Eugene O'Neill Festival

The Annual Eugene O'Neill Festival

The Eugene O'Neill Festival is an annual event held each September that brings the works of America's only Nobel Prize-winning playwright to life in the historic setting of his home at the Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site. Each year, the festival features performances of O'Neill's plays, often complemented by related workshops, discussions, and other cultural events.

While the festival plays are hosted at the park, all ticketing, schedules, and event details are managed by the Eugene O'Neill Foundation. To find out more about the specific plays being performed, event timings, and to purchase tickets, visitors should consult the Eugene O'Neill Foundation's website. This ensures that attendees have the most up-to-date information for planning their visit to the festival.

On performance days, tours of the historic house are not offered.

 

The Eugene O’Neill Foundation, Tao House

Founded in 1974 with the primary goal of preserving Eugene O’Neill’s former residence in Danville, California. This historic site, known as Tao House, is where O’Neill wrote some of his most significant works, including Long Day’s Journey Into Night and The Iceman Cometh. The Foundation’s mission extends beyond preservation; it aims to promote O’Neill's legacy as America’s first great playwright by offering a range of educational, artistic, and research programs. These initiatives include annual events like the Eugene O’Neill Festival, artist residencies, student workshops, and scholarly research opportunities, all designed to engage the public with O’Neill’s contributions to American theater and culture.

For more information about the Foundation's programs and activities, you can visit the Eugene O'Neill Foundation's website.

 

Past Productions

The Eugene O’Neill Foundation, in partnership with the National Park Service, has staged O'Neill's plays several times a year since 1996. These performances often occur in the Old Barn at Tao House, where O'Neill wrote some of his most famous works. The productions have expanded to include venues in downtown Danville and internationally, such as in San Francisco, Boston, St. Louis, and Ireland. For a comprehensive list of past productions, visit the Eugene O’Neill Foundation's website.

2024

• Mourning Becomes Electra (O'Neill), directed by Eric Faisher Hayes
• Warnings Before Breakfast, adapted and directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes from O'Neill's Warnings and Before Breakfast

2023

• The First Man (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• Yellow Wallpaper 2.0 (Maisel), directed by Chloe Brosnan
• Anna Christie (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes

2022

• Welded, directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• A Moon for the Misbegotten, directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes

2021

• Beyond the Horizon, directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• The Ghosts of Tao House, virtual recordings
• Tiny Horizon Stories, virtual short stories

2020

• O’Neill’s Lost Plays: The Web, Abortion, and Recklessness, directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes

2019

• The Great God Brown (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• Long Day's Journey Into Night, directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• The Glass Menagerie (Tennessee Williams)
• Balclutha Sea Plays, Hyde Street Pier, SF
• The Second Girl (Ronan Noone)

2018

• Days Without End (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• Hughie, directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• Blemie (Adapted Poem, Eric Fraisher Hayes)
• All My Sons (Arthur Miller), directed by Patrick Russell

2017

• A Touch of the Poet (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• The Playboy of the Western World (J. M. Synge)
• Shell Shock (O'Neill), directed by Chloe Bronzan
• The Rescue (Creighton Smith), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• Dynamo (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes

2016

• The Emperor Jones
• Seascape (Edward Albee)
• N (Adrienne Pender)
• O’Neill: the Rhythms of His Soul (Written by Dan Cawthon, based on The Eugene O’Neill Songbook by Travis Bogard), directed by Rachael Robinson

2015

• Waiting for Lefty (Clifford Odets), directed by Chad Deverman
• Golden Boy (Clifford Odets), directed by Phoebe Moyer
• Hughie (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• Desire Under the Elms, directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams)

2014

• A View from the Bridge (Arthur Miller), directed by Joy Carlin
• El Paso Blue (Octavio Solis)
• The Iceman Cometh, directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Tennessee Williams)

2013

• The Cherry Orchard (Anton Chekhov), directed by George Maguire
• The Lady From the Sea (Henrik Ibsen), directed by Susannah Martin
• Anna Christie (O'Neill)
• Chris Christopherson
• More Stately Mansions (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes

2012

• Short Scenes from PlayGround, SF, directed by Josy Miller
• Exorcism (O'Neill), directed by Dan Cawthon
• Diff’rent (O'Neill), directed by Lois Grandi
• A Moon for the Misbegotten
• Ah, Wilderness!
• The Straw (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes

