The California Regions of JASNA invite you to celebrate Jane Austen’s birthday with them at this afternoon salon of ideas, games, and fun.This is a group event by JASNA Southwest, JASNA Northern California, JASNA Greater Sacramento, JASNA San Diego and JASNA Central California. The programme will include:
PANEL DISCUSSION: Theatrically yours, Jane Austen
Enjoy this panel on “theatrical Austen” with theater professionals who have a first-hand understanding of taking Austen from the page to the stage.
Panelists include:
Brooke Aiello – Brooke Aiello is a professional actor, costume designer and professor of theatre at California State University Fresno and Fresno Pacific University, where she specializes in period acting styles and has directed Michael Bloom’s adaptation of Emma Her professional costuming credits include theatre, film and television, both period and modern from the Tudor era through the 1940’s. Brooke holds an MFA in Acting from Southern Mississippi University and has recently performed leading roles in Venus in Fur, Hedda Gabler, The Merchant of Venice, and Hamlet.
Nandita Shenoy – Nandita Shenoy is a New York-based writer-actor. Her first full-length, Lyme Park: An Austonian Romance of an Indian Nature, based on Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey,was produced by theHegira in Washington, DC. Her Rage Play was recently named to the Kilroys List 2020. HerWasher/Dryer has been produced multiple times nationally after its world premier at LA’s East West Players and an Off-Broadway production in which she also starred. She is a proud member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, dtfwaw, and the Dramatists Guild. Nandita holds a BA in English literature from Yale University. www.nanditashenoy.com
Amy Stallings – A professor of history at the College of William and Mary, Amy Stallings is also an actor and historical interpreter with Colonial Williamsburg. Her musical adaptation of Northanger Abbey was produced by the Williamsburg Players in 2019.
Hana S. Sharif – Hana S. Sharif’s multi-faceted theatre career includes roles as an artistic leader, director, playwright and producer. Hana is the new Augustin Family Artistic Director of The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. She has spent the last two decades innovating producorial processes, strengthening community engagement, and producing multiple world and regional premieres. During her tenure as Associate Artistic Director at Baltimore Center Stage, she guided the theatre through a multi-million dollar building renovation and rebranding effort.
As a fierce champion of new American plays and playwrights, she has helped develop over a hundred plays, including Pulitzer, Tony, and Obie award-winning masterworks. Hana is the recipient of the 2009–10 Aetna New Voices Fellowship, The EMC Arts Working Open Fellowship, and TCG New Generations Fellowship. She serves on the board of directors for the Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and the Sprott Foundation.
Hana directed Kate Hamill’s Sense and Sensibility for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in addition to other acclaimed productions of Pride and Prejudice for the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, The Christians and Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
The panel will be moderated by JASNA Central California regional coordinator Heather Parish, who is the executive director of the Rogue Performance Festival in Fresno, California.
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THEATRICAL PRESENTATION:
Original Theatrical Presentation by writer-actress Carissa Meagher. Carissa Meagher is a playwright, actor, director and theatre instructor. Carissa holds a BFA in acting from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and an MFA in Playwriting from Ireland’s RADA affiliate school, The Lir Academy. In 2019, Sacramento Theatre Company opened its 75th Anniversary Season with Carissa’s play Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.
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Social Time with the Janeites
Join us for some camaraderie and good spirits as we play together: Austen Adaptations Trivia, an Austen-themed scavenger hunt, and a Zoom costume contest. So gather your Austen goodies and your best cap for visiting and join us for some afternoon fun!
Saturday, December 12, 2020 at 2 p.m to 4 p.m. Pacific Time
Via Zoom (registration required).
To register: https://bit.ly/JASNACA2020
Free of charge and open to all who love Austen!
JASNA Central California 