eugene o'neill Festival 2025
Seeking to Belong
LIVE PERFORMANCES AUG 23 - SEP 21
View Our Festival Engagement Guide HERE
At the heart of Eugene O’Neill’s play The Hairy Ape is the universal need to find where one belongs in the world. This year’s Festival is dedicated to this basic principle. Complementing a Tao House production of The Hairy Ape will be performances of Lee Osorio’s Prisontown which delves into the complexities of a town relying on an immigrant detention facility as its life blood resulting in moral challenges that lead to apathy and activism in the face of the dehumanizing of others. This fall we are offering stories of people haunted by forces that they don’t understand and yet need to pursue on a journey to discover themselves and where they belong.
Past Events
August O’Neill Happy Hour
Aug 5 (Tue 5:30pm)
Auburn Lounge map it
This month’s O’Neill Happy Hour kicks off the 2025 Festival season! Come meet and greet with Prisontown director Richard Perez and The Hairy Ape director Eric Fraisher Hayes and find out more about how both plays speak to this year’s Festival theme “Seeking to Belong.”
Prisontown by Lee Osorio
Aug 23, 24 (Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2pm)
Veterans Memorial Hall/Senior Center, Danville CA map it
How much of an activist are you? After receiving this text message from his immigration attorney brother, a Writer finds himself haunted by a very persistent and troubling ghost. Before long, the Writer finds himself on a journey back to his hometown of Lumpkin, Georgia … now the home of Stewart County Immigration Detention Center. As he talks to those trapped in the prison – both literally and figuratively – the ghost makes a simple but incredibly hard request – see.
View the virtual program HERE
Sep 3 (Wed 5pm PT/8pm ET)Join scholars Beth Wynstra (Babson College) and Valerie Joyce (Villanova University) for a sneak peek of their upcoming scholar session to be presented this October in New Ross, Ireland. They will explore why The Hairy Ape still speaks to 21st century audiences, and examine its timeless human struggles, contemporary resonances, and the urgent questions it continues to raise. Learn more about this year's feature play from the comfort of your couch before attending the performances at Tao House or the Village Theatre.
The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neill
Sep 5–7/11–14 (Thu-Sat 7:30pm, Sun 1:30pm)
Shows at Tao House with shuttle from Museum of the San Ramon Valley map it
Sep 20, 21 (Sat 7:30pm, Sun 1:30pm)
Shows at the Village Theater map it
Robert “Yank” Smith is the master of all he surveys until an encounter with a mysterious woman in white turns his world upside down. The experience sends him on a quest to find her and ultimately find where he belongs. Eugene O’Neill’s 1922 theatrical fantasy will be brought to life by a dynamic ensemble of six actors in a highly imaginative production of this O’Neill classic.
Tickets to Tao House performances HERE
Tickets to Village Theatre performances HERE
Check out The Hairy Ape program HERE
Secrets of O’Neill’s Danville, A Historic Walk
Sep 13 (Sat 10am)
Eugene O’Neill Commemorative Park map it
Free guided tour through old town Danville with local historians to discover the secrets of O’Neill’s Danville. Learn how the O’Neill’s shopped and lived local circa 1937–44. Accessible to all levels of walkers. No preregistration required.
Shop, Dine, See a Play
Aug 23–Sep 21
Downtown Danville (various locations)
Festival patrons enjoy 10% discount at over 2 dozen local Shop and Dine business partners. Show your Eugene O’Neill Festival receipt email at participating establishments. Shop local and support the arts.
Whiskey Stroll
Downtown Danville, concierge at Auburn Lounge map it
Sep 17 (Wed 6–8pm)
Join Irish shanty singers and Festival friends for a unique pairing of whiskey tastes with our downtown Danville Shop and Dine business partners. Advanced tickets $25 donation ($30 at door if not sold out). Check in at the O’Neill Festival concierge table (patio/back room Auburn Lounge) to receive a wristband and souvenir shot glass.
“Seeking to Belong”: Poetry & Paintings
Sep 5–30
Museum of the San Ramon Valley map it
Join us for a display of poetry and paintings from local artists and makers and beyond! View creative works inspired by this year’s “Seeking to Belong” artistic theme, on display at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley through September. More Info
SEE YOU IN 2026!
We hope to see you there!
The Eugene O’Neill Festival: a history
Since 1999, the annual Eugene O’Neill Festival has celebrated dramatic theatre in the San Fransisco Bay Area. Similarly-themed plays from classic playwrights and O’Neill contemporaries are chosen for production at various locations in Danville with the centerpiece O’Neill show being performed at Tao House itself. In 2013, the festival grew to a month-long event which now includes a guided hikes to the Tao House property, a historic tour of Danville, special exhibits at the Museum of San Ramon Valley, seminars with dramaturgs, actors and directors, and several social events.