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T he
Foundation hosts a number of events in the community of Danville,
California throughout the year, including the Eugene O'Neill Festival,
Playwrights' Theatre and Artist Days at Tao House. You can find
the details for upcoming events below:
Playwrights' Theatre
Mark your calendars for the Eugene O'Neill Festival coming this Fall, September 10-25. The theme of the Festival is "Expressionism" and will feature a professional, fully staged production of "The Hairy Ape". Please watch for other exciting Festival performances and events to be announced.
Student Days
Artist Days at Tao House
Visiting Artist Program
Awards:
2009 Awards
Past Honorees
Overview of Awards
Playwrights' Theatre
The Eugene O'Neill Foundation presented three programs of new plays plus the classic “Desire Under The Elms” in the 15th annual Playwright's Theatre season beginning in mid-May. The cast and directors for the productions are drawn from the ranks of the professionals who live here in the Bay Area.
The details:
May 23, 2010
Play: DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS, by Eugene O'Neill
A classic play, one of O'Neill's renderings of Greek tragedy transported to American soil. Writing about this play, O'Neill stated that his aim was to “see the transfiguring nobility of tragedy, in as near the Greek sense as one can grasp it, in seemingly the most ignoble, debased lives.”
Directed by Soren Oliver
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Location: The Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site, Tao House
June 6, 2010
Play: TRACK OF THE CAT
A Stage adaptation of the classic American novel by Walter van Tilburg Clark. The Track of the Cat, set in the remote Sierra Nevada mountains in the 1900s, is a searing familial tale of a family as they attempt to come to terms with the changing world and the exploitation of their environment.
Directed by Graeme Maley
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Location: The Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site, Tao House
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Further information about the May 23rd performance:
Desire Under the Elms
Biography: Soren Oliver (director) is a Bay Area born actor and director. In the course of his career he has acted in such theatres as the Berkeley Rep, Huntington Theatre, Denver Theatre Company, Cal Shakes, Aurora, Shakespeare Theatre in D.C. and San Jose Rep. Soren has directed a number of shows for the Aurora Theatre as well as being the founding Artistic Director of Berkeley's Central Works Theatre. He will direct “Twelfth Night” for the Town Hall Theatre in Lafayette in the summer of 2011.
Further information about the June 6th performance:
Track of the Cat
Biography: Graeme Maley is a threatre director, specializing in the creation, development and direction of new plays. He is currently working collaborating with artists in Iceland, USA and the United Kingdom. All his new play productions are published by Nick Hern Books.
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About Playwrights' Theatre
Playwrights’ Theatre, now in its 14th season, is a program of the Eugene O’Neill Foundation in partnership with the National Park Service, which maintains Tao House as a National Historic Site. The theatre features new works as well as those by O’Neill or by playwrights who were influenced by the legendary dramatist.
In 1996, the Eugene O'Neill foundation initiated the
Playwrights’ Theatre, a series of staged readings of plays
in the Old Barn at Tao House. Prominent Bay Area directors and actors
take part. The name of the series honors O’Neill’s Playwrights’
Theatre, formed in 1916 in New York City by the Provincetown Players
who committed themselves to fostering American playwrights.
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Student Days at Tao House
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Artist Days at Tao House
The Eugene O'Neill Foundation, in partnership with the National Park Service, announces its 12th annual Artist Days at Tao House
The program offers Bay Area artists an opportunity to create new works in all media or artistic genre in the inspirational environment of the 11-acre site that was once the home of the legendary American playwright Eugene O'Neill. His former estate, Tao House, is a National Historic Site managed by the National Park Service. It borders the Las Trampas open space with a commanding view of the San Ramon Valley and Mt. Diablo.
Artists may apply to reserve any or all of the dates for the 2010 program. They are:
October 7, 8, 9, 2010
The fee is $5 per day and reservations are required.
Since private vehicles are not allowed on the property, artists will assemble at 8:45 a.m. each day at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley in Danville (205 Railroad Avenue). They will board a National Park Service van for the short trip to the site. The van will return to the parking lot at 2:45 p.m.
Because space on the van is limited, artists are asked to limit the size and volume of items they wish to bring with them. They should also provide their own food and beverages. Water, refrigeration and restrooms are available on the site.
For more information contact the Eugene O'Neill Foundation, Tao House (925.820.1818; taohouse@eugeneoneill.org)
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Visiting Artist Program
The first Visiting Artist at
Tao House was Michael O’Neill, who visited from April 15-May
15, 2005. Dr. O’Neill is Director of Theater, Lafayette College,
Easton, Pa. A prolific director, he has also written for The Theatre
Journal, Renascence, and The Eugene O’Neill Review.
A graduate of Fordham University, he received his
PhD from Purdue University, where his dissertation was: The Evolution
of Form in Contemporary Drama.
He is currently writing a book on the Irish character
that was created in Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World,
and its shadow on subsequent Irish drama, including the works of
Bernard Shaw, Sean O’Casey, Eugene O’Neill, Brian Friel
and Martin McDonagh.
