Performing O'Neill: Conversations with Actors and Directors

In Performing O'Neill, Yvonne Shafer talks with the most important actors and directors who interpreted O'Neill in the 20th century: Jason Robards, Jane Alexander, Fritz Weaver, James Earle Jones, Theresa Wright, Gloria Foster, Ted Mann, and Arvin Brown, to name just a few. Actors like Robards talk about their first encounters with the master and their interpretations of roles like Hickey in "The Iceman Cometh" and James Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey Into Night." Directors talk about the challenges they face in bringing O'Neill's dark and compelling vision of American life to the stage and making it relevant for audiences in the 21st century. The work is a lively collection of interviews in the Paris Review tradition constructed by one of the foremost O'Neill scholars writing today.

In Performing O'Neill, Yvonne Shafer talks with the most important actors and directors who interpreted O'Neill in the 20th century: Jason Robards, Jane Alexander, Fritz Weaver, James Earle Jones, Theresa Wright, Gloria Foster, Ted Mann, and Arvin Brown, to name just a few. Actors like Robards talk about their first encounters with the master and their interpretations of roles like Hickey in "The Iceman Cometh" and James Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey Into Night." Directors talk about the challenges they face in bringing O'Neill's dark and compelling vision of American life to the stage and making it relevant for audiences in the 21st century. The work is a lively collection of interviews in the Paris Review tradition constructed by one of the foremost O'Neill scholars writing today.

Booknews

These conversations investigate various people's experiences interacting with American playwright Eugene O'Neill and his work. Shafer's (St. John's University) introduction on early actors and directors (including Paul Robeson and Lynn Fontanne) is followed by 11 interviews she conducted with actors and directors who interpreted O'Neill in the 20th century. Some of those interviewed are James Earl Jones, Jane Alexander, Michael Kahn, Jason Robards, Theodore Mann, and Arvin Brown. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Yvonne Shafer has written numerous books dealing with the theater. Her areas of specialty are German and Scandinavian playwrights as well as those canonical American playwrights, chiefly Eugene O'Neill. She lives in New York City.