Palace Theater to Celebrate Jane Austen's 250th Birthday With AUSTEN’S PRIDE

2025 marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and the Palace Theater is celebrating! Throughout August and September, the Palace Theater and the Greater Waterbury Region will host events honoring the literary icon and shining a spotlight on her beloved novel, Pride and Prejudice.
 
Beginning the week of August 11, 2025 the theater’s social channels will feature a “scavenger hunt” through the Greater Waterbury region highlighting 16 selected Little Free Libraries. Several lucky participants will find copies of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in those Little Free Libraries, some of which will include an official gift certificate to be redeemed for 2 free tickets to a performance of the new musical Austen’s Pride at the Palace Theater September 26-27, 2025.
 
The Silas Bronson Library, Waterbury’s main library branch, is joining the festivities, designating Pride and Prejudice a “city-wide read” for the month of September. The month-long book club will culminate on Saturday, September 20th at the Library for an in-person discussion of Austen’s most famous novel. Austen’s Pride Director Igor Goldin and Producer R. Erin Craig will take part in the live discussion on September 20th to talk about their research into the Regency period, Jane Austen’s life, and how they adapted the novel to a Broadway musical.
 
“We are so excited to be partnering with the Palace Theater for Austen’s Pride,” says Raechel Guest, Director of the Silas Bronson Library. “We’re looking forward to exploring the original book, Pride and Prejudice, and then seeing the musical adaptation the next weekend. It is exciting to have Igor Goldin and Erin Craig of Austen’s Pride attend the live discussion on September 20 to talk about their creative process!”