The Irish Immigrant World of Eugene O'Neill
The Éire Society of Boston is delighted to invite the public to an afternoon discussing how Irish immigration shaped the family, boyhood, and plays of the only Irish American dramatist ever awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. This event is free and open to all, and refreshments will be served.
2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
John J Burns Library, Boston College
Beth Wynstra (Babson College) will open with a talk on gender, nostalgia, and the Irish immigrant experience in O’Neill’s plays, focusing on two characters from his late works: Nora Melody in A Touch of the Poet and Mary Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey into Night. Wynstra is Associate Professor of English and Theater at Babson College and Vice President of the Eugene O’Neill International Society. She is the author of Vows, Veils, and Masks: The Performance of Marriage in the Plays of Eugene O’Neill (University of Iowa Press, 2023).
Ronán Noone (Boston University) is the author of eleven plays, four of which have had off-Broadway productions. Thirst tells the story of two Irish immigrant maids and an American chauffeur who were in the kitchen while the action of O’Neill’s classic family drama, Long Day’s Journey into Night, unfolded in the living room. Noone will speak about writing Thirst and why deracination and immigration are essential to understanding O’Neill’s work. A native of Clifden, Connemara, Noone has received the Elliot Norton Award for Best Play and a Kennedy Center National Playwriting Award. He teaches in Boston University’s MFA Playwriting Program.
Turlough McConnell will close the afternoon with a script-in-hand reading of Eugene O’Neill: An Irish-American Boyhood, his theatrical portrait of O’Neill’s childhood in post-Famine New York, performed by Thomas Carty, Trisha Griffin-Carty, and Janet Corcoran. While working on history projects with the Sisters of Charity of New York, McConnell discovered how O’Neill’s memories of his early years inspired key scenes in Long Day’s Journey into Night. McConnell is a writer, award-winning producer, and playwright whose work explores where Irish history and American culture meet. A native of Buncrana, County Donegal, he has made New York his home for more than 50 years.
Céad míle fáilte! Admission is free, and light refreshments will follow the program. We hope to see you there!