Special Sessions & Events

Important things to know about Special Sessions:

Unless marked with ($), all special sessions on this page are included in the AGM Attendee registration fee. Companion registration does not include non-ticketed special sessions, but Companions may purchase tickets for sessions marked with ($).

Schedules are subject to change.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8

AGM Early Arrivals Meet and Greet

Wednesday, 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Stop by this informal gathering, held at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, and see who else has arrived at the AGM.

Golden Age P&P: Movie Screening $

Cost: $15
Wednesday, 7:45 pm to 10:30 pm, doors open at 7:15 pm
Harbor East Cinemas (across from the hotel)
Tickets required

Have you ever seen Pride and Prejudice (1940), starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, on the big screen? Now is your chance, and it’s always better with other Janeites. Fast-paced and crafted to lift the spirits of a wartime audience, this is a different Pride and Prejudice, but its legendary cast and witty dialogue have made it a classic on its own merits. Enjoy the show with Professors Linda Troost and Sayre Greenfield, authors of Jane Austen in Hollywood, who will provide a brief pre-show overview and lead a post-watch discussion on this unique adaptation. Special themed cocktails and light refreshments will be available to purchase.

Accessibility notes:

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9

Life and Literary Legacy of Edgar Allan Poe

Eben Dennis, Enoch Pratt Free Library
Thursday, 9:00 am to 9:40 am

Eben Dennis will guide attendees in experiencing the mysterious life and literary legacy of Edgar Allan Poe. He will discuss what the Enoch Pratt Free Library's collections, including manuscripts, letters, and personal items, reveal about Poe's personal life and family, his writings, and his mysterious death in Baltimore in 1849.

Eben Dennis manages the Special Collections Department at the Enoch Pratt Free Library and Maryland State Library Resource Center, where he oversees the library's rich collection of rare books, maps, prints, manuscripts, and artifacts, and its extensive Edgar Allan Poe collection. As a public-sector librarian, he balances the preservation needs of the collection with the library’s mission of providing access to its materials by giving tours, curating exhibits, and speaking about the collections in the community.

Austen’s Genius Shared Through Community Engagement

Thursday, 9:00 am to 10:30 am
Danielle Battle, Maryland Region
Lisa Brown, Central and Western New York Region
Renata Dennis, Georgia Region
Dr. Celia A. Easton, Central and Western New York Region
Agnes Gawne, Puget Sound Region
Dr. Alice Villaseñor, Central and Western New York Region

Five JASNA members are joined by Baltimore community engagement activist Danielle Battle to describe ways that Jane Austen’s readers can actively promote social justice, literacy skills, and positive community connections. As Claudia Johnson noted in her 2023 AGM lecture (“Austen Escape, or Taking Liberty”), Austen’s readers bring her genius into their world to think about solutions to social problems, not simply to escape into an idealized past. Dani Battle’s workshop will help attendees develop tools to create and sustain engagement in their own communities. Speakers will discuss their experiences with the JASNA Book Box program, local writing contests, and curriculum-building using Austen novels and adaptations to connect teenagers to the personal and universal life challenges Austen writes about.

Panelists:

Danielle (Dani) Battle, Deputy Executive Director of RICH—Restoring Inner City Hope, leads initiatives to empower youth and families in Baltimore. With more than two decades of experience in education, she has worked in schools across Baltimore and Washington, D.C., focusing on communities that have historically been excluded from opportunities due to systemic racism. Battle is dedicated to expanding impact through youth development, workforce training, and community-building initiatives. A sought-after public speaker, she has presented on equitable education, student engagement, nonprofit leadership, and hyper-local community work at the White House, the Aspen Ideas Festival, and SXSW. Her work centers on creating pathways for historically marginalized youth and fostering sustainable community-driven solutions.

Lisa Brown leads JASNA's highly successful Jane Austen Book Box program and recently served as Regional Coordinator for Central and Western New York.

