Playwright Janine Sobeck Knighton on creating ‘THE BEATRIX POTTER DEFENSE SOCIETY’
BY JANINE SOBECK KNIGHTON
An award-winning, nationally-produced dramaturg, playwright, screenwriter, story consultant, and educator originally from Central California, Janine is currently the Associate Professor of Playwriting and Dramaturgy at Utah Valley University and a member of The Lab at Plan-B Theatre. She makes her Plan-B debut with THE BEATRIX POTTER DEFENSE SOCIETY.
I’ve long been interested in exploring the story of Beatrix Potter. The more I dug into her history - the severe isolation she lived in as a child, the way she connected with nature and animals, and the way she broke against barriers for women, first as a children’s author and later as a conservationist and defender of the Lake District - the more intrigued I became. I kept circling around this moment in 1882, the first time that she stayed in the land that would become her eventual home. She was only 16 and I knew in my gut that this moment helped define her as a person, as a writer, as an artist, and as an activist. I wanted to explore this younger Beatrix - before she became the Beatrix Potter we all know. But it wasn’t until I discovered Edith Rawnsley that the story clicked into place.
Much is written about how the vicar Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsely both encouraged Beatrix in pursuing publication of "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and collaborated with her years later in saving The Lake District from commercial development. In reading about Hardwicke's marriage to Edith, I stumbled across a line that stated, “Everything that Hardwicke and Edith did they did as a couple.” And yet, as is too often the case, only his activities were recorded. I kept asking myself, "How is it that a husband and wife could do everything together and yet the wife is rarely mentioned?"
With that question, I found the story I wanted to tell.
It's a pivotal moment in Beatrix’s life, when she is struggling to know herself and imagine the possibilities of her future. I knew I wanted to bring Edith's story back into the light. From the scant information available, I knew that she was also a watercolorist. Who better to understand a young artist struggling with her place in the world?
TICKETS
THE BEATRIX POTTER DEFENSE SOCIETY by Janine Sobeck Knighton receives its world premiere March 27-April 13, 2025 in the Studio Theatre at The Rose. Please click here for details and tickets.
THE BEATRIX POTTER DEFENSE SOCIETY also offers there free student matinees as part of our A Week With A Play program.