Interview: Stage Right’s Robert Cooperman of BEFORE THEY WERE GODS at Abbey Theatre Of Dublin
Before They Were Gods series begins with a look at two Eugene O'Neill one act plays
By: Paul Batterson Mar. 07, 2025
Robert Cooperman may not remember her first name, but he is forever grateful to Mrs. Barlas, the Jamaica (N.Y.) High School English teacher who introduced him to playwright Eugene O’Neill.
“In high school, Mrs. Barlas wanted us to do a Eugene O’Neill monologue in a theater class I was taking,” said Cooperman, the director of Stage Right Theatrics. “I ultimately did one from A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN.
“I remember reading some of his stuff and thinking I really like this guy. I wanted to learn more about him.”
Stage Right Theatrics decided to start a “Before They Were Gods” program, a look at various American Playwrights’ work before they “made it big.”
The theater group will present two of O’Neill’s one-act plays, ILE (1917) and THE ROPE (1918) 7 p.m. March 21 and 22 and 1 p.m. March 23 at The Abbey Theatre of Dublin (5600 Post Road in Dublin). Later in the season, Stage Right will present one of O’Neill’s full length plays.
Cooperman will direct ILE, a play about an sea captain and his wife who become stranded while trying to search for whales near the North Pole. The play stars Nikhil Makhija (Ben), Scott Nelson (The Steward), Sean Taylor (Captain Keeney), Nick Beany (Slocum), Francesca DiFrancesca (Mrs. Keeney), and Jeremy Van Sickle (Joe),
Joan Lopate will take on THE ROPE, a play about a farmer of a failing New England farm and his prodigal son. The cast includes Rich Bloom (Bentley), Missy Bair (Annie), Michael Herring (Sweeney), Claire Richey (Mary), and Nick Martin (Luke).
Cooperman couldn’t think of a better place to start the Before They Were Gods series than with O’Neill.
“I started with Eugene O’Neill because A.) he’s my favorite and B.) he’s arguably the first great American playwright,” said Cooperman, who published articles on the writer for the Eugene O’Neill website and other publications while he completed work for his undergraduate and master’s degrees at Queens College, City University of New York, and his doctorate at the Ohio State University. “He was trying to create an American mythology. He drew from the Biblical stories and the Greek legends and created something that was uniquely American.”
Cooperman hopes the Before They Were Gods series offers “edutainment,” a combination of education and entertainment, to theater goers.
“I really felt there was a lot of ignorance of American theater history from both audiences and theater people,” he said. “I thought it would be a good idea to give people a little glimpse not only of the history of American theater but also how these playwrights evolved.”
Videos