Jeffrey Sweet and Skip Mercier Set for THE O'NEILL: ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR at NYPL Today

Today, Thursday, August 7 at 6 p.m., come to The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts for "The O'Neill: On the Cutting Room Floor".

The O'Neill's Executive Director Preston Whiteway leads a discussion with author, playwright, critic and O'Neill alumnus Jeffrey Sweet and Curator Skip Mercier about the development processes for both of their projects involved with the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.

Sweet will discuss his new book, "The O'Neill: The Transformation of Modern American Theater," published by Yale University Press. Sweet spent 18 months gathering anecdotes, histories, and results from O'Neill alumni and peers in the field for this book, and will discuss his experiences mapping one of the most influential theater companies in America. He will also share what additional information he considered including and why it was cut from the pages.

Mercier curated "Launchpad of the American Theater: The O'Neill Since 1964," a free multimedia exhibition on display in the Vincent Astor Gallery at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts this summer. The exhibition charts the journey of American theater at the O'Neill from its past to present and future, and explore the creative development of its playwrights, composers, students, puppeteers and performers through photos, video, props, scores and scripts. Mercier will share the process of working through the 50 years of material and how he chose what to feature and what was left in the archives.