O’Neill Schedule July 4 through 10

Waterford, CT, June 27, 2002 — Staged readings of new plays by Lee Blessing, Brooke Berman and Rob Handel kick off the 2002 O’Neill Playwrights Conference, a month-long assembly of 19 playwrights and hundreds of professional theater artists, trustees, and teachers as well as audience members who wish to advance new work for the stage. The O’Neill Theater Center will hold public staged readings of 15 new works through July 28, as well as a variety of speakers during the free All-Conference Series, which takes place several times a week from 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. in the Dina Merrill Theater. The speaker schedule is subject to change, for more information, please call (860) 443-1238.

Next week’s performances are:

WHORES by Lee Blessing, directed by Melia Bensussen
July 5 at 8:00 p.m. & July 6 at 2:30 p.m., Barn

The mind of a Central-American general—with all its guilts, lusts, angers, misgivings, regrets and self-justifications—is the world of this play. Trapped in it are three nuns and a Catholic lay worker, all of whom were martyred on his watch in a country the name of which he can no longer remember. And why should he remember? He lives in America now. Featuring actors Shawn Elliott, Dierdre O’Connell, Carrie Preston, Elizabeth Reaser and Karen Ziemba.

UNTILWEFINDEACHOTHER by Brooke Berman, directed by Lisa Portes
July 6 at 8:00 p.m. & July 7 at 2:30 p.m., Barn

Justin is torn between a normal life with his conventional girlfriend and the lure of a spiritual adventure with his psychic “twin” Miriam, a restless seeker who has just returned to her family after a year away. Featuring actors Caroline Baeumler, Rob Beitzel, Lennon Parham, Dallas Roberts, Josh Stamberg and Colleen Werthmann.

MILLICENT SCOWLWORTHY by Rob Handel, directed by Daniel Goldstein
July 9 & 10 at 8:00 p.m., Amphitheater

When unexpected violence hits a community, the grownups want to forget and move on, but the town’s teenagers are meeting secretly to revisit the past. Featuring actors Noah Bean, Michael Chernus, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Dara Fisher, Brenton Popolizio, Susie Pourfar, Rhea Seehorn, Samantha Soule and Matt Stadelmann.

All-Conference Series speakers for the week will include members of the 2002 O'Neill Critics Institute on Thursday, July 4, Slam Poet Patricia Smith on Friday, July 5 and the new O’Neill Puppetry Conference artistic director Pam Arciero, along with Martin P. Robinson, who leads the annual Puppet Anarchy workshop on Wednesday, July 10.

OPC 2002 public readings take place Tuesday through Sunday. Ticket prices are $10 & $12, $8 weekdays for O’Neill members. To reserve tickets or receive a summer schedule, call the O’Neill Center box office at (860) 443-1238.

The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, founded in 1964 and based in Waterford CT, is dedicated to the advancement of new work for the theater and creates and operates programs which complement that goal. These include the Puppetry Conference, Playwrights Conference, Critics Institute, Music Theater Conference and the National Theater Institute, a college-accredited training program for theater artists. The O’Neill also owns and operates the Monte Cristo Cottage.