JANE AUSTEN: WHO DARES TO BE AN AUTHORESS at Linden Place

Join us on August 3 at 2pm for a one woman character portrayal of Jane Austen by historical interpreter, actor, and writer Laura Rocklyn. Who Dares to Be an Authoress Written and Performed by Laura Rocklyn The year is 1815, and Jane Austen has just returned from a visit to the Prince Regent’s London residence. The honor of this invitation prompts her to reminisce about the events that led the daughter of a country clergyman to a position of such prominence. She shares her thoughts and feelings about her novels and how their publication changed her life for ever. This short play, originally presented under the title Miss Austen at Home, was written for a performance at The Swan’s Island Educational Society in Maine in the summer of 2013. Since that time, Jane Austen: Who Dares to be an Authoress has made the rounds of libraries, museums, and other educational institutions across the country, and the program continues to grow and develop with every new performance and audience. For her initial research on the play, Laura is indebted to Deirdre Le Faye’s published collection of Jane Austen’s Letters, in addition to the illuminating biographies of Austen by Park Honan, Claire Tomalin, Juliet McMaster, and George Holbert Tucker, among others. Laura Rocklyn has performed with theaters across the country and worked as an historical interpreter at museums up and down the East Coast. The stage adaptation of Jane Eyre that Laura co-wrote with Sally Boyett was produced by the Classic Theatre of Maryland in the spring of 2024; Laura’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol has been performed at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in 2022 and 2023; and the bio-drama about Clover Adams that Laura co-wrote with Ty Hallmark was produced by Ally Theatre Company in 2017. Laura has published articles in “Brontë Studies” and “The Revere Express,” and she was the winner of the LitMag 2021 Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction. Laura is a Member of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and an Acting Troupe Member with History At Play. Laura holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College and an MFA from The Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University