Renata Dennis is a retired nurse. Renata is currently the Georgia Regional Coordinator, an At-Large Board Member of JASNA, and chair of the EDI Committee.

Celia Easton, Professor of English Emerita at the State University of New York at Geneseo, will moderate this panel. She is a former Regional Coordinator and has spoken at numerous AGMs. She serves as a member of the Persuasions editorial board and as Vice President for Publications. Her scholarship includes essays in Persuasions, MLA's Approaches to Teaching Austen's Emma, The Age of Johnson, and The Journal of Narrative Technique.

Agnes Gawne works in medical research. Agnes is a JASNA life member who has served her Region as program coordinator, Regional Coordinator, and treasurer. She taught fashion history for 20 years in Seattle and has delivered many presentations on the fashions of Jane Austen’s life as well as customs around clothing and holidays.

Dr. Alice Villaseñor, Associate Director of Civic and Community Engagement at SUNY Buffalo State University, is a life member of JASNA, the 2006 JASNA International Visitor, a former Board Member of JASNA, and a member of the EDI Committee.

Georgian Buildings Inside & Out

Thursday, 10:00 am to 10:40 am

In a joint session, Merri Cvetan and Donna Corbett will discuss the defining characteristics of buildings and furniture that Jane Austen would have known.

A Change in Style—Regency Furniture and Jane Austen

Merri Cvetan, Wisconsin Region

We’re familiar with Austen’s writing desk, but what other pieces of furniture filled the Austen homes? This session will look at Regency-era furniture associated with Austen, then compare those pieces with furnishings in the homes of her brother Edward and the homes of some of the wealthy landowners in her novels. How did interiors differ between the social classes? Her letters offer a few clues, as do her books. She didn’t describe Lady Bertram’s sofa, her mother’s Pembroke table, or the chest of drawers made from deal wood, but by exploring interiors, we’ll get an idea how she and her family lived.

Merri Cvetan is an interior designer and an Adjunct Instructor at Mount Mary University in the Interior Architecture and Design program. Her specialty is historic restoration and preservation. In addition to living in an 1880s farmhouse, Merri has worked on many historic homes and museums in Wisconsin. She currently serves as the Membership Secretary for the JASNA Wisconsin Region.

Robert Adam, Designer for the Age of Austen

Donna M. Corbett, Washington, DC, Metropolitan Region

By the late 18th century, Georgian Britain was known for its neoclassical taste, appearing in buildings, furnishings, ceramics, clothing, and more. The leading proponent of this Roman neoclassicism was Scottish-born architect Robert Adam, whose graceful and elegant designs for buildings and their interiors created a distinct “look” that we now associate with the age of Austen. This short talk will give a brief outline of the adoption of this dominant aesthetic standard and its lasting influence in Britain and America.

Donna M. Corbett is a historian and former Smithsonian museum curator. She has presented and published on a variety of historical topics, including politics, aviation, and clothing. Her current research focuses on late 18th- and early 19th-century England and America, with a special interest in architecture and landscape design.

Frederick Douglass: From Enslaved to Diplomat!

Vivian Fisher, Enoch Pratt Free Library
Thursday, 11:00 am to 11:40 am

This session will examine the life events of Frederick Douglass as his journey takes him from an enslaved boy on the Eastern Shore of Maryland to one of the highest-ranking African American men of the 19th century. His biography is fascinating, from the time he learned to read and write to becoming an editor of two newspapers during the 19th century and then a United States diplomat, serving a country that once considered him chattel property. We will discover Douglass’s impact on the world as he fought for the rights of full citizenship for all in his country of birth.

Vivian Fisher is Deputy Chief of Public Services at the Enoch Pratt Free Library Central Branch. As the first and former manager of the African American Department of the Pratt Library, she has given numerous lectures and presentations on African American subjects, including civil rights, the Harlem Renaissance, African American women, and African American genealogy.

