"Improvised Jane Austen" now at the iO Theater
CHICAGO (CBS)—More than 200 years after her birth, author Jane Austen's work still appeals to audiences with a mix of romance and period drama, including lovers of improv comedy, which takes place at the iO Theater.
"Improvised Jane Austen" has been pleasing audiences in Chicago since 2008. Seeing Jane Austen and the costume romances of the silver screen might come to mind, and her books from "Pride and Prejudice" to "Sense and Sensibility," published in the 1800s, have an enduring charm on stage at the iO Theater.
The engaging troupe of performers with improv suggestions from the audience creates original stories populated by the character types and social norms that make Austin's work so enduring.
Cast member and producer Kate Parker-Barrows explains how classic literature and current-day comedy work together.
"We use Jane Austen's tropes and Regency era ideas as a filter for our improvisation, and we use the characters that she has, not the literal characters, as in Mr. Darcy or Lizzie Bennet or Mr. Wickham, but characters like that, the cad, the heroine, the nosy neighbor. It's not modern. It's 1810, but because we're in the modern world, some of the storylines that we're telling have a different perspective," Parker-Barrows said.
What about Austen still appeals to modern audiences?
"Well, she's the mother of the rom-com. She's funny. Her characters are funny, and we know these people, and so it's relatable now, as much as it was, you know, 200 years ago, when she wrote the book," Parker-Barrows said.
Austen novels illustrate young women's times and lives, but they cover much more, noted Parker-Barrows.
"So much about women's lives, and you know what their opportunities were and what choices they got to make, which was very little."
"Improvised Jane Austen" is on stage every Saturday at the iO Theater.