Photo Credit: Austin Bean
“What does the world look like when it’s run by women?” asks Kimberly Senior. She is directing the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s holiday production of Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley with the first all-female production team the company has ever seen. The designers, stage management, dialect coach and directing team are all part of the storytelling powerhouse that Senior assembled to tell this new version of how Austen’s characters may have chosen to craft their own lives and stories beyond the pages of Pride and Prejudice.
Senior made a promise to herself that she would spend two years working exclusively with women designers, and Miss Bennet continues her streak of making good on that promise. She is committed to “bringing up” the next generation of women in the male-dominated field of theatrical design and mentions that part of her goal is to foster the natural relationships amongst fellow professionals that happen when working on a team—a networking opportunity that does not exist unless you’re in the room in the first place.
The play is by Lauren Gunderson, the most-produced living playwright in the U.S., in part because of the success of this particular script. Miss Bennet was onstage at nine different regional theaters during the 2017-’18 season and has found its way to many more this year. Why? Senior speculates that this is a production that audiences need given the current state of the world. “Our lives are so fraught, sometimes what you need is just to get in a room, in the dark with a bunch of strangers, and laugh.”
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Humor abounds amidst the quick wit of the familiar characters who fill the play. No one knows what to make of Elizabeth’s decorating experiments, and Mr. Bingley puts on a hilariously brave face as he frets about Jane’s first baby on the way. Miss Bennet is full of the conversations Austen’s characters have in the back rooms, behind closed doors. “It’s like the B-side of Pride and Prejudice,” says Senior.
In the play, Elizabeth is settled in as the lady of Pemberley, and her family is coming to visit for Christmas—the first time they will all be together in nearly two years. With the addition of some surprise guests, the Bennet sisters have new challenges to tackle and a new potential romance on the books. Miss Mary Bennet, who has been universally acknowledged as a pedant and a bore, has grown up a bit since Austen devotees last saw her and has developed a fire all her own. For the first time, Mary may meet her match in someone as interested in studying the world’s mysteries as she is. Gunderson crafted a script with the charm and humor for which Austen is beloved, and audiences will see that come to life in this production which explores history and literature from a woman’s perspective.
‘Austen Belongs to Everyone’
This is a period show, but a modern play. The creative team has crafted costumes, sound and a set for a world which has one foot in the past and one in the present. Senior describes it as a chance to examine how we’re living in the present moment by looking back at where we’ve come from. The cast also reflects an honest look at the world; five members of the cast of eight are actors of color. Senior says simply, “Austen belongs to everyone.” The designers play with sound, color and silhouettes to evoke the style of Austen’s time while resonating with the modern language of the play and the characters as people with whom audiences can relate.
Senior spoke about embracing the tension between past and present in her version of the play. While people often think of characters from the past as being as buttoned-up and straight-laced as their long gowns and stiff shirts make them seem, she speculates that “they were just as rowdy and raunchy as we are.”
Miss Bennet is lively, fast-paced and has a sexiness which emerges from each of the characters embracing their true selves and throwing off family expectations. And, with all that, there is depth, too. It is a story of sisterhood and how to find the true spirit of the holidays. The characters learn how to take care of each other and encourage audiences to reflect on this question for themselves—how to move into the new year with the most love and care possible.
Nov. 13-Dec. 16 at the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater, 108 E. Wells St. for tickets, call 414-224-9490 or visit milwaukeerep.com.
