Kentucky Shakespeare returns to the Kentucky Center Bombard Theatre January 4-8, 2023 with Kate Hamill’s effervescent 2017 adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved classic.
The production is directed by Kentucky Shakespeare Associate Artistic Director Amy Attaway. She describes the production, “This production captures the essence of this timeless story at top speed and with maximum hilarity. We get to fall in love with Lizzy and Darcy all over again in the dizzying world of courtship games and high stakes insanity that is Kate Hamill’s version of the Regency period. This extraordinary cast is guaranteed to leave you breathless and with new insight into what makes the perfect match.”
Kentucky Shakespeare’s Pride and Prejudice features an eight-member cast: Zachary Burrell as Mr. Darcy, Justin Jackson as Mr. Bingley/Mary, Abigail Bailey Maupin as Lydia/Lady Catherine De Bourgh, Gregory Maupin as Mr. Bennet/Charlotte, Mollie Murk as Lizzy, BeeBee Patillo as Jane/Miss De Bourgh, Jennifer Pennington as Mrs. Bennet/Servants, and Neill Robertson as Mr. Collins/Wickham/Miss Bingley. Jesse AlFord is the Lighting Designer, Eric Allgeier is the Scenic Designer, and Laura Ellis is the Sound Designer, and Donna Lawrence-Downs is the Costume Designer, with dialect coaching by Joy Lanceta Coronel and choreography by Ari Calvano. Emily Burns is the Stage Manager.
Visit kyshakespeare.com for tickets and information.
About the Playwright:
Kate Hamill is an actor/playwright. Wall Street Journal’s Playwright of the Year, 2017. Her work includes her play SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (in which she originated the role of Marianne)—Winner, Off-Broadway Alliance Award 2016; Nominee, Drama League Award; 265+ performances off-Broadway. Other plays include VANITY FAIR at the Pearl Theatre (in which she originated the role of Becky Sharp; Nominee, Off-Broadway Alliance Award 2017), PRIDE AND PREJUDICE at Primary Stages and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (originated the role of Lizzy Bennet; Nominee, Off-Broadway Alliance Award). Her plays have been produced off-Broadway, at A.R.T., Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Guthrie, Seattle Rep, Dallas Theater Center, PlayMaker’s Rep, Folger Theatre (8 Helen Hayes Award nominations; Winner, best production—S&S), Arvada Center and others; upcoming productions at Shakespeare Theatre of DC, A.C.T., Trinity Rep, Portland Center Stage, Syracuse Stage, Pittsburgh Public, Kansas City Rep, Dorset Theatre Festival and more. Upcoming world premieres: LITTLE WOMEN at the Jungle Theater and Primary Stages; MANSFIELD PARK at Northlight Theatre. She is currently working on new adaptations of “The Odyssey” and “The Scarlet Letter,” as well as several new original plays (PROSTITUTE PLAY, IN THE MINES, LOVE POEM). Kate was one of the top 20 most-produced playwrights in the country this season. http://www.kate-hamill.com The New York times said of the play, “Hamill…has a gift for condensing three-volume novels into galloping two-act plays. Her screwball PRIDE AND PREJUDICE…is as frolicsome as her earlier efforts. It hasn’t met a rib it can’t tickle” and the Wall Street Journal wrote “The ever-ingenious Hamill has given us something completely and delightfully different, a smallish-cast period-dress PRIDE AND PREJUDICE…adapted with fizzy, festive freedom, Hamill’s [PRIDE AND PREJUDICE] is full of Bringing Up Baby-style slapstick and the kind of barely controlled chaos that you’d expect to see in a five-door Feydeau farce…” New York Magazine said “Hamill’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE has fun and charm to spare…[it] is full of high spirits and genuine mirth…Hamill excels…as a condenser of the story and a conveyer of fun. She cleverly squeezes Austen’s wide-ranging drawing-room comedy into the bodies of eight actors, almost all doubling to delightful and even moving effect.”