News
2012 National Music Theater Conference Selections Announced
Posted by oneilladmin on May 1, 2012
2012 National Music Theater Conference Selections Announced
New Musicals to be developed in NMTC’s 35th Season:
When We Met, String, A Good Man, and The ToyMaker
Waterford, Connecticut –The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center announced today four musicals to be developed at its 2012 National Music Theater Conference (NMTC):
book by Dan Collins, lyrics and music by Julianne Wick Davis;
in collaboration with Sally Wilfert and Michael Winther
book by Sarah Hammond, lyrics and music by Adam Gwon
book and lyrics by Philip S. Goodman, music by Ray Leslee
book, lyrics, and music by Bryan Putnam
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Paulette Haupt, each work will undergo the O’Neill’s signature development process, employing acclaimed professional actors, directors, and music directors in an intensive series of rehearsals, discussions, and public readings. 167 music theater works were received through the O’Neill’s open submissions process, which allows any writer or composer to submit regardless of agent representation. The process utilizes readers from around the country to evaluate and recommend promising projects.
Since its founding in 1978, the National Music Theater Conference (NMTC) has developed and presented more than 100 musical works, including early works of award-winning writers and composers such as Kirsten Childs, Tan Dun, Andrew Lippa, Duncan Sheik, Steven Sater, Paul Oakley Stovall, and Jeannine Tesori. Joe Masteroff and Edward Thomas’ Desire Under the Elms (2003 Grammy nominee) was the first work to be developed at the Conference in 1978, and Arthur Kopit, Mario Fratti and Maury Yeston’s Nine, developed at the O’Neill in 1979, won Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Score in 1982, and for Best Revival of a Musical in 2003; Jeff Whitty, Robert Lopez, and Jeff Marx’s Avenue Q, developed at the O’Neill in 2002, won three Tony Awards in 2004, including Best Musical. In the Heights, a 2005 NMTC project, received the Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Musical when it played off-Broadway in 2007, and four 2008 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Numerous other works from the Conference have received productions and acclaim worldwide.
National Music Theater Conference Artistic Director Paulette Haupt said, “The seven creative artists selected for our 35th annual Conference represent a broad diversity of compositional and storytelling tapestries. Following an intense evaluation and review process of the 167 projects submitted this year through our open submission policy, these four works were chosen based on the creators’ extraordinary individual skills, a unified collaborative point of view, and their readiness to see and hear their words and music come alive in front of an audience.”
The O’Neill’s Executive Director, Preston Whiteway, remarked, “I’m so pleased to welcome these four new works and their creators to the magic of the O’Neill this summer. By developing four works once more this summer, the O’Neill is expanding the opportunities available to aspiring and career lyricists, librettists, and composers – traditionally we only have had the resources to develop three pieces. I commend our funders and Paulette Haupt, Artistic Director, for finding a way to expand our programming and opportunities for writers. These goals are the core of the O’Neill’s mission. I look forward to an exciting 2012 season.”
The Conference runs from June 20 through July 13 on the O’Neill’s campus in Waterford, Connecticut. Box Office (860-443-1238) and online ticket sales begin Wednesday, June 6; advance ticket sales are available to O’Neill Members beginning Wednesday, May 16. Schedules are subject to change.
For further information, call the O’Neill at 860-443-5378, email theaterlives@theoneill.org, or visit www.theoneill.org.
2012 NATIONAL MUSIC THEATER CONFERENCE SELECTIONS
2012 National Playwrights Conference Selections Announced
Posted by oneilladmin on April 18, 2012
2012 National Playwrights Conference Selections Announced
EIGHT NEW PLAY WORKSHOPS TO BE PRESENTED
Waterford, Connecticut – The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center announced today eight plays to be developed at the 2012 National Playwrights Conference (NPC):
PROVENANCE by Anne Garcia-Romero
TWO LAKES, TWO RIVERS by Laura Jacqmin
HYPE HERO (King Patch) by Dominic Taylor
ORANGE JULIUS by Basil Kreimendahl
THE TALL GIRLS by Meg Miroshnik
Greg Kotis will also be in residence working on a new play.
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Wendy C. Goldberg, each will undergo the O'Neill's signature development process, employing acclaimed professional creative and support staff, including directors, dramaturgs, actors, and designers. Playwrights spend the month of July developing and presenting staged readings of their work during NPC's 48th season.
