Téa Johnson puts a podcast-style spin on "Pride and Prejudice"

Loyola University Chicago students Téa Johnson (she/they) and Hannah Price (she/her) have transformed their longstanding love of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen into a contemporary podcast experience, framing the 1813 romantic novel as a 21st century dating podcast. 

The podcast-style retelling, called Obstinate Headstrong Girl, covers approximately the first half of the book. It features the two eldest sisters of the Bennett family, Lizzie and Jane, played by Téa Johnson and Ema Kester, respectively. Each episode also contains a host of other characters as guests on the podcast. 

The initial idea for the project was vastly different from how it eventually manifested itself. Johnson said the project morphed into a queer, woman-centric work after she saw that all of the people who had signed up for auditions were women. 

"As I got my cast, it kept growing from there into what it became," Johnson said about developing the concept. 

The style of the show developed from a few popular and well-known podcasts by women that cover dating, sex, and romance. Johnson cited Why Won't You Date Me? with Nicole Byer as an inspiration for the guest interactions on the show. 

Episode one of Obstinate Headstrong Girl
on Spotify.
Photo by blog author, Kalliope Bessler.

Johnson also mentioned the banter featured on the Call Her Daddy podcast as inspiration for the energetic, light-hearted dialogue in Obstinate Headstrong Girl. Although they emphasized the distinction between Obstinate Headstrong Girl and Call Her Daddy. 

"[Obstinate Headstrong Girl] is like Call Her Daddy, without the internalized misogyny," Johnson said.

 Johnson hopes that audiences have fun listening and enjoy the podcast's interpretation of the classic characters. 

"We all kind of took the characters in different directions than they're classically taken in. I feel like we made some characters more likable," she said. 

Obstinate Headstrong Girl was a part of the Loyola Theatre Department's spring 2021 Second Stage series. You can stream the podcast for free on Loyola University Chicago's Spotify.