:30pm. Location: Mask & Mirror Community Theatre, at Rise Church 10445 SW Canterbury Lane, Tigard, OR 97224 (formerly Calvin Presbyterian Church).  Here's a peak at the reading rehearsal for Kate Hamill's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice at the Mask & Mirror Community Theatre in Tigard, OR, directed by our JASNA member, Kathleen Bean Jones with hair/makeup by our other JASNA member, Ania Brown. JASNA members in the cast (not pictured) include: Jeremy January as Mr. Darcy, David Jones as Stage Manager, and Annie Jones as Assistant Stage Manager/Dance Captain. The play runs from Feb 28 – Mar 16 2025, Fri/Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2:30pm. Location: Mask & Mirror Community Theatre, at Rise Church 10445 SW Canterbury Lane, Tigard, OR 97224 (formerly Calvin Presbyterian Church).  We are thrilled to announce that our JASNA member, Kathleen Bean Jones is directing Kate Hamill's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice at the Mask & Mirror Community Theatre in Tigard, OR! Our other JASNA member, Ania Brown is in charge of hair/makeup. We are also thrilled that our other JASNA members are in the cast which includes: Jeremy January as Mr. Darcy, David Jones as Stage Manager, and Annie Jones as Assistant Stage Manager/Dance Captain! The play runs from Feb 28 – Mar 16 2025, Fri/Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2:30pm. Location: Mask & Mirror Community Theatre, at Rise Church 10445 SW Canterbury Lane, Tigard, OR 97224 (formerly Calvin Presbyterian Church).  The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley
Hart Theater, December 14 & 22, 2024 By Vonnie Alto, Regional Coordinator Our region celebrated the holidays by attending the Hart Theater to experience the play: The Wickhams - Christmas at Pemberley--the Yuletide sequal in the Pemberley Trilogy by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon. We all had a lovely time revisiting Pemberley! What a delightful cast! We saw a humorous side of Mr. Darcy reprised by the same actor (Zac Marshall) as last year who played Darcy in Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberely. It was like visiting an old friend this year who gave Darcy additional depth with his onstage humor. Sliding across the kitchen table was added fun and so memorable! Then there's Wickham! A most unforgettable character! Now relegated to the servant's quarters and banished from there too. Although not cast with the usual appearance, yet just as effective. One of our members, Malcolm Fredeking noted, "while not physically looking like the Wickham we usually envision, the actor playing the part was perhaps the strongest in the production (along with Mrs. Reynolds and Cassie)." When either or all of them were on stage, we couldn't take our eyes off them (Jeremy January, AJ Graham, Julianne Robinson). Scene stealers for sure! What a charming holiday production! And a friendly cast who graciously mingled with the audience after the play and talked to them. Much appreciated! The onsite cookies hot out of the oven were delicious to eat and provided a cozy aroma to the event. Extra cookies were generously shared with the audience. Also, much appreciated! The Realness of Jane Austen: Finding Jane in Small Moments
Focusing on the book: The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne Presentation Leader: Malcolm Fredeking by Vonnie Alto, Regional Coordinator & Karen Kinzey, Secretary Our region met at the Hillsboro Public Library where we held a book sale, recapped the AGM, and determined our 2025 programs. Lifetime member Joann Graham served as our hostess. Malcolm Fredeking, a retired high school English teacher and an independent scholar, presented on “The Realness of Jane Austen: Finding Jane in Small Moments” with a focus on the book, The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne. Malcolm was initially drawn to Jane Austen after viewing the 1980 production of Pride and Prejudice and realized he was mining a serious craftsman. He synthesized his research by stating that Austen's realness is found in her letters revealing her wit, brilliance, and sharpness. In her fiction, she focused on real heroines who made their own mistakes and learned from it. Malcolm noted that Austen’s writings highlights the quiet, intimate moments of daily life and compared the scenes in her novels to a Vermeer painting. She wants to grab the moment which is why Austen is around today and why her characters fascinate us. We don't know for sure how Austen wrote. Maybe her portable writing desk wasn't with her all the time. She may have preferred a table or a stand. It's interesting that her sister, Cassandra never said when and how Austen used the desk. We know that Jane took the portable writing desk with her when she traveled but who knows how often she