Eight plays (from nearly 750) and two musicals (from more than 100) were chosen from the submissions received by the Waterford, Connecticut company. The two musical writer-composer teams will work for two weeks and the playwrights will spend the month of July, all developing their respective works with actors, directors and dramaturgs, before they are presented in readings.
The O'Neill 2006 National Playwrights and Music Theatre Conference selections (schedule subject to change) are:
"A quirky and tender comedy about a young Cuban man tied in knots by romantic complications, the specter of S.A.T.'s and the fading flamingos in Miami. It's not easy to keep your color while flying the coop."
"A biting and darkly-comic look at the dangers of meeting up with old friends when the rich are rich and the poor are desperate."
"Arabian Nights meets Manhattan as a touching love story unfolds inside a troubling political fantasy."
"In a New York City hospital a woman, identity unknown, goes in and out of consciousness. In prison, her son tries to figure out how she got there."
Book by Lonny Price, music by Grant Sturiale, lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh
"A four-and-a-half year old child prodigy becomes the breadwinner for her destitute family and greedy neighbors, resulting in hilarious yet scathing results. A cautionary tale about people who incrementally give up their values for fame and fortune."
"A hilarious, fast-paced musical comedy rendering of Greek Mythology featuring Zeus, Athena, Hermes, Apollo, Aphrodite, Dionysus and many more in a zany look at the lives of the gods on Mount Olympus." Theater for Youth Project, specially written family play for grades 5-9.
"The truth is, Charlotte's brother kissed her on the lips before he died. The legend is, now everything she kisses also dies. An urban legend is chronicled in a one-woman tour de force."
"While uncovering the source of his supernatural visions, a tormented young African American man discovers his own family's connection to one of American history's most horrific events." Winner of the Alliance Theatre's Kendeda Playwriting Award.
Book by Joshua V. Scher, music by Curtis Moore, lyrics by Thomas Mizer
"The present resurrects the past and the past rescues the present in two New York stories — one set in 1911 and the other in 2001. Two people in love struggle to discover what freedom truly means in these volatile landscapes when their worlds collide."
"In a small post office in the West of Ireland, one man struggles to let go of the past and, with the help of his daughters, to move into the future." Part of an international exchange with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Tickets go on sale June 15 through the O'Neill Box Office at (860) 443-1238. Outdoor performances are moved indoors in the event of rain.
The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center was founded in 1964 and based in Waterford, CT. Programs at the Center include the Puppetry Conference, Playwrights Conference, Critics Institute, Music Theater Conference and the National Theater Institute. The Monte Cristo Cottage, O'Neill's childhood home, is also owned and operated by the group.
For more information, call (860) 443-5378 or visit the website at www.theoneill.org.
