22 Arrıve • March/April 2016 • arrivemagazine.com photo credit
When actors Forest Whitaker and Jessica Lange take the Broad- way stage this spring
in two plays—Hughie and Long Day’s
Journey into Night, respectively—
they’ll bring to life the words of
eugene o’Neill, the play wright
credited with nothing less
than shaping modern American theater.
“he really changed the land-
scape of American drama,” says
Anne G. Morgan, literary manager at
the eugene o’Neill theater center in
Waterford, conn.
he lifted the genre from its
melodramatic, vaudevillian roots to
a Greek- and Shakespearean-inspired
exploration of the tragic human experi-
ence. he dived into jealousy, retribu-
tion—even incest, murder and suicide.
he wrote about drinking and
depression, about materialism
and idealism, about prostitutes
and racists.
he made it real.
“he’s pushing beyond that
psychological exploration of
these characters,” says Morgan. “And
he brought that to American stages.”
o’Neill’s vision is still here. “i don’t
think a theatrical season goes by where
his work isn’t produced,” she says.
The ‘American
Shakespeare’
TWO PLAYS BY EugEnE O’nEill OPEN ON THE GREAT WHITE WAY
O’NEILL ON
BROADWAY
Long Day’s Journey into Night
is presented by the Roundabout
Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre, 227 W.
42nd St., new York City. 212-
719-1300, roundabouttheatre.
org. Previews begin March
31; it opens April 27 and runs
through June 26.
Hughie. At the Booth Theatre,
222 W. 45th St., new York City.
212-239-6200, hughie
broadway.com. On now
through June 12.
Born in 1888 in a hotel room to ella
and James o’Neill, a famous actor,
o’Neill grew up in a theater family
awash in addiction and mental illness,
and he suffered from alcoholism and
depression. he was divorced twice, a
son committed suicide, and o’Neill
