One successful match convinces Emma Woodhouse that she knows what’s best for people romantically. We discover otherwise in “Jane Austen’s Emma,” Phil Timberlake’s adaptation of the classic novel, March 23-April 24, at First Folio Theatre in Oak Brook.
Performances are 8 p.m. Wednesdays; 3 p.m. Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 4 p.m. (except March 26) and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 3 p.m. Sundays, plus 8 p.m. March 24.
“She’s really complicated,” said Vero Maynez, who stars as Emma. “She is frustrating and lovable at the same time. I really love her dimensionality. She’s such a dreamer. She’s 21 years old but she’s also a young soul.”
Maynez said that she has been doing research on the author and the period in which she lived. She discovered that men questioned why Austen didn’t write about things that they considered important, like religion or science.
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Her answer, Maynez said, was “I write about what I know.” Her audience was “the everyday woman,” the actor said.
It turns out that Maynez would have been comfortable with Austen even if she wrote about “important things.” The actor attended the University of California at Berkeley with the intention of becoming a mathematics professor, but her focus changed there.
“The theater there is so embedded in community and social change. I fell in love with the type of theater they do at Berkeley,” she related. “I decided I needed conservatory training so I moved to Chicago and got my master’s at DePaul.” She graduated in 2020.
Director Rachel Lambert would obviously agree that Maynez made the right career choice.
She was highly impressed with Maynez’s audition, which was conducted over Zoom.
“We had a really excellent back-and-forth communication,” Lambert recalled. “She would ask questions and we could talk about things. Then she would read a scene having taken in that information. It made me excited to work with her. Not only was her audition great but that the process with her was going to be really interesting. She captured both that playful energy but then she found the depth behind it as well.”
Lambert is also a fan of the author.
“I really like Jane Austen and I like the subtlety of the relationships in all Jane Austen’s works,” Lambert said. She is particularly enthusiastic about Timberlake’s version of “Emma.”
“I like everything about this adaptation of ‘Emma,'” the director said. “I think it is about as close as you can get to what theater is really all about. It is about a journey of your imagination. It is playful and fun.”
One interesting aspect of this version is that all of the cast members, except Emma, play multiple roles. “It really helps us see the story through Emma’s eyes,” Lambert said.
The four-member ensemble includes Bradley Halverson, Dina Monk, Ethan Miles Perry, and Nate Santana.
Santana was familiar with “Emma,” because he saw the most recent film based on the novel. He plays five characters in this show, his main one being Mr. Knightley.
The actor said that “duty and responsibility are the words that come to mind,” when he thinks of Mr. Knightley. He praised the repartee that the character has with Emma, which is as enjoyable for the actor as it is for his character.
“His relationship with Emma makes him happy,” Santana said. “Not necessarily going all the way toward a romantic side. Just their friendship. Their ability to communicate.”
The challenge for Santana is finding ways to differentiate the multiple characters he is playing. That involves “finding a different rhythm and movement pattern for all of those to make them distinguishable,” he said.
Directing this show also offers challenges, Lambert admitted.
“It is a logistical challenge because there are so many ins and outs with these actors changing roles and everything is kind of always in motion,” she said. “The first challenge of it was creating a mapping system of who’s playing what at any given moment.”
That process also leads to one of the most enjoyable aspects of directing this show for Lambert.
“It’s all about getting to watch the talent of these actors as they transform right in front of you,” she declared. “There is really a wonderful spirit in the rehearsal room that I am enjoying immensely.”
“Something that we keep talking about in the cast is that we’re so excited to do this production because it’s so fun,” Maynez added.
Lambert praised the script saying, “This show is pretty distinctive because it tells this story in such a wonderfully imaginative way that feels like the way children play and lets their imagination feel real.”
‘Jane Austen’s Emma’
When: March 26-April 24; previews March 23-25
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Where: First Folio Theatre at Mayslake Peabody Estate, 31st St. and Route 83, Oak Brook
Tickets: $44-$59; $20 students; $29 previews
Information: 630-986-8067; firstfolio.org
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.