My first memory of Jane Austen was watching the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice with my parents in middle school. Needless to say, it bewitched me body and soul, and I’ve watched it at least once every year ever since.

I had a really good friend in High School who was obsessed with the book and lent me her pastel blue and gold, beautifully bound hardcover copy and we also watched the 2005 film together. By the end I couldn’t stop crying. Thanks to that movie, I’ve jokingly said on several occasions if my lifelong partner and I didn’t declare our love for each other while the sun was rising and strings swelled in the background, it just wouldn’t be as memorable!

I’m ashamed to say I had never read the book in its entirety until I understudied the role of Mrs. Bennett at Utah Shakespeare Festival. I had however read Emma while preparing to play Mrs. Weston in the play by the same name. I love the sexual innuendo, the carefully disguised insults, and the depth of feeling in Jane Austin’s quick dialogue. It’s always a joy to inhabit insightful women who feel as deeply and have as sizable a vocabulary as her female characters. Mrs. Bennett is a feisty narcissistic hypochondriac who deeply loves her family. She’s such, such fun!

The first time Capri Campeau was introduced to Pride and Prejudice was during a high school production. Knowing nothing of the show, she auditioned and was not cast- however as she watched on opening night, she fell in love with the story and bond of the Bennett sisters.

Sophia’s first memory of Pride and Prejudice was reading it for a book report in her freshman year of high school. She remembers the strength of each character and how moved she was by the Bennet sister’s relationships with one another.

I’m embarrassed to say I’d only ever heard of Darcy as “dreamboat wet shirt colin firth” before this audition, probably because I’d never considered the American Theatre would seek to cast me in this play, let alone this role. How wrong I was, and how delighted I am to discover the fact. I have now seen the 2005 Kiera Knightley film, and am resolved to watch the 1995 series. Like Darcy, I now seek to rectify my mistakes. I also concur that Collins is “the human equivalent of period cramps”. #imsorryaboutladycatherinedebourgh

I’m rather embarrassed to admit that I had never read “Pride and Prejudice” before being asked to audition.  I never saw a stage production nor a motion picture rendition of it.  I would laugh a little too hard at some witty reference to Mr. Darcy to disguise my ignorance, and think “I really should acquaint myself to that piece.”  This experience has allowed me, thankfully, to now respond to references to Fitzwilliam Darcy with the appropriate amount of chuckle.

“My first exposure to Jane Austen is honestly embarrassing, it was reading the books Pride and Prejudice and Zombies a nd Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters when I was thirteen years old.”

“My first exposure to Jane Austen…? I mean, for such a long time this has been a staple story I took for granted. I am so excited to bring a more diverse cast to this beautiful comedy that belongs to everyone. Honestly, Darcy may be how I learned what the word “pride” meant in the first place. Pride and Prejudice is in many ways a flagship of British theatre, but I am thrilled to fly this flag anew with this fresh adaptation.”

I grew up renting the 1995 Pride and Prejudice every year or two and marathoning all six episodes over the course of a weekend. I was besotted by the story, the costumes, the gorgeous locations, and of course, the characters. I read Jane Austen’s books in high school but I didn’t really get them–found them boring, I am ashamed to admit!! I have a crystal clear memory of telling my English teacher, Mrs. Woodbury, that I like Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights much better because it was much more passionate. (I know, I know.) She responded that she loved Austen’s humor. Humor? I remember thinking. What humor? I revisited Austen a few years later, on the lookout for humor, and was delighted by what I found. I couldn’t be happier to bring the humor, joy, and romance of her work to life in this lovely adaptation.

My first experience with Jane Austen was playing the role of Sir John Middleton in the Lyric Rep of Logan, Utah’s production of “Sense and Sensibility”. I love the wit of the language. Sir John is such a jolly fellow and it was great fun!

I remember leaning over to my mother at the movie theater during a preview for the 2005 film adaptation of Pride & Prejudice and breathing, “Oh, that looks good.” My mother insisted I read the book before we saw the movie. Austen characters litter my list of dream roles and make up the majority of the stories I continually return to. What I love about Pride & Prejudice is the way two people have to come to terms with their mistakes in order to find happiness and love with each other. I love Austen’s mastery of high romance and absurd comedy. Some of the highlights of my life were spending time at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, UK and seeing Jane’s sister Cassandra’s original portrait of the author at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

My first exposure to Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice was an afternoon at the library, with my baby in the stroller wanting to go home for his nap, and I realized that for the first time in a while, I might have some moments to read simply for pleasure. I started with the As, and Jane Austen said: Why have you not yet read me? I reached for the most famous, wondering if it would explain her appeal. How it did! It was funny! Spot on. And lovingly sarcastic, and piercing. And so began my love affair, and every time I experience Pride and Prejudice, I find something delightful and new.

My first experience with “Pride and Prejudice” was watching the movie with my mom one lazy Sunday afternoon. My mom at one point said “This is just like India! Everyone is worried about status and money. India used to not be like that. I think British brought all that over and messed everything up.” I just laughed. It’s probably true lol.