2011

• Bound East for Cardiff (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• In the Zone (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• The Long Voyage Home (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes

2010

• Desire Under the Elms (O'Neill), directed by Soren Oliver
• Track of the Cat (Graeme Maley), directed by Graeme Maley
• Short Scenes from PlayGround, SF, directed by Josy Miller & Eric Fraisher Hayes
• A Touch of the Poet (O'Neill), directed by Eric Frasher Hayes

2009

• Born Tired (Bevin Lew), directed by Bevin Lew
• The Sniper (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• The Movie Man (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes
• Shell Shock (O'Neill), directed by Eric Fraisher Hayes

2008

• Blood Mirage (Jeremy Hargraves), directed by Michael Ward
• Revelations (Scenes from Anna Christie, Mourning Becomes Electra), directed by Michael Ward
• Welded (O'Neill), directed by Josy Miller

2007

• This Is Not My Life (Adam Sandel), directed by Michael Ward
• Now I Ask You (O'Neill), directed by Daren A. Carollo

2006

• Pear Slices (8 brief original plays), Pear Avenue Theatre, directed by Diane Tasca
• The Typographer’s Dream (Bock), Encore Theatre Company, directed by Lisa Steindler

2005

• Overtures (Gerstenberg), directed by M. O'Neill
• Before Breakfast (O'Neill), directed by M. O'Neill
• Enemies (Boyce/Hapgood), directed by M. O'Neill
• E.G.O: The Passions of Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (Morello), directed by Dan Cawthon

2004

• The Lonesome West (McDonagh), Namaste Theatre Company, directed by M. Uppendahl
• Fog (O'Neill), directed by Lois Grandi
• Thirst (O'Neill), directed by Lois Grandi
• Recklessness (O'Neill), directed by Dan Cawthon
• Suppressed Desires (Glaspell and Cook), directed by Dan Cawthon

2003

• Into the Wake of the Moon (Kurt Gravenhorst)
• The Great God Brown, Oakland Public Theatre, directed by Norman Gee

2002

• Hairy Ape (O'Neill), Marin Theatre Company, directed by Lee Sankowich
• Where the Cross is Made (O'Neill), Namaste Theatre Company, directed by Mike Uppendahl
• Ile (O'Neill), Namaste Theatre Company, directed by Mike Uppendahl
• The Rope (O'Neill), Namaste Theatre Company, directed by Mike Uppendahl

2001

• Servitude (O'Neill), directed by Tom Ross
• Abortion (O'Neill), directed by Lois Grandi
• Red Carnations (Hughes), directed by Lois Grandi
• Bound East for Cardiff (O'Neill), directed by Andrea Gordon
• In the Zone (O'Neill), directed by Andrea Gordon

2000

• Riders to the Sea (Synge), directed by Joy Carlin
• Overtures (Gerstenberg), directed by Joy Carlin
• Diff’rent (O'Neill), directed by Dan Cawthon
• Freedom (Reed), directed by Alan McElvey
• Shell Shock (O'Neill), directed by Alan McElvey

1999

• Recklessness (O'Neill), directed by Jan Erlendson
• Another Way Out (Langer), directed by Jan Erlendson
• A Wife for a Life (O'Neill), directed by Nancy Carlin
• Lovers—Winners (Friel), directed by Nancy Carlin
• Welded (O'Neill), directed by Dan Cawthon

1998

• Ile (O'Neill), directed by Dan Cawthon
• Aria Da Capo (St. Vincent Millay), directed by Dan Cawthon
• The Web (O'Neill), directed by Ed Hastings
• Hello Out There (Saroyan), directed by Ed Hastings
• Miss Julie (Strindberg), directed by Barbara Oliver

1997

• The Outside (Glaspell), directed by Joy Carlin
• Trifles (Glaspell), directed by Joy Carlin
• Fog (O’Neill), directed by Dan Cawthon
• Thirst (O’Neill), directed by Dan Cawthon
• The Emperor Jones (O’Neill), directed by Ed Hastings

1996

• Constancy (Neith Boyce), directed by Joy Carlin
• Suppressed Desires (Glaspell and Cook), directed by Joy Carlin
• Before Breakfast (O’Neill), directed by Barbara Oliver
• My Heart’s in the Highlands (Saroyan), directed by Barbara Oliver
• The Rope (O’Neill), directed by Ed Hastings
• Where the Cross is Made (O’Neill), directed by Ed Hastings