Recent Essays

The O'Neill in particular is full of ghosts. There's a rumor, possibly unfounded, that the ashes of the late New Yorker critic Edith Oliver were scattered underneath the venue that bears her name, an outdoor stage that sits in the shade of a monstrous, ancient, and beautiful New England tree.

Revisiting the rise-and-fall of theatre during its off-season in New York City, Brian Hashimoto reflects on the historical relevance, uniqueness, and creativity fostered at the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theatre Center.

The O’Neill is a space for the playwright to explore the boundaries of his/her piece (play, musical, song, puppet). The success of a piece doesn’t always have the end result of “being produced.” Instead, the success comes from the writer gaining additional knowledge they need to continue the journey of their play—Kurt Van Raden, Stage Manager at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center.

The O’Neill’s motto is “Risk, Fail, Risk Again” for goodness sake. Puppeteers at all levels, novice to advanced, are able to grow within themselves while focusing on strengthening their work. And, as word has spread about the magic of the O’Neill, the mystique of the O’Neill in puppetry circles has died down, and our family has grown. To this I say, "hell yeah".

Holly L. Derr writes about SCRC's 2014 Pacific Playwrights Festival, and the goals of the organization's new play development initative.

"Guys, before you go: keep working hard. Be nice to everyone. Keep up the playwriting you started doing here. Handwritten thank you and/or apology notes. Find people who inspire you and make yourself useful to them. Buy gold and invest in Apple now."

This week's conversation topic is "How are Theater Makers using the Internet?" and will be moderated by Ray Nelson @justraynelson—who like all of our moderators, authors, and content producers—self-selected to peer-produce on this commons-based platform! This hour-long Howl will take place on Thursday, June 5 on hashtag #newplay at 11am PDT (Vancouver) / 1pm CDT (Austin) / 2pm EDT (Toronto) / 18:00 GMT / 7pm BST (London).

Anne G. Morgan sheds insight on the history and impact of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center on the theatrical community. 

Before college, I found myself in the stories of Shanley and Shepard—but now I was only getting cast in parts such as Mexican pregnant girl, homeless person, or getting included in all non-white casts. I am half Mexican and a quarter Lebanese, but that never mattered before. Growing up, white stories were reflected all around me so much that I thought I was white.

Wherever our skunk works might be located, it’s absolutely clear that our industry needs that sort of effort… if only because every industry does. If we simply repeat, again and again, what we already know how to do, we might as well become obsolescent like cuneiform or letterpress printing, to name two other communications technologies that have long since faded from use. So who is going to step up and say, “We will make this happen, for the good of us all”—who has the courage, foresight, and willingness to do that?