February 7 – 22, 2025
Fridays at 7 p.m.
Saturdays at 7 p.m.
Sundays at 2 p.m.
Photography // Joshua Hasty Photography
January/February 2025
This isn’t your grandmother’s Jane Austen!
Bold, surprising, boisterous and timely, this “Pride & Prejudice” for a new era explores the absurdities and thrills of finding your perfect (or imperfect) match in life. The outspoken Lizzy Bennet is determined to never marry, despite mounting pressure from society. But can she resist love, especially when that vaguely handsome, mildly amusing and impossibly aggravating Mr. Darcy keeps popping up at every turn? Literature’s greatest tale of latent love has never felt so theatrical or so full of life than it does in this effervescent adaptation. Because what turns us into greater fools… than the high-stakes game of love? (Dramatists Play Service, Inc.)
Purchase your tickets at civictheatre.org!
Emily Tzucker — Director
The script itself is unique. Unlike the movie or the miniseries, which are very nuanced [with] lots of soft tones and voices, Kate Hamill’s adaptation is very funny and a little rowdy at times. It’s all very illustrative and almost cartoonish in our design to really lean into Hamill’s adaptation of the play, but at the same time, what I love is it juxtaposes with the really honest and nuanced parts of the book that are still in the play as well, so you get both, and it’s a fast play — two hours — and that includes the intermission.
We have 13 fabulous actors. Everyone’s hard-working, pleasant and funny. They are bringing a lot to each of their roles that have grown them and made them even more interesting. One of the great things about this famous classic novel is that it’s one of the original rom-coms. It’s a will-they-won’t-they romantic comedy. It’s a great way to learn about classic literature and theater in a way that is contemporary and fun!
Carly Kirby – Lizzy Bennet
This [P&P] will be my fifth [Civic] show, and mine and Emily’s third time doing Pride and Prejudice together — and I finally got the role of Lizzy!
It’s definitely more comedic. Having that ability to find the physical and comedic parts of Lizzie has been fun. She’s smart and very sure of herself, but not in terms of love. The pace of the show is so fast and already funny in itself, so we just have to put it all together on stage!
Tanner Brunson – Mr. Darcy
As of this March, this will be my tenth year with Civic and my second official principal role. I had just come off of doing “Macbeth” at Indy Fringe, and I wanted to do something lighthearted. Mr. Darcy can be a complex person, but honestly, there are days where it feels like I’m myself on stage — but with better posture!
There’s this aura that Mr. Darcy brings to everything — of being right, definitive, of taking a stance and making a choice.
Susan Smith – Lady Catherine
I do tend to play the villains because they’re just so much fun. Lady Catherine is a delight. She’s privileged, she grew up privileged and she’s just a master of her own little universe. She has no problem telling everybody so. She’s kind of like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland. She wants it her way and nothing else.
She wants Darcy to marry her daughter. Period. That’s how it’s done. That’s the way the properties will come together. It [has] been planned since they were born, and Darcy is not cooperating, and she is not pleased with this. “Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?”
CAST LIST
Lizzy Bennet – Carly Kirby
Jane Bennet – Julia Ammons
Lydia Bennet – Elaine Endris
Mary Bennet – Leah Hodson
Mr. Darcy – Tanner Brunson
Mr. Bingley – Louis Soria
Mr. Collins – Matt Anderson
Mr. Wickham – Daniel Wilke
Miss Bingley – Alaine Sims
Charlotte Lucas – Kelsey VanVoorst
Mrs. Bennet – Jennifer Simms
Mr. Bennet – Rex Wolfley
Lady Catherine – Susan Smith
