“I choose a play because I love it,� says Austin Shakespeare artistic director Ann Ciccolella. “And often times, if you do what you love, other people love it too.�
She’s talking about Austin Shakespeare’s upcoming production of Sense and Sensibility, a play dear to Ciccolella’s heart but which, she admits, is also likely to sell plenty of tickets. “I do have to say that I also have the knowledge that Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s� second novel was our most-attended show. And as we come back from Covid, we all thought oh, people are gonna really want to come to shows! It’s good to pick a show that people really want to see, so hence Sense and Sensibility. And these are the same adaptors, Joe Hanreddy & J.R. Sullivan, that wrote the adaptation that we were doing for Pride and Prejudice.�
Ciccolella is more than ready to put productions on an actual stage again, with a live audience, after a couple of years of producing for a computer screen and a Zoom audience. And so is actor Corinna Browning, who plays Elinor Dashwood in this production. “Well� with Zoom I felt like you get to do a bit of film acting, which I really like because I always want to do things very small and intimate � and Ann’s always telling me, ‘Bigger! Bigger! Bigger!� she says. “So I liked Zoom for that reason, but there’s just something about chemistry on stage. Getting to experience that with someone and connect with them and just exercise a larger set of emotions is really exciting and I’ve missed that so much. Just being with people has been so nice.�
“We have 17 actors in our cast,� Ciccolella agrees, “and they are so happy to be together!�
Browning says she’s really connected with the character of Elinor and grown to love her, but the actor came into Sense and Sensibility as a complete newbie to the world of Jane Austen. “You know, I actually didn’t have any Jane Austen experience coming into this project,� she confesses with a laugh. “I started Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and I didn’t finish it. And that’s where we’re at with Jane Austen. Yeah, I know. My apologies to everyone who loves Jane Austen! But coming into this role, I love Elinor Dashwood. I feel like � I tell Ann all the time � I feel like I have a ton in common with Elinor. She’s super-smart, she thinks she knows best for everyone in the world, which I occasionally admit to feeling that. And she’s just a really sensitive person. She loves art, she loves to draw, she loves to support people. And so I feel I resonate a lot with her.�
“I’m looking forward to the audience being in the room with us,� Ciccolella says. “Because all of a sudden, things sound differently. And, you know, laughter’s always a plus, and we know that Jane Austen is very witty. But we also know that she’s really touching, and it shifts from being very bright to very dark kind of quickly.�
