EUGENE O’NEILL

FOUNDATION, TAO HOUSE

NEWSLETTERSPRING 2019 ISSUE

In June, the Eugene O’Neill Foundation offers a free ten-day intensive workshop in advanced acting and playwriting at the beautiful Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site in Danville, California. The Foundation partners with the National Park Service, which gives tours of the site and provides shuttle transportation. The program is funded by the Lesher Foundation and the Wood Family Foundation.

Now in its 11th year, Studio Retreat is a great opportunity for current and incoming high school students with a serious interest in theater. Students have a unique opportunity to learn from, and collaborate with, professional playwrights, actors, and stage directors in the development of original ten-minute plays.The workshop meets daily from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm. The dates for this program are June 12–16, with a two-day break before the retreat resumes June 19–23. Students in the playwriting track delve into topics such as character, dialogue, and story arc—all in the process of developing their own ten-minute scripts.Students in the acting track gain insight into building characters and the importance of movement and voice, and learn the foundations of acting technique taught at college-level programs. The second week is devoted to rehearsing the original scripts by the playwriting track and mounting a performance for friends and family.

Because of the high value of this program, spots are limited. All applications must be received by June 1. Interested students are encouraged to get their application in as soon as possible. For more information and the online application: http://www.eugeneoneill.org/studio-retreat/

Haunted PoetsEugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams

The 20th Annual Eugene O’Neill FestivalDanville, California Aug. 30 - Sept. 29

All of us wrestle with our demons. The choices we’ve made or the people we’ve hurt or who have hurt us follow us throughout our lives. Often these painful episodes involve those closest to us. A great writer is one who finds a way to tell the story of these struggles in such a way that we can recognize that their story is in part our story. At the heart of this year’s Eugene O’Neill Festival will be the soul-stirring artistic confessions of two of our greatest haunted poets: Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams. The festival will feature productions of O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night at Tao House and Williams’ The Glass Menagerie at the Village Theatre in downtown Danville. These plays are powerful and poetic demonstrations of how, for these playwrights, the ghosts of the past continued to haunt the imagination.

More Festival EventsConcert: Clodagh Kinsella, soprano, Irish Airs and Arias

Village Theatre Sept. 5. Sponsored by ChevronAnnual Hike from Danville to Tao House Sept. 8

Visit www.eugeneoneill.org for information on Festival events. Tickets available at www.villagetheatreshows.com the 1st week of April.

The Second Annual Eugene O’Neill Festival of Theatre in New Ross, Ireland, Oct. 9-13, 2019. Extended Tour Oct. 14-20 www.eugeneoneillfestival.com

Ten-Day O’Neill Idyll with Drama Masters

Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill

The Old Barn, Eugene O’Neill National Historic SiteSept. 14-29

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

Role Players Ensemble, Village TheatreAug. 30-Sept. 15

A son’s looming health diagnosis and a mother’s drug addiction hang over the Tyrone family. Sparks fly as one by one members of the family bring painful revelations to light. The four wounded Tyrones must confront the powerful and contradictory feelings they have for each other. Loyalty and love are put to the test in this tale of survival. Long Day’s Journey Into Night is considered by many to be the greatest American tragedy ever written. Touring Tao House and then seeing the play that put Tao House on the map promises to be a magical experience.

The Wingfield family lives in the shadow of the husband and father who left them to fend for themselves. Struggling to get by, mother Amanda lives in her southern-belle past, son Tom lives for the day he can escape the bonds of a dead-end life, and daughter Laura lives in the comfort of her menagerie of little glass figurines that help her shut out the world. Into this little Wingfield world walks a young man who upsets everything. The Glass Menagerie was Tennessee Williams’ first great success.

Visit www.eugeneoneill.org to learn about our many upcoming events. You can also see our recent EONF St. Patrick’s weekend booth display in Dublin!

Travis Bogard Artists in Residence for 2019A theatre historian and author, a playwright, and a scholar have been selected as the three Fellows for the 2019 Travis Bogard Artist in Residence Program at Tao House.English Professor Katie N. Johnson, of Miami University, Cincinnati, Ohio, plans to complete a monograph, Racing the Great White Way: A Counter-History of Early Twentieth-Century Broadway, that charts a fresh account of one of the most vital and formative moments of U.S. culture. The book will show how theatre shaped cultural attitudes toward national identity, immigration, sexuality, race, and urbanization, and will uncover new sites of cultural production and expand the map of spectatorship. Johnson’s central claim is that “by looking beyond Broadway…we discover not only a rich history of diverse theatri-cal performances, but also a powerful archive of U.S. culture transitioning to modernity.” New York playwright, director, and media artist John Jesurun will research, write, and create a special stage design for Tabula Rasa. The play, about libraries, interpretation, memory, and mental space, will have characters but the library itself will become the lead. Tabula Rasa, set in the not too distant future, “concerns a minor academic exiled to a space station with the task of ‘decontaminating’ the major repository of archival information it contains.” Jesurun intends “the work to be an investigation into the archival qualities of the mind and the fragile nature of information.”English professor Jane K. Dominik, San Joaquin Delta College, Stockton, California, will develop, edit, and complete for publication, Singing for Their Fa-thers: The Struggle for Connection and Catharsis in American Drama, a paper previously presented at the American Drama Conference. Expectations and demands of fathers and sons who strive for connection will be analyzed in nine plays by five playwrights, including O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night.

Announcing: The Foundation plans to offer a new aspect of our successful Travis Bogard Artist in Residence Program in 2020. A day-use program will give visual artists, playwrights, creative writers, scholars and scenic designers access to Tao House and certain facilities, Weds. through Sun. from 9 to 5. Additional information will be on our web site by fall 2019.

