Fans of Christmas and Jane Austen will appreciate a play premiering at The Mac just in time for the holiday season.

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble presents “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley,” written by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, through Dec. 17 at the McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.

It takes place two years after the events of “Pride and Prejudice” when the Bennet family is spending the days leading up to Christmas at Pemberley. Mary Bennet, the bookish, unmarried middle sister, takes center stage in this story.

“So many people are Jane Austen acolytes and I, embarrassingly so, had never read any Jane Austen,” said Buffalo Theatre Ensemble artistic associate director Amelia Barrett, who is directing this. “I don’t know how I got out of high school without doing that.”

She immediately read “Pride and Prejudice” in preparation for directing the play.

Gunderson and Melcon had worked together at another theater and became great friends and wrote three subsequent plays about the Bennet family, Barrett said. The first is “Miss Bennet.”

“It’s just beautiful,” she said. “I cannot get the smile off my face. It’s such a delightful story.”

The focus is on Mary Bennet, the middle of the five sisters: Jane, Lizzie, Kitty and Lydia. In this story, Kitty isn’t seen — she’s arriving on Christmas Day with her family.

“But we see everybody else,” she said. “We see the relationships they all have with one another and with society. It takes place in Mr. Darcy’s very fabulous home. Even though it’s a grand time they’re living in, this regency period … and yet, it’s a family story. Even though this world seems large, it’s quite small because everybody we see come in and out of the doors is related to one another in some way.”

In the two years since the events of “Pride and Prejudice,” Mary Bennet has really come into her own, Barrett said.

“Surprisingly so, to her two older sisters,” she said. “She’s become self-assured and more mature. To me, her journey is that the world outside of these walls is so grand and so large and she wants a piece of it.”

The Christmas party is made even more interesting with the addition of a guest, one who may or may not catch Mary Bennet’s eye.

“The whole family rallies behind them,” she said. “It’s the story of how one is supported and becomes themselves. You do that through literature, through good character, through family and belief in one’s self.”

The play celebrates community, family and coming together, she said.

“It’s like a big Christmas present that’s exciting to unwrap,” she said.

There are no Buffalo Theatre Ensemble company members in the cast, she said.

“We have people we’ve worked with previously but most of them are brand-new faces, although up-and-coming Chicago actors,” she said.

Her young cast is doing wonderfully with the material, she said.

“They love it as much as I do. They’re quite talented and they work really well together,” she said. “It’s a highly contagious script. It’s written in the style of ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ language-wise, but it’s contemporary, even though they have these beautiful period costumes. It is a contemporary story because it’s a story that talks to all of us about self-knowledge and how people see you and how you have to support the people you love.”

You do not have to know “Pride and Prejudice” to appreciate this play, she said.

“It’s written so tightly that the exposition is right there,” she said. “It fills you in on anything you might need to know previously. If you have read ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ there are sorts of little Easter eggs that are dropped so it’s extra sparkly for people that know it. But it lives on its own, completely.”

She thinks people will relate to the family and see themselves in the characters and will enjoy seeing the family come together at Christmas. In fact, it’s the kind of play that she thinks will become a holiday staple.

“Everyone is left in a really good state,” she said. “No one is left out. Christmas Day is about to begin and the world is their oyster. Jane is about to have a baby. The future is bright for everyone. If you love Jane Austen, you will completely fall in love with it. It’s just delightful.”

There will be no performance on Thanksgiving Day. There will be shows at 3 and 8 p.m. Nov. 25 instead.

Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.