author
Mrs. Steele MacKaye
1845–1924
Best known today for a stage adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, this American writer moved in a lively theatrical world and helped bring classic fiction to new audiences. Writing as Mrs. Steele MacKaye, she is also remembered as part of a remarkable creative family whose children included Percy, Hazel, and Benton MacKaye.
1 Audiobook
Pride and Prejudice, a play founded on Jane Austen's novel
by Mrs. Steele MacKaye, Jane Austen
About the author
Mary Keith Medbery MacKaye, born in 1845 and often published as Mrs. Steele MacKaye, was an American author closely connected with the theater. She is most often linked with her dramatized version of Pride and Prejudice, which reshaped Jane Austen's novel for the stage in the early 20th century.
She was married to the actor, playwright, and theater innovator Steele MacKaye, and their family included several notable children, among them poet and dramatist Percy MacKaye, pageant producer Hazel MacKaye, and conservationist Benton MacKaye. That family background helps explain why her writing sits so naturally between literature and performance.
Although not as widely known as some of her contemporaries, her work still circulates through public-domain and library collections, and her Austen adaptation has given her a lasting place in literary and theatrical history. She died in 1924.