O'Neill Announces FREE Theatermakers Performance, 7/8

This week at the O'Neill the performances of national playwrights and national music theater conferences continue. There will be a freee Theatermakers performances on Tuesday, July 8th.

The National Playwrights Conference continues with two new projects, SMUDGE and MAGNOLIA. National Music Theater Conference presents performances of MAX UNDERSTOOD and begins performances of IRON CURTAIN.

SMUDGE by Rachel Axler
Directed by Daniel Aukin
Performances: Thurs., July 10 at 8:15 pm; Sat., July 12 at 8:15 pm
When a young couple's first child doesn't turn out as expected, they're forced to revise their notions about what constitutes a life, and figure out -- in their own, specific ways -- how to be parents. A very, very, very dark comedy.

CAST:
Maria Dizzia
Mike Doyle
Jonathan Walker

MAX UNDERSTOOD
Book by Nancy Carlin; Lyrics by Nancy Carlin and Michael Rasbury; Music by Michael Rasbury
Directed by Jack Cumming
Performances: Fri., July 11 at 8:00 pm; Sun., July 13 at 3:00 pm
The transformative journey of a 7-year old autistic boy and those who love him, and how the need to communicate overcomes an unintelligible chasm. This sound-scaped musical may leave you feeling autistic yourself...and that's OK.

CAST:
Matthew Gumley
Jonathan Hammond
Hannah Laird
Lauren Marcus
Kerry O'Malley
Ben Roseberry
Paul Oakley Stovall

MAGNOLIA by ReGina Taylor
Directed by ReGina Taylor
Performances: Fri., July 11 at 8:15 pm; Sunday, July 13 at 5:15 pm
Magnolia is set in winter, 1963, as the schools, stores and real estate markets of Atlanta, Georgia are beginning to desegregate-much to the resentment of the white community. Lily, a white landowner, returns from Paris to find the Forest Estate, her family's land, on the brink of ruin. Thomas, a successful businessman and the descendent of former slaves to the estate, has a plan to save the land: turn it into subdivisions and sell it to the white families fleeing the city. Tensions build as members of the estranged family reunite to try and save their beloved land-magnolia trees and all. MAGNOLIA is a collaboration with Chicago's The Goodman Theatre, Robert Falls, Artistic Director

CAST:
Tyla Abercrumbie
Tory Davis
Ted Dasy
Harriett Foy
Mattie Hawkinson
Stephen Henderson
Brandon Miller
Caitlin O'Connell
Tim Rhoze
David Ross
Stephen Schnetzer
Makela Spielman

IRON CURTAIN
Book by Susan DeLallo, Lyrics by Peter Mills, Music by Stephen Weiner
Directed by Cara Reichel
Performances: Sat., July 12 at 8:00 pm; Weds., July 16 at 8:00 pm; Fri., July 18 at 8:00 pm; Sat., July 19 at 3:00 pm
New York, 1956: two down-on-their luck songwriters are kidnapped by the KGB and brought to Moscow, where they are forced to write Communist Propaganda musicals. A madcap farce about fame vs. freedom, filled with divas and dominatrixes, stooges and spies, mishaps and misdirects as our heroes try desperately to get back home. IRON CURTAIN is funded in part through The ASCAP Residency.

CAST
David Abeles
Alison Briner
Stephen Bogardus
Monique French
David Gregory
Daniel Levine
Anne Torsiglieri
Dan Sharkey
Robby Sharpe
Lucy Sorenson
Gordon Stanley
Jessica Snow Wilson

THE PUB is open to the public before and after all performances. Come enjoy your favorite beverage and spend some time with our artists!

COMING UP NEXT WEEK will be performances of THUNDER ABOVE, DEEPS BELOW and MISTAKES WERE MADE at the National Playwrights Conference, and IRON CURTAIN continues the National Music Theater Conference! Also Coming Soon: The Summer Gala Musicals Under the Star:, Celebrating 31 years of the National Music Theater Conference and NMTC co-founder and Artistic Director Paulette Haupt! July 19th at 6:30pm. For tickets and more information see www.theoneill.org or contact Suzanne Hendrix at 860-443-5378 x 217.

All schedules and artists subject to change. Please call the O'Neill Box Office at 860-443-1238 for times, prices and reservations. Outdoor performances will be moved indoors in the event of rain.

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, founded in 1964, is the pre-eminent center for the development of new works and new voices for the American theater. It 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 productions at other theaters around the world, including Broadway, off-Broadway and major regional theaters. The O'Neill has received a special Tony Award, the National Opera Award, the Jujamcyn Award for Theater Excellence and the Arts and Business Council Encore Award. The O'Neill's programs include the National Playwrights Conference, National Music Theater Conference, Puppetry Conference, Cabaret & Performance Conference, National Critics Institute, and the National Theater Institute, which includes semester-long, fully accredited intensive theater-training programs and a six-week accredited summer program, Theatermakers. In addition, the O'Neill owns and operates the Monte Cristo Cottage, a National Historic Landmark and the childhood home of Nobel Prize-winning and four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Eugene O'Neill. For more information regarding the Center, please visit the O'Neill website at www.TheONeill.org or call 860-443-5378.