WICA stages Sense and Sensibility, bringing Georgian England to Langley

Inside Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, the renovated Mainstage has taken on the feel of Georgian England, giving Langley audiences a period setting that is both polished and distinctly local. WICA’s production of Sense and Sensibility, directed by Rose Woods, opened the venue’s first full theatre production on its newly renovated Mainstage and is running through April 25.

The show is staged as part of WICA’s theatre series and includes 11 performances, with tickets priced at $30 and $45. For South Whidbey, that makes the production more than a single opening-night event. It is a milestone for the building itself and a spring run that extends the island’s arts calendar with a familiar story in a venue that has long served as a cultural anchor in Langley.

Kate Hamill’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel keeps the wit and humor intact, but the stakes remain serious. Elinor and Marianne Dashwood must navigate money, reputation and love after their father dies and the family’s finances collapse. WICA Executive Artistic Director Deana Duncan has framed the piece as a story about strong women building identities in a society where marriage, class and inheritance control nearly every personal choice.

That emphasis fits Woods’ place in Whidbey theater history. Rose Woods and Peggy Juve co-founded Island Shakespeare Festival in 2010 with a “Pay What You Will” model meant to make Shakespeare affordable and accessible for the South Whidbey community. Woods also chose As You Like It for the festival’s inaugural production at StoryHouse Stage in the woods of the Whidbey Institute, helping establish the kind of accessible, outdoor classic-text production that has become familiar to island audiences.

WICA’s April calendar adds another Austen layer around the production, with Art Talks with Rebecca Albiani: Jane Austen scheduled for April 15. That pairing gives the Langley run a broader literary frame and reinforces the sense that Sense and Sensibility is not simply a costume drama, but part of a larger Whidbey conversation about classic stories, women’s agency and the role of live performance in island life.