Seven of the eight selected works were chosen from among nearly 1,000 plays received through the O'Neill's open submissions process, which allows any playwright – with or without agent representation – to submit. Readers from across the country to choose works based on merit, without authorship attribution.
"I am so pleased to welcome these playwrights and their projects to The O'Neill for our 2012 National Playwrights Conference", says Artistic Director Wendy C. Goldberg. "Our commitment to finding the next generation of storytellers as well as serve as a home for writers throughout their careers is truly evident in this group of artists. Although there are many development programs that have grown up over the years, our original home of new work development keeps a unique and crucial place in the theatrical landscape. I am proud of the space we can provide collaborators in an effort to move their work forward into production."
Goldberg is in her eighth season as artistic director of the National Playwrights Conference. During her tenure, many of the projects developed at the National Playwrights Conference have gone on to great acclaim in New York and around the country.
Seven of the eight plays developed in the 2011 season have thus received full production commitments within eight months of their time at the O'Neill – a remarkable endorsement of the value of the O'Neill process. The Nether by Jennifer Haley recently won the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and is awaiting announcement of a world premiere production in 2013. Idris Goodwin's How We Got On, directed by Goldberg, garnered critical praise for its recent run at the Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theater of Louisville. Good Goods by Christina Anderson recently received its premiere production at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut.
Executive Director Preston Whiteway remarked, "Congratulations to the nine writers who will be with us for our 48th NPC season. Wendy has strengthened the program tremendously as Artistic Director, and I look forward to these eight plays joining the theatrical canon. The O'Neill's work is valuable and a leader in the field, and I also offer my congratulations and thanks to the nearly 1,000 writers who submitted work for consideration."
Box Office (860-443-1238) and online ticket sales begin Wednesday, June 6; advance ticket sales are available to O'Neill Members beginning Wednesday, May 16. Schedules are subject to change.
For further information, call the O'Neill at 860-443-5378, email theaterlives@theoneill.org, or visit the 2012 NPC Selections page.
Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Announces Rachel Jett as Artistic Director of National Theater Institute
Posted by oneilladmin on April 12, 2012
Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Announces Rachel Jett as Artistic Director of National Theater Institute
Waterford, Connecticut – The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, after a national search, has announced the selection of Rachel Jett to lead the National Theater Institute (NTI), the accredited program for college students at the O'Neill. As Artistic Director, Ms. Jett will provide oversight and vision for the program, teach in the core curriculum, and represent the program both locally and nationally. Ms. Jett has been Interim Artistic Director of the program since December and will assume full duties effective immediately. She replaces Jeff Janisheski, who led the program since 2008.
Founded in 1970, the National Theater Institute is a unique, leading program in theatrical education. It is a one semester, study-away program that draws undergraduates from across the country for an intensive 14-week immersion in theater. Fully accredited by Connecticut College, NTI gives its students a broad based education in Acting, Directing, Design, Movement, Voice, and Playwriting. Students additionally travel abroad for two weeks either to Stratford- upon-Avon or to St. Petersburg. NTI also administers the Moscow Art Theater School Semester (MATS), which sends a separate group of American undergraduates to the Moscow Art Theater to learn from Russian Masters. Other NTI programs include semesters in Advanced Directing and Advanced Playwriting and Theatermakers – the credit earning, six-week summer intensive.
Preston Whiteway, Executive Director, remarked, "Rachel Jett is the right choice for NTI. Her history with the program as an alum and 14 year faculty member, her extensive training in Russia, her talent as a writer of music theater, and her advocacy for the students all combine to make her the ideal candidate for this position. NTI has been led by her firm and inspiring hand this past semester in an acting capacity, and we look forward to a bright future for the program under her leadership."
Rachel Jett added, "I am overjoyed and honored to continue my relationship with the O'Neill as Artistic Director of The National Theater Institute. NTI has long been a source of inspiration, first as a student and then a faculty member. I was taught here that theater was a craft that was passed from one generation to the next. I take that responsibility very seriously. As a teacher my times with our students are among the best moments of my life and I look forward to that exchange every day. Like many of our alums, coming to NTI changed my life and my artistic outlook. It continues to do so, and that is just one of the reasons why I am very excited to be here now carrying forward NTI's high standard of theatrical training as well as steering it into the next phase!"
