Metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri Region
“An Evening with Francis Austen”
December 12, 2009
In keeping with the theme of the 2009 AGM, JASNA St. Louis celebrated Jane Austen’s two hundred and thirty-fourth birthday with a readers’ theatre play about the Austen siblings entitled “An Evening with Francis Austen, December 16, 1864: Channeling the Hampshire-Born Austens.” This delightful event was held at The Gatesworth retirement home. Written by outgoing program chair Bettye Dew, the script presents material gleaned from George Tucker’s book, A Goodly Heritage, as well as Park Honan’s and Claire Tomalin’s biographies of Jane Austen. Sitting by the fire on a December evening near the end of his long life, Francis Austen muses upon the past, and one by one, James, Edward, Henry, Cassandra and Charles emerge from the shadows and speak about their lives together and especially about their sister, Jane. The fact of her absence from this gathering perplexes them at first, but is answered to their satisfaction by the end of the performance.
Other regions wishing to produce Bettye’s play at one of their own meetings can obtain a copy of the script from the JASNA Script Bank. It takes about 30 minutes to perform and can be done with minimal rehearsal time. Members of the St. Louis region read their parts with feeling and wore their costumes—including a bathrobe tie made into a clerical collar and a newspaper admiral’s hat—with grace and style.
—Mary Beth Wilczak
The Cast