Maryland Center for History and Culture Collections Spotlight: Joshua Johnson and Elizabeth Bonaparte

Dr. Martina Kado, Maryland Center for History and Culture
Catherine Rogers Arthur, Maryland Center for History and Culture
Thursday, 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm

Joshua Johnson was a self-taught African American portraitist in Federal-era Baltimore. He painted prominent Maryland residents and their children, and his paintings show his talent and attention to detail. Several of his paintings and his manumission papers are held and exhibited at the Maryland Center.

Elizabeth Bonaparte was born in Baltimore and is best known as the first wife of Jérôme Bonaparte. She was the daughter of an Irish-American flour merchant who became one of the wealthiest men in Maryland, and at the age of 18 she met Napoleon’s brother, who was visiting the United States. Her complicated relationships, daring spirit, and assiduous pursuit of recognition have inspired several fictional works and films.

Dr. Martina Kado is Vice President of Research and France-Merrick Director of the H. Furlong Baldwin Library. Catherine Rogers Arthur is the Vice President of Collections and Chief Curator.

Who Received the Check for Jane Austen's Creations?

Katherine Toran, Eastern Pennsylvania Region
Thursday, 2:30 pm to 3:10 pm

Jane Austen was paid only £684 for the four books published in her lifetime. This session will adjust that figure for inflation and translate it to U.S. dollars to calculate Austen’s lifetime earnings, then compare that to how much her publisher made from her work. Finally, the session will calculate the total sales of Austen’s novels until the modern day and estimate the sales value of spin-off books and movies. The findings support Austen’s claims to have received less of a check than she deserved.

Katherine Toran has a PhD in economics from the University of Kentucky and is employed at the Food and Drug Administration. She presented “The Economics of Jane Austen’s World” at the 2015 JASNA AGM, examining the wealth of various Austen characters in modern dollars.

Special Guest Speaker
Through Family Eyes: Jane Austen's Chawton Legacy

Caroline Jane Knight
Thursday, 4:00 pm to 4:40 pm
This presentation is made possible by a generous grant from Erna Arneson.

Discover a unique perspective on Jane Austen's world through the experiences of the last of her nieces to grow up at Chawton House, in the heart of Jane's literary legacy. Experience the Austen descendants' ancestral home through family stories and treasured heirlooms that Austen herself would have known. This talk features significant ancestors, familiar to Austen as well, who shaped the estate's heritage across generations. Caroline Jane Knight’s personal anecdotes, never-before-shared family photographs, and recollections of encounters with early JASNA members bring to life a childhood heavily influenced by Jane Austen's presence and literary legacy. She will show precious family artifacts that connect the Knight family to their notable ancestors, creating tangible links between past and present.

Caroline Jane Knight is Jane Austen’s fifth great niece and the last of her nieces to grow up at Chawton House. Caroline is author of Jane & Me: My Austen Heritage, Founder and Chair of the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation, Patron of Jane Austen Regency Week, and Director of The Austen Pathway. Caroline has shared her Austen heritage at over 100 events in Europe and Australasia, and she presents the “My Austen Heritage” podcast.

Northanger Abbey Escape Room $

Cost: $25
Thursday, 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Thursday, 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm
(multiple identical sessions will be offered)
Tickets required

Have you the wit to escape Northanger Abbey? Mrs. Catherine Tilney invites you to her husband’s ancestral home, but it will take more than a jolly farewell to leave. Use your Austen knowledge and puzzle-solving skills to get the prize before the general abruptly calls you a coach! Teams and individuals welcome, costumes optional, bodies probably hidden on the premises. Escapees will win a button and bragging rights, and photo opportunities are available to all!