While at Tao House, O’Neill conducted
research and writing, directed plays for the foundation’s
Playwrights’ Theatre, and lectured at Rakestraw Books in Danville.
His comments on his experience at Tao House are included in the
September 2005 Eugene O’Neill
Foundation newsletter.
Help Your Organization Learn More About O’Neill –
and the O’Neill Foundation
As part of its goal of perpetuating the life and works
of Eugene O’Neill, the foundation helps spread the word through
a corps of knowledgeable speakers. They’re available to speak
to your organization or at informal gatherings. Their topics include
the life and times of O’Neill and the activities and programs
of the foundation in association with the National Park Service.
Talks can be tailored to satisfy the interests and time limits of
your organization. To schedule a speaker, contact us at (925) 820-1818
or via e-mail at taohouse@eugeneoneill.org.
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AWARDS AND HONORS
THE TAO HOUSE AWARD
This award is
given to a person who, in the opinion of the board, has served the
American Theater with distinction. The recipient may be actively
involved in performance areas, including acting, directing, design
or producing and may also be a critic or scholar who has written
significantly about the theater in the United States. The first
Tao House Award was presented to Jason Robards Jr. on November 12,
1989. A longtime supporter of the foundation, Robards was instrumental
in the success of the foundation’s first benefit performance.
UC Professor
emeritus Travis Bogard, foundation artistic director, board, O’Neill
author, editor and scholar received the award in October 1993. At
the International Conference in June 1994, Dr. Donald Gallup became
the third recipient of the award. In his many years as curator of
the American Literature collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and
Manuscript Library at Yale University, Dr. Gallup made a “permanent
contribution to the American theater.”
Arthur and Barbara Gelb, authors of a biography of O’Neill,
received the fourth Tao House Award in April 1996.
In 1999 Producer
Director Theodore Mann who has produced 16 plays and 2 recording
of O’Neill works was presented with the award. This was followed
in 2003 when Paul Libin, Broadway producer and collaborator with
Mann, was honored, and in January, 2006, when the award was presented
to Stephen Black, author and authority on O’Neill. A special
presentation of the award was made in November 2006 to Cherry Jones,
who is regarded as the finest stage actress of her generation.
Another award
for 2006 was presented in January 2007 to Edward Hastings, a founding
member of the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), the Tony Award
winning regional theater company in San Francisco.
In 2008, the Tao House Award was presented posthumously to Paul Robeson.
THE OPEN GATE AWARD
This award honors those who have served as directors of the foundation
and whose dedication and service have enhanced the memory of Eugene
O’Neill.
It was first
presented in 1991 to Thalia Brewer, co-founder of the Eugene O’Neill
National Monument Association, which was organized to wage the campaign
that saved Tao House from destruction. The association eventually
became the Eugene O’Neill Foundation. In 1992 Darlene Blair
and Lois Sizoo. also founders of the association, were honored.
Subsequent honorees include Craig Dorman, 1993, Ruth Turner, 1995;
Frances Chumley, 1998; Linda Best, 2003; Virginia Denison, 2004;
Wendy Cooper, 2006.
THE ARTISTIC AWARD
The Artistic Award (The Genie) is given to individuals who have
been outstanding in their commitment to the Foundation’s mission
to provide artistic and educational programs, which focus on the
contribution of Eugene O’Neill to the American theater. Past
recipients are Kerri Shawn and Richard James (2003) ), well known
actors who have assisted the foundation in Student Days and other
foundation programs; and Michael Uppendal (2006), artistic director
of the Namaste Theatre Company based in Los Angeles. His company
performed O’Neill’s sea plays and “Hughie”
in the Old Barn at Tao House.
THE FREEMAN AWARD
This award is named for Herbert Freeman. He served as chauffeur
and “man of all work and friend. He is credited with helping
to make life more comfortable for the O’Neills at Tao House.
This award is presented to volunteers who have tirelessly given
their time and talents to the Eugene O’Neill Foundation.
Past recipients include Tony Cooper (2003), who has photographed
and videotaped foundation events and added content to the foundation’s
online research library; J.R.K. Kantor (2004), who worked on the
foundation library and served as a docent at Tao House; Glenn Fuller
(2005), former National Park Service superintendent with responsibilities
for Tao House; and Michael Cook (2006), for 30 years a Bay Area
theatrical designer, writer, actor and director, who also teaches
at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga. He has assisted with productions
at Tao House.
LOIS SIZOO ENDOWMENT FUND
In 2001 an endowment fund was established to honor the memory of
Lois Sizoo, founding member of the foundation. This fund is the
repository for all memorial gifts to the foundation. This fund will
support the work of new playwrights.
O’NEILL COMMEMORATIVE
IN DANVILLE
In 2004 the Board of Directors and the Town of Danville approved
the installation of an O’Neill Commemorative in Front Street
Park, Danville. This public art installation celebrates O’Neill’s
life in Danville and his plays, the last six of which were written
at Tao House, that earned him recognition as the playwright who
reshaped American theater. Formal unveiling and dedication of the
commemorative took place on Wednesday, September 28, 2005. View
an interactive tour of the commemorative...
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