Rachel has served as a core faculty member since 1998 and is also an alumnus of NTI, NTI: Advanced Directing and the Moscow Art Theater Semester. Ms. Jett earned her MFA in Musical Theater Writing from Tisch School for the Arts at NYU, and trained in Russia at the Vakhtangov School as the first American aspirant to Stage Movement luminary Andrei Droznin. Her musicals HAMEKO AND LULU, and LOVE, DEATH AND FIGS, have had workshops at Playwrights Horizons and Barrington Stage. She has taught playwriting and movement for the New York State Summer School of the Arts since 2004. Rachel was also a member of the Helen Hayes award winning Stanislavsky Theater Studio now the SYNETIC theater company in Washington D.C. from 1999-2002.
Past directors of NTI have included Lloyd Richards, Lynn Britt, Richard Digby Day, David Jaffe, Michael Cadman, and Jeff Janisheski. Students graduating from NTI have included: Jennifer Garner; John Krasinski (The Office); Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother); Jeremy Piven (Entourage); Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director, Manhattan Theater Club); and Susan Booth (Artistic Director, Alliance Theatre).
21st Annual Golf Tournament Announced
Posted by oneilladmin on February 29, 2012
21st Annual Golf Tournament
Sponsorship Opportunities and Foursomes Now Available
May 30th, 2012
Fishers Island Golf Club
Fishers Island, NY
All proceeds to benefit The O'Neill,
a non-profit organization.
Best of ball foursome format.
10:30am Brunch at the Fishers Island Club
11:30am Shot-gun start
The day concludes with cocktails, dinner,
and a live auction.
Transportation provided.
Fishers Island Ferry Terminal, New London, CT
Ferry departs New London at 9:00am
Ferry departs Fishers Island at 7:15pm
All Sponsors are invited for cocktails, dinner,
live auction, and a ferry ride to Fishers Island.
For more information, click here to download a PDF of our Brochure
or contact Suzanne Hendrix
(860)443-5378 x217
Tickets Available for 12th Annual Monte Cristo Award
Posted by oneilladmin on February 22, 2012
12th Annual Monte Cristo Award Honoring Michael Douglas—Tickets Now Available
Preferred Seat(s) with seating for one at $1,000 (includes program listing)
Patron Seat(s) with seating for one at $750
Tickets no longer available | Make a Donation
| co-chairs | ||
| Danny DeVito | Steven Soderbergh | Barbara Walters |
| Alec Baldwin | Bill Irwin | Tom Rothman |
| Annette Bening | Marie-Josée & Henry Kravis | Joel Schumacher |
| Glenn Close | Cecelia Joyce & Seward Johnson | Gerald Schwartz |
| Mr. & Mrs. Leo A. Daly III | Dina Merrill & Ted Hartley | Ridley Scott |
| Matt Damon | Sara & Douglas Mercer | Kathleen Turner |
| Jamie deRoy | Ron Meyer | Thomas Viertel & Pat Daily |
| Robert Downey, Jr. | Lorne & Alice Michaels | Jann Wenner |
| Jennifer Garner | Bette Midler | George C. & Betsy White |
| Jim Gianopulos | Harold Prince | Brian Williams |
| Stephen & Ruth Hendel | Rob and Michele Reiner |
For more information about the O’Neill’s Monte Cristo Award dinner, including sponsorship opportunities, or programs ads, please contact:
Suzanne Hendrix
Director of Special Events and Membership
860-443-5378 x217
shendrix@theoneill.org.
The Monte Cristo Award honors a theater artist who exemplifies Eugene O'Neill's "pioneering spirit, unceasing artistic commitment, excellence, and accomplishment", who is the only American playwright to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. O'Neill set his masterpiece, Long Day's Journey Into Night at his childhood home, the Monte Cristo Cottage, in New London, Connecticut.
Film, stage, and screen star Michael Douglas began his career at the O’Neill, first interning and then acting in the National Playwrights Conference for three summers from 1966-68. He calls his time at the O’Neill “one of the two great influences on my life,” with the other being the great Karl Malden. Michael has served on the Board of Trustees of the O’Neill since 1980. He is the winner of two Academy awards, for producing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and for Best Actor in Wall Street.