During our poster session at the JASNA AGM, we were delighted to meet up with Sue Forgue, who has put together a really amazing site: The Regency Encyclopedia. (Use username AustenBlog and password LumpofSnark to enter–both are case-sensitive.) It’s a one-stop shop for references and information about the period in which Jane Austen’s novels are set. We wish we had a site like this when we started out writing fan fiction back when dinosaurs Jane Austen adaptations! Careful, make sure you have lots of time to spend or you’ll wake up a few hours later wondering where the time went.

Wheeee! We received some more photos from the concert performance (actually the dress rehearsal) and thought we would share! Photos after the jump…mouse over for captions and click for larger versions. (more…)

Welcome to this week’s edition of Getting Local With Jane, in which we list upcoming local events of interest to Janeites. Your town might not be in this edition, but you never know when it will turn up, so stay tuned!

November 1 - Princeton, NJ: Elizabeth Jane Steele will present “Fact and Fiction of Jane Austen” at the English-Speaking Union’s Princeton branch. Unfortunately the article doesn’t have any information about when and where, and neither does the organization’s website, but we’ll try to find out! ETA: Oops, it’s members-only. Sorry about that! Perhaps one could join at the last minute?

November 3 - Morganton, NC: The 1995 film adaptation of Persuasion will be shown and discussed at the Morganton Public Library Meeting Room at 5:30 p.m.

Getting Local With Jane is a regular feature of AustenBlog, published each Thursday. If you have any events you would like us to post, let us know in plenty of time.

A brother and sister from Oregon are currently filming an original feature-length film inspired by the work of Jane Austen.

Kaitlin rewrote the original script and handled hair, makeup and costuming duties. It was a natural project for the Austen fanatic.

“She’s seen every Jane Austen movie, read every Jane Austen book,” said friend Jodi Hamre, who plays the title character. “I thought Jane Austen consisted of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ before I met Kaitlin.”

On a budget of about $300, the friends held auditions, rounded up a group of extras that eventually included nearly 50 participants and sought out classic locations such as Historic Deepwood Estates and Mission Mill Museum. The crew even put together a ball scene with a complete English country dance.

Sounds like those kids are having a great time. We hope they get the film into some festivals or on DVD so we can see it!

Impro Theater in Los Angeles is currently performing Jane Austen Unscripted, a different improvised Jane Austen story each night (we suspect they might not be terribly faithful to the originals, but that sounds like part of the fun). The show runs through November 16. Tickets are $20 and available online.

Tickets are still available for LaVerkin Community Theater’s dinner theater production of Pride and Prejudice in LaVerkin, Utah, running from November 6 through 8. Tickets are $25 and includes dinner (we think). They’re cool with people attending in period costume, too. Call Jen Watkins at 216-8449 or the LaVerkin city offices 635-2581 for tickets.

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Open Thread, where we share links that didn’t quite make the cut for a full blog post but we think will be of interest to our readers.

Alert Janeite Maria L. noticed an interesting item in the racing scores…

Punters found the going as tough as the horses and jockeys at a blustery Fairyhouse yesterday as a series of surprise results culminated in a hard-fought success for Jane Austen in the Finale Stakes.

On just the third outing of her career, the daughter of Galileo responded to a particularly strong drive from Johnny Murtagh to foil the Harley family’s veteran Muskatsturm and Suailce in the Presidential colours.

Daughter of Galileo? Better than Godmother of Chick Lit, we suppose. So what’s new in your patch of Janeiteville? As always, feel free to pimp your projects/links in this open thread.

(Mouse over the photos for captions and click on them to see larger versions.)

Pride and Prejudice is, indisputably, Jane Austen’s most famous novel. (Fear not, we won’t use the Truth Universally Acknowledged bit.) When attempting to explain one’s obsession to the Great Unwashed, if the name “Jane Austen” is not sufficient for enlightenment, the title Pride and Prejudice almost always brings recognition. If the listener associates the title with Hollywood productions rather than the novel, well, that is the unfortunate part of being a 21st-century Janeite. Really well-done adaptations being thin on the ground at present, it rather increases our pleasure to encounter a quality production such as Pride and Prejudice: The New Musical. We (really we, the Editrix and fellow AustenBlogger Allison T.) attended the “concert performance” preview of the play at the gorgeous Eastman Theatre in Rochester, New York, this past Tuesday night, and even in its current developmental phase, it was as lovely and enjoyable as we had hoped and expected.

