Kate Hamill’s adaptation Pride & Prejudice revels in Jane Austen’s brilliant wit, and reveals her talents as an armchair anthropologist, one whose characters deftly and hilariously demonstrate that while sexual attraction and emotional compatibility may be credited with initiating the course of a romance, its success or failure will likely be determined by a combination of economics, family structure, marriage law, and social theories of gender-determined behavior (however dubious). And while we may think ourselves less encumbered by societal strictures than were Austen’s heroines, Hamill’s distillation gives us plenty of opportunity to recognize the absurdities of unspoken expectations and cultural contradictions that characterize our own 21st century norms of courtship.
Join us as Providence Public Library Program & Exhibitions Director/Trinity Rep Conversationalist-in-Residence Christina Bevilacqua moderates a discussion with Wage House founder Kate Teichman, artist Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, poet Sussy Santana, Teen Ambassador Ajula Van Ness-Otunnu, and others about women defying expectations, flouting conventions, entertaining possibilities, indulging desires, laughing wantonly, and daring to improvise.
For reservations, click here.
About Context & Conversation:
Context & Conversation is a series co-produced and co-presented by Trinity Repertory Company and Providence Public Library. Each Context & Conversation event brings together scholars, artists, and community practitioners to discuss the themes and ideas found in the play currently on stage at Trinity Rep, and to consider where we find those themes and ideas at work in our own community. All Context & Conversation events are free and open to the public, and while the play is the inspiration for the Context & Conversation event, the conversation doesn’t depend on the play; you do not need to see the play to attend and participate in the discussion. Each Context & Conversation event takes place in a community setting related to the theme of the play, you can find a schedule and list of locations here.