National Playwrights Conference Continues with CLOSE UP SPACE & BURDEN

The National Playwrights Conference, artistic director Wendy C. Goldberg, will present the third and fourth shows of the season, Close Up Space by Molly Smith Metzler and The Burden of Not Having a Tail by Carrie Barrett.

Readings of Close Up Space, directed by Sheryl Kaller and featuring David Adkins*, Laila Robins*, Libby Woodbridge*, Michael Chernus*, and Jessica DiGiovanni, are Wednesday, July 21 and Thursday, July 22 at 8:15 pm.

Readings of The Burden of Not Having a Tail, directed by Suzanne Agins and featuring Alison Weller*, are Friday, July 23 at 7:15 pm, and Saturday, July 24 at 3:15 pm.

The O?Neill?s Russian Project will present a special free matinee reading of Yaroslava Pulinovich?s play Natashina Mechta (Natasha?s Dream) on Sunday, July 18 at 2 pm.

As part of its continuing Tuesday night series, National Theater Institute Theatermakers, a summer intensive program, will present a free public performance of newly-written work on Tuesday, July 20 at 8 pm.

*Denotes a member of Actors? Equity Association.

Performances take place at the O?Neill, 305 Great Neck Road in Waterford, Connecticut. The schedule is subject to change, so please call to confirm. Tickets may be ordered online at www.theoneill.org or through the box office at 860.443.1238. Discounted tickets are available to O?Neill Members; for information, email Membership@theoneill.org or call 860-443-5378 x211.

The Eugene O?Neill Theater Center will conduct its annual Summer Gala on Saturday, July 24 at 6 pm in the Sunken Garden at its Waterford campus. A Celebration of American Puppetry will mark the 20th Anniversary of the National Puppetry Conference and honor its founders: Jane Henson, George Latshaw, Bobbi Nidzgorski, Bart P. Roccoberton, Jr., Jim and Margo Rose, and Richard Termine. For reservations or more information contact Suzanne Hendrix, 860.443.5378 x217, or email shendrix@theoneill.org.

The Eugene O?Neill Theater Center, founded in 1964 in honor of Eugene O?Neill, four-time Pulitzer Prize Winner and America?s only playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, is the recipient of two Tony Awards, in 2010 for Regional Theater, and in 1979 for Theatrical Excellence.

The O?Neill is the country?s preeminent organization dedicated to the development of new works and new voices for the American theater. The O?Neill has been home to more than 1,000 new works for the stage and 2,500 emerging artists. Scores of projects developed at the O?Neill have gone on to full production at other theaters around the world, including Broadway, Off-Broadway and major regional theaters.

O?Neill programs include the National Playwrights Conference, National Music Theater Conference, National Critics Institute, National Puppetry Conference, the Cabaret & Performance Conference, and National Theater Institute, which conducts semester-long intensive theater training programs, and Theatermakers ? a six-week summer program.

In addition, the O?Neill owns and operates Monte Cristo Cottage as a museum open to the public. Childhood summer home of Eugene O?Neill, the Cottage is a National Historic Landmark.

It addition to its Tony recognition, the O?Neill has received the National Opera Award, the Jujamcyn Award for Theatre Excellence, and the Arts and Business Council Encore Award. For more information, visit www.theoneill.org or email theaterlives@theoneill.org

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