Scents and Sensibilities: The Fragrances, Aromas, and Smells of Jane Austen’s Regency World

Dan Macey, Eastern Pennsylvania Region
Thursday, 8:00 pm to 8:40 pm

This session explores the rich and often surprising world of Regency-era scents, from the perfumes and personal hygiene of the fashionable elite to the less pleasant and overwhelming realities of the urban, industrial, and agricultural landscapes. The aromas of bustling marketplaces and street life, as well as the spices and flavors that defined the Regency dining table and kitchen, will be uncovered. This is a special sensory journey into the past where every scent tells a story of culture and daily life in Jane Austen’s time. The talk is based on period correspondence, contemporary accounts, and Austen’s own writings.

Dan Macey has worked as an award-winning food stylist for over 25 years, bringing food images to life for advertising, packaging, and editorial purposes. He also writes about food and food history and is on the board of the Historic Foodways Society of the Delaware Valley. He regularly speaks on food history topics. He created three videos for the virtual AGM in 2020 on food appearing in Austen’s novels and re-created an authentic Regency banquet to benefit the Chawton House Library. His food writing and styling are featured in The Gilded Age Cookbook and The Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook, by Becky Libourel Diamond.

Regency Looks from Jane Austen’s Books

Hosted by Lena Ruth Yasutake, Connecticut Region
Thursday, 8:00 pm to 8:50 pm

Join in or watch a collaborative fashion show featuring JASNA members wearing Regency attire inspired by Jane Austen’s characters. Any JASNA member or registered companion can volunteer to walk down the fashion runway dressed as any character from Austen’s juvenilia, novels, and unfinished works. A call for fashion show participants will be sent out during the summer. Whether you wish to dress as a dandified “coxcomb” like Robert Ferrars or have the ideal ensemble in which to climb stiles and walk miles like Lizzie Bennet, this is an opportunity to share your fashion vision.

Lena Ruth Yasutake is a teacher, actor, and seamstress. She has been a member of JASNA since 2016, served on the EDI Committee, and proposed the Book Box program.

Young Filmmakers Contest Finalist Films and Awards

Thursday, 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm

Wind down the evening by watching short films on everyone’s favorite subject! Now in its ninth year, the JASNA Young Filmmakers Contest is the world's first film contest devoted to Jane Austen. Join the excitement as the finalists for 2025 are announced, watch the short films, vote for your personal choice, and hear the opinions of world-class judges.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10

Chawton House Update

Katie Childs, Chief Executive, Chawton House
Friday, 8:30 am to 9:10 am

As at other Austen-related sites, Chawton House, once owned by Jane Austen’s brother Edward, is marking the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birth with many events and exhibits. Executive Director Katie Childs will discuss what has been featured and what is upcoming at this important site, as well as its importance in telling the story of Jane Austen’s life.

As Chawton House’s Chief Executive, Katie Childs is leading the execution of the plan to evolve Chawton House into an inspiring and sustainable historic estate that tells the story of the Knight family and brings early women’s writing to life. Previously, she worked at the Imperial War Museums, the National Museum Directors’ Council, and the British Museum.

Between Literature and Sewing: (Re)discovering Jane Austen

Dr. Natália Barcellos, International Region
Friday, 8:30 am to 9:10 am

This session describes an extension project that took place at São Paolo State University that aimed to present Jane Austen’s work as well as a handcraft method popular during the Regency period in England: English paper piecing. At the meetings, participants hand-sewed a reconstruction of the famous patchwork quilt (ca. 1810) made by Jane Austen, while discussing Austen’s literary works and letters. The project was open to all who were enthusiastic about female literature and crafts, as well as lovers of Jane Austen’s work.

Natália Barcellos is Associate Professor in the Modern Languages Department of São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil. She has a PhD in modern literature from the Free University of Berlin and a degree in Jane Austen’s work from Oxford University. Her current research focuses on female trailblazer writers in the 18th and 19th centuries, with emphasis on Jane Austen. Since 2021, she has led an extension project that involves the discussion of Austen’s work and related arts and crafts open to the internal and external community, bringing together people with very different social and educational backgrounds.

