This year’s festival, Having Her Say will be headlined by our production of Eugene O’Neill’s “Anna Christie” in the Old Barn at Tao House, Directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes.

Tickets for "Anna Christie" HERE

 

Sep 9,  7:30pm SOLD OUT!

Sep 10, 2:00pm SOLD OUT!

Sep 15, 7:30pm* SOLD OUT!

Sep 16, 7:30pm** SOLD OUT!

Sep 17, 2:00pm*** SOLD OUT!

Sep 22, 7:30pm

Sep 23, 7:30pm SOLD OUT!

Sep 24, 2:00pm SOLD OUT!

 

PLUS:

*Sept 15 "Anna Christie" discussion pre-show with dramaturg Katie Johnson

**Sept 16 Discussion pre-show with Katie Johnson about her book, "Racing the Great White Way"

***Sept 17 Talk-back post-show with "Anna Christie" cast

(Open to all ticket-holders for those dates.)

Artisitc Director and Dramaturg "Have Their Say!" Read or download our accompanying “Anna Christie”  ENGAGEMENT GUIDE in preparation of the performance!

 

Take the NPS shuttle from The Museum of the San Ramon Valley (map it)

“Anna Christie,” the play Eugene O’Neill wrote about one of his most spirited and memorable female protagonists, headlines the 23rd annual Eugene O’Neill Festival (Sept. 9-24). This 1922 Pulitzer Prize-winning play will be presented for three weekends at Tao House, O’Neill’s home in the Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site in Danville. The play portrays a woman who fights for self-determination against the expectations of society and the men in her life. When Anna memorably enters Johnny-the-Priest’s New York waterfront saloon, she’s looking to reconnect with her barge-captain father after surviving a childhood of abandonment and trauma and after supporting herself as a sex worker. As she joins her father at sea to heal, she finds family, love, and a renewed sense of purpose to live on her terms, declaring, “Nobody owns me, see?—’cepting myself.”

 

 

 

 

Join us for two MUST SEE performances (Aug 19 and 20) of a staged reading of a new play, Yellow Wallpaper 2.0 2020, by Jennifer Maisel, a participant in the Eugene O’Neill Foundation’s Travis Bogard Artist in Residence program. Maisel offers a modern meditation on Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1892 short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” about a Victorian housewife driven to insanity when her physician husband prescribes isolation in an upstairs nursery as a treatment for her “nervous depression.” Maisel’s protagonist is a professor trying to pen an essay about Perkins Gilman while enduring a 21st-century version of isolation in COVID lockdown.

Veterans Memorial Building, Danville (map it)

Plus:

Sat Aug 19 4:00 pm Join us for a FREE discussion of Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper at the Veterans Memorial Building in Downtown Danville. Learn about the original story, then have dinner at one of the many downtown restaurants, and return to enjoy the evening performance at the Vets Hall!

 

Tickets for Yellow Wallpaper 2.0 2020 HERE

 

 

Other Festival events:

“Anna Christie” Play Reading Club 

Thurs Aug 31, 6:00 pm

O’Neill wrote his plays to be read as literature and is known for his compelling stage directions. Join us for a virtual book-club-style discussion, and “have your say” about the play. Read the script, see our discussion prompts, and register HERE

Ghosts of Danville Stroll

Sep 6 - Oct 16

Start at Cottage Jewel (map it)

Explore greater downtown Danville visiting a dozen plus dining and shop locations on the Ghosts of Tao House Stroll. This self-guided “ghost” tour, discovering O’Neill’s most famous characters along the way, happens downtown throughout the Festival. Start at Cottage Jewel on Hartz Ave and check out all of our ghost host sites HERE.

 

 "Vows, Veils, and Masks: The Performance of Marriage in the Plays of Eugene O’Neill"

Wed Aug 2 5:00 - 7:00 pm

Auburn Lounge (map it)

Beth Wynstra, Associate Professor of English at Babson College, author, and dramaturg will be hosting a book launch for her new book Vows, Veils, and Masks: The Performance of Marriage in the Plays of Eugene O’Neill.

