The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged

At any moment, any one of the authors might be writing, acting, directing, or dramaturging, all of which they almost all do. They might also be winning a game of corn hole (Jessica), searching for pugs and ironic t-shirts (Charlotte), planning—but maybe not doing—home improvement projects (KC), or throwing an annual Oscar party with only pun-based foods (Meghan). Between them, they have over 200 production credits, six cats, two dogs, and four children. As a kid, Jessica won a science award and got to ride Space Mountain with the lights on so she could study how the physics of the ride worked, which is more like playwrighting than you might expect. KC bakes pies, and plans and hosts intensely competitive (and tasty) pie contests among her friends. Charlotte is Canadian, married to another actor, and has British parents, so she’s basically cheating when she does all those accents. Meghan was a bronze medalist on Jeopardy!, where Alex identified her as the person who could tell him whether Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner were still together (he was right, and they were not). They came together as multihyphenate theater artists, friends, and Janeites to write The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged over 18 months, many bottles of wine, several wheels of cheese, and with all their love for a genius artist and the many people like them who still can’t get enough of her.

Jessica Bedford is a Philadelphia-based actor, director, dramaturg, playwright, and teacher. She has been seen onstage at McCarter Theatre, Walnut Street Theater, Lantern Theatre Co, Montgomery Theatre, Act II Playhouse, Tiny Dynamite, Theatre Horizon, People’s Light and Theatre Co. and other stages in the Philadelphia area. Recent directing credits include Delaware Shakespeare, the Philadelphia Artists’ Collective, Act II Playhouse, DeSales University, and the McCarter. As a writer, her works have been produced with Passage Theatre, 1812 Productions, Recognize Theatre, Act II Playhouse, Tiny Dynamite, Villanova University Theatre, Juniper Productions, and Riverside Theatre (Iowa). Jessica has taught at Villanova University, Temple University, DeSales University, and University of the Arts. She was a finalist for the 2018 F. Otto Haas Emerging Artist Award from Theatre Philadelphia and a 2012 finalist for NY Stage & Film’s Founder Award. She is a professor of theatre at DeSales University. Villanova University, MA; Queens University, MFA.

Kathryn MacMillan is the Artistic Director of Philadelphia’s Tiny Dynamite, where The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged had its world premiere in 2019; KC is also the new Artistic Director of Inis Nua Theatre Company. KC has directed nearly 60 productions in regional theater and off-Broadway, including NYC’s Theatre Row; Lantern Theater and InterAct Theater (Philadelphia); Delaware Theatre Company (Wilmington, DE); Dram Tree Shakespeare (Wilmington, NC); and Theatre Horizon in Norristown, PA, where her production of The Revolutionists was recently nominated for six Barrymore Awards for Theatre Excellence, including Best Production and Best Director. Philadelphia Weekly named her Beauty Queen of Leenane the Best of the Year, and the Daily News named Doubt one of the Best Plays of 2015. Other Barrymore nods include Outstanding Direction for The Hothouse, I Am My Own Wife, and The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged. In 2015, she was named one of Billy Penn’s Who’s Next: 16 Young Philadelphians Shaping the Arts Scene. 

Charlotte Northeast is a two-time Barrymore Award winner for her work at InterAct and Lantern Theater Company. She is a graduate of Circle in the Square. Credits include Philadelphia Artists’ Collective (PAC), of which she’s an Artistic Associate; Act II Playhouse; Theatre Exile; Passage Theatre; Azuka; Montgomery Stage; Hedgerow; Orbiter 3 (Barrymore Nomination); Theatre Horizon; Delaware Theatre Company; and the Walnut Street Theatre. She has directed for PAC, InterAct, Curio, Hedgerow, and Philadelphia Young Playwrights. Charlotte is a co-creator and performer of The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged and a world premiere solo show, They’ve All Gone & We’ll Go Too which traveled to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2022. Co-creator of You Shouldn’t be Doing What You’re Doing on that Ladder with Tribe of Fools. Visit: www.charlottenortheast.com

Meghan Winch is a Philadelphia-area dramaturg, actor, and playwright. She is the Associate Artistic Director of Tiny Dynamite, where she cowrote The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged and wrote Georgiana Recovered in Time — a play-by-mail in 10 installments set in the world of Pride and Prejudice, co-created with designer Natalia de la Torre. She has dramaturged more than 30 productions at Lantern Theater Company (resident dramaturg), Shakespeare in Clark Park, Tiny Dynamite, Hedgerow Theatre, Theatre Horizon, Iron Age, and Beacon Theater. As an actor, she’s appeared at Tiny Dynamite, the Lantern, Shakespeare in Clark Park, and Hedgerow. She earned her MA in Theatre with a focus on dramaturgy at Villanova University.