Midday Monday - Jane Austen: Who Dares to be an Authoress

This hybrid program will be offered virtually and in-person. Program formats are subject to change. Registrants will receive an email notifying them of any such changes.

The year is 1815, and Jane Austen has just returned from a visit to the Prince Regent’s London residence. The honor of this invitation prompts her to reminisce about the events that led the daughter of a country clergyman to a position of such prominence. She shares her thoughts and feelings about her novels and how their publication changed her life for ever.

This short play, originally presented under the title Miss Austen at Home, was written for a performance at The Swan’s Island Educational Society in Maine in the summer of 2013. Since that time, Jane Austen: Who Dares to be an Authoress has made the rounds of libraries, museums, and other educational institutions across the country, and the program continues to grow and develop with every new performance and audience.

For her initial research on the play, Laura is indebted to Deirdre Le Faye’s published collection of Jane Austen’s Letters, in addition to the illuminating biographies of Austen by Park Honan, Claire Tomalin, Juliet McMaster, and George Holbert Tucker, among others. Laura is also grateful for her early education at Salisbury Cathedral School in Wiltshire when she frequently visited Chawton, Bath, Southampton, and Winchester, and when she discovered her love of Austen and began her lifelong fascination with the Regency world.