NEWSLETTER EUGENE O’NEILL SPRING 2017 ISSUE FOUNDATION, TAO HOUSE MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR PLAYWRIGHTS’ THEATRE - MAY 6, 7 Twin Bill: Shell Shock by Eugene O’Neill • The Rescue by Rita Creighton Smith During the dawn of the 20th century, ideas of what burden it has placed on his psyche. “Both of these short it is to be human were evolving. The field of modern plays represent an early attempt to start our ongoing and psychology was emerging as a major force, shaping ever-evolving dialogue about the role of mental illness in our views of the human experience. The writers of the our lives and the lives of those we love,” says EONF Ar- Provincetown Players, a newly formed theatre col- tistic Director Eric Fraisher Hayes. “This unique pairing lective searching for the authentic voice of America, lends a deeper understanding to the role gender plays in were charging into this new territory known as human shaping our ideas of mental illness.” psychology. Mental illness as an explanation for the The performances of Shell Shock and The Rescue will challenges of our lives was a new concept still meeting be presented as a collaboration between the Eugene a great deal of resistance. A primary force affecting O’Neill Foundation, Tao House and Symmetry Theatre perceptions and treatments of mental illness was (and in Company of San Francisco. Symmetry is a professional some ways still is) gender. company committed This May, Playwrights’ to addressing issues of Theatre will feature two gender parity in theatre Provincetown voices and society. Both perfor- delving into the relation- mances will be followed ship of gender and mental with a discussion of the illness. Rita Creighton relationship of gender Smith’s The Rescue is a sto- and mental illness led by ry of a family of women scholars and the artists coping with the prospect involved in creating this of inherited madness. In presentation. Eugene O’Neill’s Shell Saturday, May 6, 8PM Shock, a man struggles to and Sunday, May 7, 2PM make sense of his war- Tickets available at time experience and the www.eugeneoneill.org Pg 2 Student Days Pg 5 In Memoriam, Board Updates Pg 3 Artists in Residence Pg 7 Travels with the Director Pg 4 NPS Report Pg 8 Thanks to our Donors, Board Members THE EUGENE O’NEILL FOUNDATION, TAO HOUSE NEWSLETTER SPRING 2017 2017 STUDENT DAYS A ROUSING SUCCESS This March, the Eugene O’Neill Foundation hosted its 26th annual Spring Student Days. These free, one-day student workshops led by professional Bay Area actors, playwrights, directors, visual artists and photographers are often a next step up in a young person’s theatrical, literary or visual art career. Host- ed by the Foundation and supported by NPS and grants from the Dean and Margaret Lesher and Wood Family foundations, the workshops take place in the dramatic rolling hills of Tao House. Many thanks to the instructors who took part in Student Days for their dedication and enthusiasm in sharing their craft - Don Lacy, Amber Flame, Erin Edens, Evertis Wright and John Armitage, and kudos to all the students who participated, eager to challenge themselves in pursuit of their creative goals. Finally, our gratitude to the many volunteers who helped make this year’s event a success. “Today was really eye-opening for me. Thank you so much for dedicating your Saturday to better me as an actor and as a person. The enthusiasm and life you bring to the art of theater is so much fun to be a part of.” - Zach Lowhurst, student 2 THE EUGENE O’NEILL FOUNDATION, TAO HOUSE NEWSLETTER SPRING 2017 THREE NEW ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE TO VISIT TAO HOUSE THIS SUMMER Three new Artists in Residence have been selected recognized in professional and academic theatre com- for the 2017 Travis Bogard Residence Program at Tao munities as a major figure, though not a mainstream House, bringing with them an impressive breadth of commercial success. scholarship. With the aid of primary source documents, The Fellows are Scott T. Cummings, Professor of Dra- Cummings hopes to create an approximation matic Literature and Playwriting and chair of Boston of a book Fornés planned to write, but did not com- College’s Theatre Department; Patrick Midgely, a Ph.D. plete: The Anatomy of Inspiration, a book of playwriting student at Texas Tech University, Lubbock; and Adam exercises for writing students and aspiring playwrights. Versenyi, Chair of the Department of Dramatic Art at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Patrick Midgely will be at Tao House in July for a per- Adam Versenyi ar- formance project that will rives in June and will explore O’Neill’s dramatic spend three weeks at relationship with Shake- Tao House working speare. Midgely spent five on the first draft of a years working in the resi- translation of Chilean