Join us at our favorite local Danville speakeasy, Auburn Lounge, for a private reception with libations and entertaining discussion with the author.

Tickets $20 HERE or $25 at the door

 Having Her Say with Art

Sun Aug 27 2:00 - 4:00 pm

Pinot's Palette (map it)

Anna Christie found solace in the fog; The Yellow Wallpaper narrator and T in Yellow Wallpaper 2.0 2020 found solace in writing; many find solace and healing in Art – join us and feed your creative spark at this intimate gathering for an afternoon of painting and exploring at Pinot’s Palette. Your registration fee also supports Eugene O’Neill Foundation programming.

$45 registration HERE

 Poetry and Passages with Poet Kate Moore

Wed Aug 30 1:00 - 3:00 pm

Cottage Jewel Antiques (map it)

Join us at Cottage Jewel for an afternoon with author and three-time poet laureate for the City of San Ramon Kate Moore. Whether you’re inspired to write a single line, compose a modern epic, or just listen and read what others have written, this event is sure to awaken the poet in you! Heed these famous words penned by Eugene O’Neill: “Yes, there’s the makings of a poet in you all right.” Drop in anytime during this FREE event and awaken the poet in you!

No fee

 “Anna Christie” Play Reading Discussion

Thu Aug 31 6:00 pm

Virtual Zoom, more info, discussion prompts, and registration HERE

Have your say about this year’s featured O’Neill play “Anna Christie” and join this virtual discussion with Artistic Director Eric Fraisher Hayes and author, dramaturg, and professor, Katie Johnson. Whether you’ve read the play or not you’ll learn lots before seeing the production. Visit the website for play reading discussion questions.

No fee

 O’Neill’s Danville – A Historic Walk

Sat Sep 9 10:00 am

Eugene O'Neill Commemorative Park (across from the library) Downtown Danville map it

Discover O’Neill’s Danville with this historic walk downtown. Learn how the O’Neill’s shopped and experienced Danville with this guided tour. Accessible to all levels of walkers.

No fee

 "Don't be Stingy" Whiskey and Ghost Stroll

Wed Sep 13 6:30 pm

Auburn Lounge, Downtown Danville (map it)

Join us for an evening of “Anna Christie” inspired beverages and fun starting off at our favorite local Danville speakeasy, Auburn Lounge, and be the first to experience newly released additions to the foundation’s Ghosts of Tao House series of short videos filmed at Tao House featuring O’Neill’s women characters in honor of this year’s “Having Her Say” festival theme. Participants also will receive an O’Neill shot glass and wristband entitling them to tastings at multiple “ghost host” sites throughout town. While Auburn Lounge is the main hub for this event, docents will guide attendees throughout Downtown to meet some of our “ghost hosts” and learn more about the Foundation’s Ghosts of Tao House series. Check out all of our ghost host sites HERE.

$20

 Nature Walk Beyond Tao House

 

Wed Sep 20 10:00 am

Shuttle from the Museum of the San Ramon Valley at 10am returning at 12pm

In the hills near the Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site, the Foundation will host a “Nature Walk Beyond Tao House.” Led by local Renaissance naturalist Sandi Hunt, participants will see 8 to 10 native plants and trees in Las Trampas Regional Wilderness and sample some local tasting made with ingredients native to the land surrounding O’Neill’s home. This will be a hands-on, easy stroll with a complimentary shuttle up to Tao House. At the same time, the National Park Service will be giving complimentary tours of the house. This is a great opportunity to explore inside O’Neill’s home and beyond. FREE

 

 

 

In October, our Friendship City, New Ross, Ireland, will be hosting the International Festival of Theatre. For more information on Danville's partnership with New Ross, the incredible tour offer, and the Festival, read more HERE