Past Activities & Events
26 April 2008
At this special event, the members of JASNA were privileged to enjoy a staged reading of playwright Christine U'Ren's adaptation of Lady Susan. The superior cast, including Candice M. Milan (in the title role), Daria Hepps, Matthew O. Sloan, Elissa Stebbins, Whitney Gaynor, Matt Weimer, Gene Mocsy and Frank Munnich were utterly captivating. Without costumes, lighting, microphones or even a stage, they transported us all completely into this delightful romp of a tale. After the performance and a generous tea, the playwright spent some time giving us a brief history of Lady Susan and kindly taking opinions and constructive critique of the performance.
29 March 2008
A huge turnout gathered at the lovely Magnolia of Millbrae for our March gathering. Deb Stein blew us all away with her incredible discussion on "Social Status, Social Mobility & Gentility in Emma". No wonder this topic was a runaway success at the Vancouver AGM! Deb got us thinking of Austen's distinction between status, manners and true gentility. It was eye-opening, and after hearing Deb's insight, I could practically hear everyone in the audience putting "re-read Emma" back on their mental to-do lists. I know I did.
But we didn't just have one blockbuster presentation. Linda Smith, screenwriting instructor, led us through the process Hollywood screenwriters use to adapt Jane Austen's novels to film. She explained that the pacing of the stories must change in order to squeeze these classics into 120 minutes with "beats" at just the right moments. Characters from the novels can be shifted around and combined so they fall more easily into four typical classifications: hero, buddy, love interest, villain.
The whole process can result in an end product that sometimes bears only a passing resemblance to the novels we love. Nonetheless, for better or worse, Jane Austen sells movies. As long as this fact remains, Hollywood will keep trying to feed the need. But what do we create when we've run out of novels and every permutation of bio-pic? Can you say "sequels"? Brace yourselves, dear readers, "Mr. Darcy and the Temple of Doom" may be just around the corner.
Linda will be teaching a course at Los Medanos College this summer on the Jane Austen phenomenon. It begins on June 16th.