Desire in the Elm City for O'Neill

The result of a collaboration between the Yale, New Haven, and New York theater communities, The Eugene O'Neill Ragtime Revue, looks to be one of this spring's more interesting productions. The show relates the playwright's early life through selections of 1920s ragtime and spirituals interspersed with narrative. The organization O'Neill at Yale hopes the play will help to strengthen the University's artistic ties to New Haven through increasing each community's awareness of the other. Backed by the Yale Dramat, Playwrights Theater of New York, and the Yale Collection of American Literature at Beinecke Library (which owns O'Neill's papers), the Revue brings together individuals from diverse groups.

SHAWN CHENG/YH

Writing The Eugene O'Neill Ragtime Revue, artistic director Steven Kennedy Murphy put together a show that transcends the traditional musical. His work highlights O'Neill's childhood and artistic development, a side of the playwright that few readers know. The result is a script that actress Ann Moller, SY '03, described as "poignant and visceral." The musical format is also especially appropriate, as 37 of O'Neill's 40 plays contain some sort of music. Since music was integral to his writing and day-to-day life, the performance not only tells the writer's story but evokes the texture of his existence.

The Revue has already had a successful run in New York and at various places connected to O'Neill. It opened at Lincoln Center and moved to New York University's (NYU) Provincetown Playhouse, receiving highly positive reviews from publications including the New York Times. After staging readings of O'Neill's plays for the past four years, Murphy and O'Neill at Yale Chair Patricia Willis, curator of Beinecke's American literature collection, decided that the show would be a fitting way to expand the series.

The readings involved Yale students and New York actors, but O'Neill at Yale believed that it was time to include New Haven as well. An open call for auditions netted three New Haven actors. In addition to being involved with local theater, by a coincidence all three are civil servants—a policeman, a social worker, and a prosecutor. Murphy is pleased to be working with New Haven talent. "The University is reaching out to the community, and the community is reaching back," he said. "I think that this production is evidence that both sides are trying to knock down the ivy curtain." Producer Lauren Schell, DC '02, finds this especially relevant to O'Neill: "We see him as a truly American playwright, very representative of us as a whole."

This vision inspires the Yale students who are taking part in the production. Because the music that dominates The Revue consists largely of solos, the performers have been rehearsing individually and will not begin full cast rehearsals until this weekend. The students involved are enthusiastic to start working with their counterparts from New Haven and New York. "Working together with professional and adult actors gives you a great perspective," Moller said. "They have different experiences with theater and different ways of looking at the challenges of a play." Equally important to the production is the connection it forges with New Haven performers. Ama Hewitt, SY '03, feels that "the Yale-New Haven relationship is very unique. Here I'm disconnected from the world outside Yale, and this is a chance to expand."

If O'Neill at Yale has its way, performances like The Eugene O'Neill Ragtime Revue could become a permanent staple of New Haven theater. The group would like to expand its project to include productions connected to the playwright from other colleges and communities, such as NYU, Harvard, and Connecticut College, which is located in O'Neill's hometown of New London. Murphy envisions Yale becoming "a hub for O'Neill study and performance."

The Eugene O'Neill Ragtime Revue will run Easter weekend at Anna Liffey's (17 Whitney Ave.) and will be open to all ages. It marks the emergence of an aspiring and original new presence in the local theater scene.

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