Northanger Abbey Escape Room $

Cost: $25
Friday, 8:00 am to 9:00 am
Friday, 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm
(multiple identical sessions will be offered)
Tickets required

See description above, under Thursday.

Special Guest Speaker
Steventon Uncovered: Revelations from Jane Austen's First Home

Deborah Charlton, Hampshire, UK
Friday, 7:00 pm to 7:40 pm

While visitors from around the globe flock to Chawton to see where Austen spent her final eight years, it is Steventon that holds the key to the first 25 years of her childhood and young adult life. The Austens' Steventon Rectory home disappeared from the landscape long ago, and although literature about their home life is abundant, it is collated from many differing sources. Deborah Charlton led the archaeological investigation of Austen's birthplace and will reveal what the artifacts that were preserved underground along with research evidence can tell us about the Austens' social milieu, their day-to-day life, and the building that was their home.

Deborah Charlton, MPhil, PGCert Research, BA (Hons), is the author of Archaeology Greets Jane Austen, by Unearthing Her Birthplace and First Home. She has been involved in archaeology for more than 20 years. Her skills are mainly in archaeological prospection, historical archaeology, research, and grey literature.

Special Guest Speaker
Susannah Harker in Conversation with Gabrielle Malcolm

Cost: $20 FREE*
Friday, 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Tickets required

*Due to the generosity of JASNA member Cynthia Hoff Trochu, this special event with Susanna Harker in conversation with Gabrielle Malcolm is now free to all AGM registrants.

British actor and director Susannah Harker has many theater, television, film, and voice roles to her credit, but she is best known to Janeites for her portrayal of Jane Bennet in the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries. In conversation with author Gabrielle Malcolm, Harker will talk about how she prepared for the role of Jane Bennet, her experiences during that production, and her upcoming projects as a writer and actor. Harker and Malcolm will explore the importance of Jane Bennet to the novel and the layers in Austen’s work that add depth to dramatic adaptations and the special character of Austen fan culture.

The daughter of actors and the granddaughter of a theatrical scene-painter, Susannah Harker trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. In addition to her iconic role as Jane Bennet, she has engaged with Austen's works by narrating an award-winning audiobook edition of Sense and Sensibility and by portraying Austen in the radio production “No Ice in Weymouth,” part of the BBC’s Jane Austen: A Portrait collection. Her extensive television work includes many roles in mystery series and contemporary and period dramas, and she received a BAFTA award nomination for her role as Mattie in the original House of Cards. Among her film roles is that of Titania in A Caribbean Dream, an adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. On stage, she has starred in Abigail’s Party, The Glass Menagerie, and many other plays. Harker is currently writing a script exploring the situation of women in midlife, which includes allusions to Austen and her fans.

Gabrielle Malcolm was awarded a PhD in English literature of the 19th century by the University of Kent in 2005. Her interests have always been in women’s writing of the last 300 years, particularly in how both famous and forgotten women writers influenced the rise of the English novel. She is the author of Fan Phenomena: Jane Austen and There’s Something About Darcy. In 2025, Gabrielle is Creative Director for Strictly Jane Austen Tours, Visit Bath, and YTL Hotels, curating residencies and events hosting worldwide experts and writers, including Gill Hornby (author of Miss Austen) and Professor John Mullan.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11

Virtual Steventon: Reconstructing Jane Austen’s Formative Home

Frank F. Lutz, Southern Arizona Region
Saturday, 3:30 pm to 4:10 pm

Virtual Steventon is a 3D digital reconstruction of Jane Austen’s birthplace, Steventon Rectory, where she lived for the first 25 years of her life. The rectory was demolished in the 1820s, but this photorealistic model presents an interpretation of the house and its surroundings as they may have appeared during Austen’s time. The reconstruction draws on historical sources such as the Glebe Plan of 1821 and Austen family records, as well as recent archaeological findings. This presentation offers a fresh perspective on Austen’s formative environment.