Possibly even more so, as we had been told the concert performance would include minimal costumes and props. However, the cast was in full costume, the play was blocked out, there was choreography, there was a 17-piece orchestra from the Rochester Philharmonic, and though some of the cast members carried scripts, they rarely actively read from them, using them more as a backup. It was hard to believe such an accomplished performance was put together in only two weeks, though perhaps we should have had more faith in the cast of professional actors, most with Broadway experience. (more…)

One of the wonderful (for all meanings of the word) things about Jane Austen paraliterature is that there is something for every taste. We know some Janeites have been disappointed with Elizabeth Aston’s five P&P sequels, because they contain a minimum (well, really no) Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, and isn’t that why we read P&P paralit? Perhaps, but we enjoy these books very much for what they are: beautifully-written historical novels with intelligence and wit. They read rather like if Georgette Heyer had taken to writing P&P paralit; they are more “in the world,” as their own characters might say. The Darcys move in the first circles, as do their connections that populate the series, and they mingle with marquises and viscounts much more than Jane Austen’s own characters ever did, at least on the page. They also tend to enjoy a more bohemian lifestyle than Miss Heyer’s aristocratic characters, which allows them a certain freedom of behavior and attitudes.

The latest in the series, The Darcy Connection, concerns Miss Eliza Collins, the second daughter of Mr. Collins (now the Bishop of Ripon) and his wife, Charlotte Lucas as was, living in the Bishop’s palace in far-flung Yorkshire. Such a beginning does not seem fortuitous for our heroine; fortunately she has Elizabeth Darcy for her godmother, and has seemingly imbibed some of her personality and sense (they are distant cousins, after all). Eliza’s older sister, Charlotte, is the beauty of the family, and her own godmother, Lady Lucas’ well-married sister, has decided to give Charlotte a season in town. Eliza has embarked on a romance with the local squire’s son; unfortunately said squire’s wife wants better than a portionless clergyman’s daughter for her eldest son, and Eliza is packed off to London as well in the role of poor relation.

When in London, Eliza attends her first dance and is spurned by a rich man, Mr. Bartholomew Bruton, as being “provincial.” She thinks he’s intolerably rude. Annnnd we’re off. Characters from former novels make their appearances, particularly Mr. and Mrs. Wytton, their friends Pagoda Portal and Mrs. Rowan, and the villains are provided in the persons of Caroline Warren (née Bingley) and her dastardly, foot-fondling stepson, George. Blackmail, intrigues, and gossip abound, but the plot will be comfortably predictable to Janeites, even as they wonder how things will be sorted out.

We will also add, for all those who have missed Mr. and Mrs. Darcy in this series…well, you will continue to miss them, though they hover about the edges, as they do in all of these books; but we did jump up, punch our fist in the air and shout “YES!” at the end of the penultimate chapter. No hints, but we wonder how Mr. D. feels about being employed as a bit of a deus ex machina? Though we all know how good he is at saving the day…

We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Eliza Collins and find her almost as charming a heroine as her dear godmamma. Janeites who have been suspicious of Austen paraliterature might go on well with these novels; they touch lightly on P&P but never impinge upon it, and are well-written, engaging novels on their own. Those already fans of the series will enjoy the latest entry, as we think The Darcy Connection is Elizabeth Aston’s best effort yet.

Amongst all these musicals and plays of Jane Austen’s novels, there are still plenty of books being published of interest to Janeites–and keeping our reviewers busy!

One of the books we picked up at the JASNA AGM was In the Garden with Jane Austen by Kim Wilson, a followup to her lovely Tea with Jane Austen. The Wisconsin State Journal has a short article about it. Stay tuned for an AustenBlog review in the next few weeks.

We heard from Jane Odiwe, whose Lydia Bennet’s Story is now available in bookshops and online. Look for a review of this title soon as well.

We also heard from C. Allyn Pierson, whose new book And This Our Life: Chronicles of the Darcy Family: Book 1 is now available. We received a review copy, so look for this one as well, and lots more!

And while we’re on the subject of Nice Books…Go Gothic With Northanger Abbey continues at Austenprose. The Editrix contributed her humble mite, a salute to Da Man (naturally), and there’s lots of discussion and giveaways and other stuff going on. Do check it out!

That’s it for Weekend Bookblogging this week, Gentle Readers, and always remember: Books Are Nice!

Alert Janeite Lisa sent along an article about ways to prepare for and enjoy Halloween, including:

Other activities on Halloween include Halloween themed parties, “Haunted Houses,” corn mazes, and watching scary movies like “Pride and Prejudice”.

Depends upon one’s reading of that particular adjective, one supposes.

It’s Jane Austen season on Broadway, as Paul Gordon’s musical adaptation of Emma (see, we said it was taken) will receive a private staging for producers and “show folk” in New York on November 11. If any of our Gentle Readers happen to be “show folk,” we’d love a report!