used it as the desk was big and heavy. Did she take it with her when she traveled? Did she actually use it? We don't really know what actually happened. We do know that Austen needed a quiet place like Steventon to write. Malcolm referenced famous writers who were influenced by Austen’s realness (such as Virginia Woolf who was inspired by Austen to create a room of her own) and biographers who explored the real world of her life and writings. However, not much really is known about Austen which leaves us all to speculate, who was she really? What is it about her life that we want to know? Insightfully, Austen's world can be brought to life through small moments and objects. The rediscovery of Jane Austen continues with biographers who explore her realness such as Carol Shields in Jane Austen (Penguin Lives edition) who noted that Jane gave us the real world and reinvented the structure of the modern novel. She made it new and clean. Paula Byrne in The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things acknowledges the quiet, intimate moments of Jane as revealed in the vellum notebooks, her library subscriptions, and her portable writing desk which influenced Austen's writings, impacted her life, and are key to understanding her realness and evolution as a writer. Although Malcolm disagreed with Bryne's statement that Austen required no teacher, he agreed with Byrne's observation that part of Austen's genius is her command of language. Language intrigued Austen as it does for all writers. We get a sense that she loved language, loved to play with words, even giggle and have fun in her letters to Cassandra. Although not a deep book, Malcolm noted that the author enjoys examining objects which became a very personal read for Malcolm, especially the three chapters he addressed. Malcolm focused on Chapter 3: “The Vellum Notebooks,” Chapter 4: “The Subscription List,” and Chapter 16: “The Laptop Portable Writing Desk,” as these chapters resonates with his perspective as an educator. Malcolm explored the influence of the vellum notebooks (Chapter 3) on Jane's evolving writing style which reveal Austen's unrestrained voice since they were not written for public consumption and often include sharp observations of various people's character and foibles. What would Malcolm say to Austen if he could meet her? It's OK to have scenes with two male characters, something that is missing in her novels. While most of the novels that Austen read were borrowed from a library, we don't know who all influenced her writing. We don't know everything she read and who affected her the most. We just don't know. In chapter 4 ("The Subscription List"), Malcolm observed that Byrne successfully examined which authors Austen was exposed to, but may have overestimated Frances Burney's influence and that of other female authors on Austen's writing as we can’t fully know all of Austen’s influences or who affected her the most. However, he praised Byrne's conclusions on Austen's development of a new type of female protagonist which changed the art form of the novel as a genre. In Malcolm's discussion of Chapter 16 ("The Laptop Portable Writing Desk"), he emphasized the significance of Mr. Austen's purchase of a writing desk for his daughter which was an extravagant gift. The desk represented not only a substantial financial investment but also his strong encouragement of Jane's writing and her literary aspirations. However, Malcolm noted that Byrne did not fully explore how the desk "influenced" or "inspired" Austen's creativity and writing. Malcolm notes that Jane's father could have discouraged her from writing but instead gave her the green light to write because writing is how kids learn. Therefore, the writing desk represents a green light from her father to go for it. Austen wrote unrestrained. By age 10-11, Austen was seriously writing as evidenced by her Juvenilia. Malcolm noted that we see her as a thinker who had fun writing. By age 17, Austen was writing Lady Susan, which is very sophisticated writing for a 17-19 year old girl. Malcolm added that Jane understood the world around her in part from her upbringing as she was surrounded by 5 brothers and the many schoolboys that her father tutored who lived at the rectory as boarders. It gave her a wider sensibility. She heard the jokes and saw how others behaved so she was not shocked by anything which is why she's not surprised by the behavior of Wickham or Mr. Collins. As a result, Austen's fictional world resonates as real because of Austen's experience with small ordinary moments and the objects she utilized. Thank you Malcolm for an intriguing presentation! Your insight raises questions in our minds leaving us to ponder Austen's realness--the small moments and objects that define her work and demonstrate her excellence as a writer. |