The 8th International Eugene O’Neill Conference will take place from June 22 through 26, 2011 at New York University, located in the heart of Greenwich Village surrounding Washington Square Park.

NYU Steinhardt School to Co-Host 8th International Eugene O'Neill Foundation Conference, June 22-26
Eugene O'Neill, sketch by William Zorach.

                         Papers and Panel Discussions on the Topic "O’Neill in Bohemia"

The 8th International Eugene O’Neill Conference will take place from June 22 through 26, 2011 at New York University, located in the heart of Greenwich Village surrounding Washington Square Park.  It was in this same neighborhood, the center of Bohemian Culture in the early 20th Century, that O’Neill and his colleagues began the Provincetown Playhouse.  The conference, with scholars from 13 countries represented, will focus on O’Neill’s early career and those of the other Provincetown Playhouse pioneers with papers and panels on topics concerning “O’Neill in Bohemia.”

Conference events will be held at numerous locations in Greenwich Village as well as on the NYU campus.  Featured events and activities include: a keynote address delivered by playwright Tony Kushner; a presentation on the opera A Blizzard in Marblehead Neck, which is based on an incident in O’Neill’s life, by composer Jeanine Tesori with Kushner; a performance by the celebrated actor John Douglas Thompson from O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones; the Medallion Award Banquet, this year honoring director Robert Falls, actor Brian Dennehy, and O'Neill Society member Diane Schinnerer; a tour of the newly rebuilt Provincetown Playhouse; and a tour of O’Neill’s New York City “haunts” created and written by Arthur and Barbara Gelb and Sheila Garvey.

The conference registration fee is $200 and is open to anyone with an interest in O’Neill and is a current member of the Eugene O’Neill Society.  “For more detailed information and a complete schedule of events and activities, visit www.eugeneoneillsociety.org/oneillconference.html

In conjunction with the conference, an exhibition of drawings by Al Hirschfeld celebrating O’Neill and his canon will go on view in NYU’s Kimmel Center Windows Gallery, located at LaGuardia Place and West 3rd Street.  Entitled Eugene O’Neill as Seen by Al Hirschfeld, the installation comprises a series of 13 windows each devoted to a single play and its productions over the years.  The installation, on view now, will remain through August.  For additional information about the exhibition and the Al Hirschfeld Foundation, visit www.alhirschfeldfoundation.org/news/eugene-oneill-seen-al-hirschfeld-free-summer-installation-nyu.

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Richard Pierce
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