The classic is set for an eight-performance only run
It's the Mount Everest of American drama. Arguably the greatest play written by a native dramatist in the 20th Century. And this towering masterpiece of world theater is coming to Catskill's Bridge Street Theatre (that just won the Best of Greene County award for the third time) for eight performances only, November 11-21, 2021.
In Long Day's Journey Into Night, Nobel Prize-winner Eugene O'Neill takes audiences on a deep dive into the dark heart of an American family. Over the course of a single day, his autobiographical Tyrones (based on the playwright's own family) alternate between compassion and blame, love and hatred for one another as each grapple with or succumb to their inner demons. Intensely personal revelations of addiction, co-dependence, resentment, guilt, and jealousy are all laid bare in a play O'Neill never intended to be published or performed until at least 50 years after his death and which, in his own words, he wrote in "tears and blood" and with "deep pity and understanding and forgiveness" for all its haunted protagonists. "The dysfunctional family is the major over-arching theme of so many great American dramas," says the production's director John Sowle, "and this one pretty much tops them all. It's an undisputed classic, and one I think any theater worth its salt eventually has to grapple with. It's a big commitment for us, as well as our patrons, to make, especially now as we're just starting to emerge from this pandemic. Over the course of its three-plus hour running time (with two intermissions), it puts audiences and actors on a roller coaster of emotional extremes. By play's end, you're stunned, exhilarated, and totally wrung out. We actually plan to have stickers printed up that read 'I survived Long Day's Journey Into Night' to pass out to all attendees who make it through. But it's an epic experience we think is eminently worth taking on, and we're pulling out all the stops for this production. We've hired local sculptor Marc Swanson, who has a major exhibition coming to MASS MoCA early next year, to create our sets. We've commissioned an original piano score from renowned jazz and orchestral composer Justin Morell. And we've assembled an absolutely phenomenal cast who are giving their all to do justice to this amazing mountain of a script."Videos