Past Events 2010-2011
December 10, 2011
JASNA NorCal celebrated Jane Austen's Birthday Gala with a lavish
breakfast, sumptuous brunch, high tea, birthday cake with
champagne toast, quizes & prizes, and holiday merchantile.
Kendra van Cleave, the keynote speaker delivered a speech titled,
"As Fashionable and Deceiving as Ever: English Hairstyles in the
Late Georgian and Regency Eras". A librarian/historian at SFSU,
Ms. van Cleave's area of expertise is the societal background
behind 18th century fashion. The speech traced changes in fashion
from the Georgian to the Regency era, focusing on changing
hairstyles as worn in England within their social, cultural, and
political context.
The celebrations included, A Reading by Jane Austen Players:
"Holds on Happiness: from Jane Austen's letters, on fashion,
balls, dining, theatre, and other Regency delights". JASNA Norcal
Regional Coordinator Anne Krause spoke on "Did Jane Austen Make
the Regency Romantic?".
September 25, 2010
To Make Out Your Character
Jane Austen and Fanny Price
The elegant and insightful Dr. Margaret Horwitz opened our meeting at Trinity Episcopal Church in Menlo Park with Jane Austen's Legacy of Hope: Reconciliation in Her Written Prayers and Novels.
Afterwards, we explored the character of Jane Austen's most debatable heroine, Fanny Price. Do you envision Fanny as a perceptive, steadfast, right-thinking lady or does she tip more toward the spineless, fainting ninny in your mind? Two speakers, moderated by Anne Krause, lead the debate.
June 27, 2010
On June 27th, eighty elegantly attired and eminently refined
guests enjoyed an unforgettable afternoon at the Berkeley City
Club as JASNA NorCal hosted a Summer Ball. For three hours the
Divertimento Dance Orchestra and dance master Alan Winston
challenged our members to step lively through the figures of
several country dances, and although we had many folks in
attendance who were new to Regency dancing, we managed to keep our
lines fairly straight, our figures roughly correct and our feet
just about in the right places. Though our performance might not
have been absolutely perfect, our enjoyment of the afternoon
certainly was.
In an adjoining room, members gambled for fish tokens at two Loo
and Speculation tables. Lady luck smiled on Lucia Nardi, who was
the big winner of the afternoon. With a school of over 100 fish in
her posession at the close of the day, she took home a pair of
antique, mother-of-pearl, fish-shaped gaming tokens dating from
approximately 1790.
When all was said and done, there were many happy smiles and tired
feet -- the perfect end to any ball.
March 20, 2010
In cooperation with San Francisco State University's Opera Program, JASNA NorCal celebrated spring with a tribute to Jane Austen and the Arts. Kirke Mechem, a Bay Area composer of opera, discussed the process he used adapting Pride and Prejudice to operatic format. Several wonderfully talented students from the school performed excerpts. In the second half of the meeting, the president of JASNA's National organization, Marsha Huff, treated us to Viewing Austen Through Vermeer's Camera Obscura, a comparison of the techniques Jane Austen and Vermeer both used in creating their masterworks. Local actors Christine U'Ren and Matt Weimer performed several scenes from Austen's novels during this presentation.
Updated 3/18/2012