dent company of the Amer- playwright/director ican Shakespeare Center in Ramon Griffero’s Staunton, Virginia, and was book, La dramaturgia del awarded Texas Tech’s Presi- espacio (The Dramatur- dential Fellowship. gy of Space.) Versenyi Midgely will examine the unique ways in which the per- regards Griffero as one formance of related characters, themes, and language of the most important can help us glimpse how O’Neill absorbed Shakespeare. contemporary Chilean He will have a “dress rehearsal” at Tao House on July theatre artists, although his work is little known in the 9 before taking his work to the O’Neill International English-speaking world. In the past year Versenyi has Conference in Ireland. translated ten of Griffero’s plays, and in 2016 published the first English language translation of his work. The Foundation, in association with the National Park Versenyi believes this project will expose theatre artists Service at the Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site, is and scholars to new ways of thinking about theatre and pleased to welcome these outstanding scholars to Tao Latin American culture. House. - Wendy Cooper Scott T. Cummings hopes to complete the manuscript for a book, “Finding Inspi- ration: Maria Irene Fornés, Playwriting, Theatre, and Creativity,” during his three weeks at Tao House in Au- gust. Cummings considers Fornés the most important American woman playwright of the 20th Century, widely 3 THE EUGENE O’NEILL FOUNDATION, TAO HOUSE NEWSLETTER SPRING 2017 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NEWS With Playwrights’ Theatre in Jan- Visit the Eugene O’Neill uary and Student Days in March National Historic Site successfully behind us, we are ex- Guided Tours Available Wed., Thurs., Fri and cited about what the rest of 2017 Sunday. has to offer. Our student programs 10AM & 2PM. Reservations are required. are an important part of the com- bined efforts of the Foundation Self-guided Tours “Saturdays Without Reservations” at and the National Park Service to 10:15AM, 12:15PM and 2:15PM. If hiking to the site on reach younger generations, learning about and being Saturdays, please be here before 3PM. The park is closed inspired by Eugene O’Neill. We hope that some of to visitors Monday and Tuesday. the students from our 2017 Student Days program will Due to the location of this park, all visitors are join us up at the site this summer for the more immer- required to take a free National Park Service sive experience of Studio Retreat. Over the ten days shuttle from the town of Danville to the historic of the Retreat program the writing students will com- home and grounds. Visitors are not permitted pose original one-act plays, and the acting students will to drive their personal/private vehicles to the work with them to rehearse and ultimately perform site. For both “Saturdays Without these plays for friends and family in the old barn. As Reservations” and reserved tours, past students attest, the atmosphere and landscape of the shuttle meets at 205 Railroad the Eugene O’Neill Site and Tao House is inspiration- Avenue in downtown Danville, al and tranquil, and we are so happy to be able to share just outside of the Museum of this national treasure with all who visit. the San Ramon Valley. Parking is available next to the museum. In our ongoing efforts to maintain and preserve Admission to the site is free. historic Tao House, this year we are working on re- building the west porch of the house, which has some structural problems. We are bringing in an historic Reservation Line (925) 838-0249 preservation crew from the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center in Maryland to do this work. The crew will work over the course of two weeks meticulously preserving and replacing the bricks on the porch, while rebuilding the supporting understructure. Once completed, it will look much like it did when Eugene O’Neill and his wife Carlotta built the house, but hopefully it will hold up better to the elements. We hope that you can come up to the site this year to experience a performance, tour the house, or just wander around the landscape where Eugene O’Neill gained inspiration to write his most powerful and in- fluential works. As one of the 417 National Park sites, it belongs to you, and I hope you can take some time in 2017 to enjoy it. Tom Leatherman, Superintendent Picture credit: Lena Bodden, Student Days photography 4 THE EUGENE O’NEILL FOUNDATION, TAO HOUSE NEWSLETTER SPRING 2017 FAREWELL TO TWO O’NEILL FOUNDATION FRIENDS Earlier this year, the Foundation lost two good friends who made major contributions to our efforts to celebrate the legacy of America’s greatest playwright. Locally, the Eugene O’Neill Foundation lost one of its pioneers with the passing of Carol Lea Jones on February 27, at the age of 83.