We heard from Lawrence Rush, the author of yet another musical adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (that’s five currently kicking around by our count…guys, she wrote five other books, you know, though Emma is taken as far as we can tell, but we reckon Mansfield Park would make a bitchin’ musical). His musical, which was a finalist for the 2008 Richard Rogers Award, will have an Equity staged reading in New York City on November 10, 2008 at the McGinn/Cazale Theater, 2162 Broadway at W. 76th Street. The reading is open to all but space is limited, so RSVP to prideandprejudicereading AT gmail DOT com. There’s no website that we can tell, but more info below the jump. (more…)

Lynda’s Book Blog reports that Ravelry, a knitting and crocheting community, will have a knit/crochet-along-with-Jane Austen book club beginning November 1. We’re not a member so can’t link directly to the Ravelry site, but Lynda has provided a link on her blog, along with the schedule.

You might find an appropriate pattern in the Fall 2008 issue of Interweave Crochet. The designer of the Austen Lace Muffler was inspired by watching The Complete Jane Austen on Masterpiece Classics. The pattern recalls the ruffled high-necked chemisettes that young ladies wore in Jane Austen’s day; Miss Bates would love such a thing to keep the draughts from Jane Fairfax’s swan-like throat.

We’ve been away on pleasure bent again, but check back late tonight/early tomorrow for lots of stuff, including a report from the Pride and Prejudice Broadway musical event in Rochester last night (which was FANTASTIC).

ETA: We must beg indulgence for one more day; weariness from much traveling caught up with us last night (cross-country plane trip Monday, six hours plus in car each Tuesday and Wednesday) and we want to do the play full justice. Tonight definitely if not earlier. Meanwhile here’s a review from a Rochester newspaper.

A new women’s specialty channel, VIVA, will broadcast the Canadian premiere of Lost in Austen beginning on Sunday, November 9 at 8 p.m. followed by a “classic” adaptation of a Jane Austen novel. It appears from the press release that subsequent episodes and films will be broadcast over four Sunday nights.

One of the highlights of VIVA’s fall lineup is the Canadian premiere of Lost in Austen, a deftly post-modern four-part tale of a woman who worships the novels of Jane Austen and is suddenly transported one day to the world of Pride and Prejudice, swapping places with Elizabeth Bennet. A critical triumph in the U.K., Lost in Austen premieres on Sunday, November 9 at 8 p.m. ET. Each episode will be followed by a classic Jane Austen movie, starting with Sense and Sensibility, then Mansfield Park, Emma and Pride and Prejudice on the following Sundays.

In other words, who knows which version…but if we were a betting Editrix, our money would be on 95, 99, 97-Paltrow and 05, respectively.

The station is targeting women 40-64 (aka Middle Aged Austen Whores), who no doubt will find Mary Sue fan fiction featuring dimbulb twenty-something British women right up their alley. Oh, wait, it’s a critical triumph. Our bad.

Alert Janeite Julie T. was visiting her son at the Rhode Island School of Design and visited the school’s Museum of Art, where she spotted a portrait that may just be what Jane Austen scholars have long been looking for.

(click for larger version)

Could this shaky photo, sneakily taken with an iPhone, be…the long-lost, long-sought REAL portrait of Jane Austen??? The hair! The eyes! The topaze cross! Perhaps there has been a conspiracy over two centuries to hide this portrait from public view; hide it in plain sight among the many portraits in the gallery… (more…)

Rehearsals have begun for the one-night encore performance of Pride and Prejudice, A Musical Play, in Rochester, New York, on October 21. Producer Lori Bajorek shared some photos of the leads, Colin Donnell and Laura Osnes, rehearsing together. Click on the photo for the full size version.

We also finally have started to sort through our photos from the AGM and have some photos from the presentation below the cut. (more…)

Something we forgot to pass on in our AGM reports: there was a marriage proposal during the ball! And the gentleman started out with, “I can wait no longer in silence…” and continued with a somewhat adapted version of Captain Wentworth’s letter to Anne Elliot. After the first line Julie T. came up and grabbed my arm–after the second line I said, “I’m going to cry!” And I did. It was awesome. (And she said yes, of course!)

Some other bloggers have posted their thoughts on the AGM as well. Sarah S.G. Frantz posted about the standing-room-only session she moderated about romance fiction in the wake of Jane Austen, featuring several romance writers (and readers).

We also met Janeite Deb from the Jane Austen in Vermont blog, who has posted her experience at the AGM as well: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

A piece of news we heard at last week’s AGM: Chawton House Library is sponsoring a short story competition to celebrate the bicentenary of Jane Austen’s arrival in Chawton.

The competition is looking for short stories of 2,000-2,500 words, inspired by any theme in Jane Austen’s novels, or by Chawton House. The stories can have a contemporary or historical setting. The call for entries says, “Anything goes as long as it is well written and you state on the entry form exactly what inspired you to write it.”

Chair of judges is Sarah Waters, bestselling author of Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith. First prize is £1,000, and there will be two runners’ up of £200 each. All three finalists will also win a week’s writers’ retreat at Chawton House. Fifteen other shortlisted authors will receive £40 plus publication in the winners’ anthology. The contest closes on 31 March 2009.

The entry form and more information is on the Chawton Library site. Good luck!