Noted author Jane Austen marks her 250^th birthday this December, and to celebrate, Rock Island Public Library is offering a free opportunity this Saturday to "meet" the artist herself. 

A Visit With Jane Austen, a one-woman show by Chicago actress Debra Ann Miller, takes place Saturday, December 6 at 11 am at the Rock Island Public Library Watts-Midtown Branch, 2715 30^th Street, Rock Island. The free first-person portrayal offers a chance to get to know the life, works, and family ties of the noted author. It’s free and open to all ages. 

Drawing from letters, young works, and novels, this 45-minute performance delves into the personal life of one of the most beloved and intriguing novelists of the 19th century. We meet Miss Austen in the autumn of 1815, the most vibrant and hopeful time of her life. Jane’s first three novels, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Mansfield Park have been published, and a new book, Emma, is complete. Through Miller, Jane Austen speaks about her childhood in Steventon, her brothers and beloved sister Cassandra, and her writing. Learn about her exotic cousin Eliza, her mentor and friend Madame LeFroy, and the loves and losses that shaped her life and informed her perception of the world. By the end of the presentation, both casual readers and devoted “Janeites,” will know more about both the woman and the author. 

Debra Ann Miller is a professional actress, vocalist and voice-over talent with over 30 years of experience as a performer for live audiences, television, and film. Debra has balanced her career between commercial and educational theater since graduating from Michigan State University’s Department of Theater in 1985.  Debra toured the country with such prestigious children's theater companies as Artreach, now the Children's Theater of Cincinnati, and Child's Play Touring Theatre. Since 1997, she has traveled the country with Michael Krebs of With Lincoln Production as one of our nation’s more controversial First Ladies, Mary Todd Lincoln in Visiting the Lincolns; accompanying him to such places as the University of West Virginia, the Gerald R Ford and Abraham Lincoln Memorial Library and Museums, and The Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. 

In 2010 she began creating her own company focused on writing and producing one-woman plays in which she portrays important historical figures such as authors Jane Austen, Beatrix Potter, Mary Shelley, Louisa May Alcott, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, as well as a one-woman performance as Mary Todd Lincoln entitled Mrs. Lincoln’s Salon. Debra still works in the Chicago Theatres; most recently she starred in A Midwinter Mummers Tale, and In the Observarium for Terra Mysterium Theatre, Flanagan's Wake at the Noble Fool Theater, and as Rose Kennedy in Chicago Dramatist's production of Rosemary at the Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theatre. Debra won Best Actress in the 2004 Chicago Indiefest for her performance in her first film, Zen Noir.

Time will be available after the performance for audience questions and answers. 

For more details about these, and other events at the Rock Island Public Library, visit the library website, call 309-732-READ, or follow the library’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.