|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Organizers with the Eugene O’Neill Foundation have announced preliminary details of this fall’s annual festival celebrating the renowned playwright and featuring the organization’s major theatrical production at his former Danville home.
The selection for this year’s production is “Mourning Becomes Electra,” described by organizers as one of his “most dramatic and adventurous creations” inspired by Ancient Greek tragedy and inspiring the overall theme of this year’s festival – “Sweeping Passions” – for the play and other events set to kick off in August and continue through the end of September.
“Mourning Becomes Electra” consists of three one-act plays showcasing the classic elements of Greek tragedy – as well as modern-day soap operas – according to organizers.
“All the things that are horrible to experience in real life but horribly entertaining when watching fictitious characters,” EONF organizers said in an announcement on May 22.
While the play was first produced on Broadway in 1931 – six years before O’Neill moved into the Tao House – his former home and present-day national historic site is set to play a role in the upcoming production this fall. The play was originally set in the exterior and interior of a “temple-like” house, with the upcoming production slated for the courtyard in front of the Tao House plus Old Barn Theatre on the property.
The festival kicks off on Aug. 18 with a poetry workshop led by artist-in-residence Jodie Hollander at the Tao House site, with participants receiving writing prompts aimed at highlighting the importance of place and that theme within the play.
The main event – the three-weekend run of “Mourning Becomes Electra” – will kick off weeks later, with shows set for Sept. 14 and 15, Sept. 20-22 and Sept. 27-29.
“This site-specific ‘Mourning Becomes Electra’ at Tao House promises to be a compelling, one-of-a-kind experience not to be missed,” EONF organizers said in their announcement.
Additional information is available at eugeneoneill.org. More details are set to be released this summer, with tickets set to go on sale in July.