Frank F. Lutz holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and enjoyed a successful career in product support management in the tech industry. Now retired, he combines his interest in research with his passion for creating computer-generated 3D models.

The Mysterious Miss Jane Austen

Louise West, Hampshire Cultural Trust, Hampshire, UK
Saturday, 3:30 pm to 4:10 pm

This session exists as part of the legacy of the “Mysterious Miss Austen” exhibition, run by Hampshire Cultural Trust in Winchester. It comprises personal reflections concerning the personality and psyche of Jane Austen and the intense identification of some fans with her. These observations are based on the presenter’s 50+ years' of association with the author as a reader, a teacher, and a museum curator. Louise will explore what we actually know about Austen, based on family recollections and biographies as well as her letters, and will also investigate portraits both genuine and putative. This will lead to speculation on why some fans say, “I am Jane Austen.”

Louise West is on the board of Hampshire Cultural Trust, where she chairs the Collections Committee. The Trust’s holdings include small personal items once owned by Jane Austen, as well as her pelisse coat. West’s career has been spent in museums, and she has a master’s degree in museum and gallery education. She worked at Jane Austen’s House Museum for 11 years, rising to the position of curator. She has attended the JASNA AGM many times and has presented several talks.

Jane Austen: Material Girl

Paula Byrne in conversation with Hilary Davidson
Saturday, 8:45 pm to 9:40 pm

Novelist and biographer Paula Byrne and fashion historian Hilary Davidson have both written extensively on the nuances of the way Jane Austen moved through and interacted with the world, and how and what she observed when she did. Byrne’s book The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things concentrated on the importance of material things to Austen and her work. This interest became more immediate during her work on her novel Six Weeks by the Sea. Davidson used Austen’s life and work as a lens through which to examine Regency dress and textiles in Dress in the Age of Jane Austen: Regency Fashion, before looking at what we know Austen herself wore in Jane Austen’s Wardrobe. In conversation together, these authors will explore what things meant to Austen, how she used them, and what new understandings of Austen in life and work are gained by considering the author in her material world.

Biographer, literary critic, and novelist Dr. Paula Byrne is the 2025 Carol Medine Moss AGM Keynote Speaker. In addition to her two books on Jane Austen, she has written several best-selling literary biographies, examining the lives of Georgians Dido Elizabeth Belle and Mary Robinson as well as 20th-century figures Barbara Pym, Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy, Evelyn Waugh, and Thomas Hardy.

Hilary Davidson is a dress historian and curator, and Chair/Associate Professor in the School of Graduate Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Research sparked by her reconstruction of Jane Austen’s pelisse led to the books Dress in the Age of Jane Austen: Regency Fashion, Jane Austen’s Wardrobe, and A Guide to Regency Dress.

Personalized Silhouette Portrait $

Lauren Muney, Silhouettes by Hand
Cost: $25
Saturday, 8:45 pm to 11:45 pm (by appointment)
Tickets required

Would you like to have an authentic Regency experience during the AGM ball? World-famous silhouette artist Lauren Muney of Silhouettes by Hand will make a special appearance at our AGM. There are only 20 artists in the world today who hand-cut silhouettes by eye alone, and you will experience one of the best. You too can have your period portrait made!

You will receive one silhouette, mounted on a background in a protective sleeve, ready to frame. Cutting your silhouette will take only 3-5 minutes. Those who register for this opportunity will be provided instructions on signing up for a timeslot.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12

Charm City “Promenade” Fun Run

Sunday, 7:00 am to 8:00 am

The morning after we promenade in our finery, don your athletic apparel and join us on the Waterfront Promenade! We will meet in the lobby of the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront for a 5K run, and there will also be a 1-mile turnaround point at the Pier Six Pavilion. You can order an Austen-themed athletic shirt online at Jane Austen Books for pickup at the AGM. (Shirt purchase not required to participate in the Fun Run.)

