Real-life father and daughter Jeff Perry (Scandal) and Zoe Perry (upcoming feature film Cotton) star with Kevin McKidd (Grey''s Anatomy) and Mary Mara (Nash Bridges) when Odyssey Theatre Ensemble presents Anna Christie, opening Jan. 24 at the Odyssey Theatre in West L.A. Former Long Wharf associate artistic director Kim Rubinstein directs Eugene O''Neill''s 1922 Pulitzer Prize winner. Check out photos from the production below!
O'Neill's classic is surprisingly contemporary, crackling with fierce physicality, humor and drama. After a 20-year separation, a coal barge captain is reunited with the daughter he unknowingly abandoned to a life of hardship, a woman with limited choices whose dreams have been shattered. When Anna falls in love with a sailor, certain secrets about her past come to light. The play's trio of iconic characters are an explosive mix, each struggling for salvation. O'Neill presents a realistic and painful exploration of family conflict and the harsh reality of women's lives in the early part of the twentieth century.
"It''s kind of spectacular that O''Neill wrote this nearly 95 years ago," says Rubinstein. "It''s the story of a strong, independent woman who is a victim of abuse and forced into a life of degradation by her circumstances, and of two men who come to understand and recognize their own culpability in her plight and are transformed by that. It''s very passionate, and layers and layers deep."
Anna Christie debuted on Broadway at the Vanderbilt Theatre on November 2, 1921, garnering O''Neill''s second of four Pulitzer Prizes. A 1993 Broadway revival by the Roundabout Theatre Company was the recipient of both Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Revival, and a 2003 revival at London''s
Donmar Warehouse was honored with the Olivier Award.
Anna Christie was successfully adapted to the screen three times; the second version starred Greta Garbo and is considered by film critics to be one of Hollywood''s finest motion pictures.
Eugene O''Neill (1888-1953) is revered as the father of modern American playwriting and stood as a trailblazer for later artists such as
Tennessee Williams and
Arthur Miller. He brought solemn and serious content into American drama, writing powerful and timeless tragedies with contemporary themes and familiar backgrounds. Unlike any other American playwright before him, O''Neill based his writing on personal relationships, repeatedly turning to his own life for material and transforming his own long-lasting bitterness into art.
Performances of
Anna Christie take place three times a week, on Saturdays at 2 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., from Jan. 24 through March 8 (dark Feb. 1). There will be three previews on Jan 17 and Jan. 18 on the same schedule. Tickets to all performances are $34.99; previews are $25; students with valid ID and members of Equity/SAG/AFTRA can purchase tickets for $20 to Saturday matinee performances. The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles, 90025. For reservations and information, call (310) 477-2055 or go to
www.OdysseyTheatre.com.
https://www.facebook.com/OdysseyTheatre,
@OdysseyTheatre
Photo credit: Diego Barajas, Anna McMillan, Shivani Thakker
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