National Park Service News

Thanks to Our Donors, Festival Patrons, and Volunteers

Visit the Eugene O’Neill National Historic SiteGuided Tours Available Wed., Thurs., Fri. and Sun. 10AM & 2PM. Reserva-tions are required.

Self-guided Tours “Saturdays Without Reser-vations” at 10:15AM, 12:15PM and 2:15PM. If hiking to the site on Saturdays, please be here before 3PM. The park is closed to visitors Mon-day and Tuesday.

Due to the location of this park, all visitors are required to take a free National Park Service shuttle to the historic home and grounds. Visi-tors are not permitted to drive their personal/private vehicles to the site. The shuttle meets at 205 Railroad Avenue in downtown Danville, outside of the Museum of the San Ramon Valley. Parking is available next to the museum. Admission to the site is free.

Reservation Line (925) 838-0249Visit www.nps.gov/euon for more information.

The Eugene O’Neill Foundation, Tao House is most grateful to you, our supporters, for your generous contributions that enable us to provide artistic and educational programs that focus on O’Neill’s vision and legacy. Thank you to the following donors (through March 2019):

Paul Scolari has been selected as the new Superintendent of Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado and Utah. Paul will also supervise the Superintendent of Fossil Butte National Monument in Wyoming. He will begin his new assignment on March 31, 2019. Paul currently serves as the Chief of Resource Management and Planning at Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site (and the three other National Park Service sites in Contra Costa County), and as the NPS primary liaison to the Eugene O’Neill Foundation.

“Working with the Foundation to realize the mission of Eugene O’Neill NHS over the past 6 years has been rewarding and enjoyable,” says Paul. “The Foundation is a terrific partner, and while I will miss working with the organization, I am glad to now call many of its members friends.”

Paul came to work in the East Bay in 2012 and has been working for the National Park Service for over 24 years. Paul spent the previous 18 years at Golden Gate National Recreation Area, where he performed the duties of historian, American Indian liaison, and historic preservation special-ist. In the last three years, Paul completed details as Acting Superintendent at American Memorial Park in Saipan and at War in the Pacific National Historical Park in Guam, and as a Legislative Affairs Specialist in the Legislative and Congres-sional Affairs Office in Washington, D.C. He will complete the highly regarded Office of Personnel Management Leadership Development Program in Monterey, California, at the end of March.

Congratulations, Paul, we will miss you. Tom Leatherman, Superintendent

Danville Open Studios/Plein-Air Painting at Tao HouseThe Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site will participate in Danville’s Open Studios, May 11–12. Members of the California Watercolor Association will paint en plein air on the site on May 11. Other water-media artists who would like to participate on May 11 or 12 by painting or sketching will need to register by May 4 at www.eugeneoneill.org/events. See the NPS box below for information on shuttle transport and tours of Tao House.

Honor for the Foundation The Danville Chamber of Commerce has chosen the Eugene O’Neill Foundation as the Charitable Organization of the Year for 2018. The State of the Town and Community Awards Luncheon will be held at the Crow Canyon Country Club on March 28.

Danville/New Ross Celebration Join us for Mayor Storer’s installation of a plaque honoring the Friendship City relationship at McGah’s Pub and Piano Bar, downtown Danville, April 1 at 6:00 pm, or check out the plaque on your next visit.

Thank you also to all of our valued Actor Level members.

Benefactors ($5,000+)Eric Rudney Associates*Adam and Christina Richards*

Patrons’ Circle ($2,500+)Bishop Ranch, a Sunset Development Project*Lisa and Brad Blackwell*Chevron*Linda Grundhoffer*Dan and Carolyn McGovern*Claudia Nemir*The Town of Danville*

Excecutive Producer ($1,000+)Ed and Linda Best*Danville Rotary Club*Irish Consulate General*Mac and Florence McAuleyMerilyn MilamJack Schwartzman Family FoundationPhil and Shari Scott*Robert Sehr*Diane and Don Shinnerer*Brian and Carolyn Thiessen*

Producers’ Circle ($500+)The Leo and Celia Carlin FundWendy and Tony CooperRoberta EiselPam and Nate PattersonGary Schaub and Maria Gounaris*Donald and Ginia ShawlJohn and Carol SherrillSusan and Frank TerzuoliCarole Wynstra*

Directors’ Circle ($250+)Nancy BartholomewCamilla N. EwingPaul and Marilyn GardnerBart Gledhill*Beverly LaneCharles LewisBert and Joyce MichalczykMary Ann and Fred OsborneGerald Ricker and Suzanne StephensDon and Sharon Ritchey Carol Rosenblum Sally ShaverTerry and Millie Sherman Robert and Sandra StorerSusan and Karl TaylorMichael and Joyce Wahlig

Playwrights’ Circle ($100+)Carol AndersonKare Bonnar-FayeZander BrietzkeMary CamezonMarci and John CassidyKaty Colbath David and Linn CoombsValerie CooperJoanne and Terry DaleJoseph P. Ficurelli Marianne and Bill Gagen Beryl GaidosEileen Herrmann Judith and Charles HerveyGail K. KamererWard and Leann KanowskiMartha Lee

Nancy LieberRosalie E. Malatesta Michael and Brenda Mc-NamaraJim and Brenda Nirenstein David PalmerPatricia RezakJanet RobertsRichard T. Russell David and Sara Selway Marlan L. Shanks Jean SimpsonKaren StepperGerald StramWinifred StriblingJoanna and Dennis TangSharon WatkinsonGeorge C. White

* Includes Festival Sponsorship