Jane Austen Prayers

Sunday, 8:00 am to 8:30 am

She had been taken to Charmouth too, and she had bathed, and she had gone to church, and there were a great many more people to look at in the church at Lyme than at Uppercross. (Persuasion)

“She had been taken to Charmouth too, and she had bathed, and she had gone to church, and there were a great many more people to look at in the church at Lyme than at Uppercross.” While Mary Musgrove may have preferred to see and be seen at church, this session will provide a few minutes of quiet reflection on Sunday morning. A selection of prayers written by or known to Austen will be provided.

AGM Authors’ Book-Signing

Sunday, 8:30 am to 9:30 am

Meet the presenters at the 2025 AGM who have published books and have your copies signed by the authors. A selection of the authors’ books will be available for purchase during the session.

Post-AGM Events

The AGM officially closes at noon on Sunday, but the fun keeps going! Three post-AGM events provide opportunities to socialize with JASNA friends while experiencing pleasures that Jane Austen enjoyed: the theater, music, and fine food.

Maritime Merriment Concert: Songs & Stories from the Seafaring Regency $

Cost: $38
Sunday, 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm, at the AGM hotel
Tickets required

With period-appropriate instrumentation and singing by a five-person ensemble, this spirited, historically informed concert celebrates the dual worlds of refined parlor music and lively seafaring song in the 18th century. The program reflects the dynamic social and maritime culture of the era, weaving together traditional sea shanties, Regency-era ballads, and salon songs with theatrical narration and dramatic flair.

Soprano Elissa Edwards is a distinguished interpreter of early music. She presents concerts that draw together music, literature, and historical significance, bringing the audience into the spirit of the musical and social world of past eras. Through her expressive vocal interpretations, spontaneous ornamentation, and intelligent regard for communicating poetic text, she captures audiences’ hearts and sparks their curiosity. Her recent engagements include appearances with the Washington Bach Consort, the Washington National Cathedral, Harmonium Stellarum, Gotham Early Music Series, Bach in Baltimore, and the National Centre for Early Music in the U.K.

Persuasion at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company $

Cost: $60
Sunday, performance begins at 2:00 pm and runs to approximately 5:30 pm
Tickets required

In this captivating version of Jane Austen's Persuasion, adapted by Sarah Rose Kearns and directed by Megan Behm, audiences are transported to a world of social intrigue, family drama, and enduring love. Anne Elliot's touching journey of resilience and second chances unfolds against the elegant and beloved backdrop of Regency-era England, laced with Austen's signature wit.

Chesapeake Shakespeare Company is the leading classic theater company in Maryland, offering vibrant performances that delight patrons by breathing new life into Shakespeare and other classic plays.

NOTE: No transportation is provided. The performance will be staged in CSC’s 266-seat theatre in downtown Baltimore, approximately 20 minutes’ walk or 5-15 minutes by car, depending on traffic, from the AGM hotel.

Accessibility notes:

Regency-Style Dinner at Pierpoint Restaurant $

Cost: $80
Two seating options: Sunday, 5:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m.
Tickets required

Enjoy a multi-course Regency dinner at the Pierpoint Restaurant, just minutes from the AGM hotel. Award-winning chef Nancy Longo and her team will prepare a special meal of authentic Regency dishes to cap off our memorable celebration. The menu includes white soup, seasonal salad, a choice of main course (lamb cassoulet with asparagus or cod with a white sauce and mushrooms), and dessert minis of lemon cheesecake, ratafia cakes, and mini apple tarts. Each seating is limited to 40 people.

Pierpoint Restaurant has been a hub in Fells Point for more than 35 years. Beyond running the restaurant, Chef Nancy teaches cooking classes and hosts special themed dinners such as Burns Nights and a Clicquot dinner.

NOTE: No transportation is provided, and we regret that special dietary requirements cannot be accommodated. Pierpoint Restaurant is approximately a 15-minute walk from the AGM hotel, on the same street.

Accessibility notes: