Mothers, Fathers and the Boy: The Irish Immigrant World of Eugene O’Neill

About this event

“The one thing that explains more than anything about me is the fact that I’m Irish, and, strangely enough, it is something that all the writers who have attempted to explain me and my work have overlooked.” —Eugene O’Neill

This afternoon of talks and theatrical readings will answer O’Neill’s complaint by exploring how Irish immigration shaped the family, boyhood and plays of the only American dramatist awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The program will begin at 2:00pm and be followed by refreshments and book display at 3:30pm. All are welcome. RSVPs not required.

For mobility assistance and other questions, please contact Caroline Pace at 617-552-3282 or caroline.pace@bc.edu .

Beth Wynstra (Babson College) will offer an opening talk on gender, nostalgia and the Irish immigrant experience in O’Neill’s plays. She will focus on two characters from his late works: Nora Melody in A Touch of the Poet and Mary Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey into Night . Wynstra is Associate Professor of English and Theater at Babson College and Vice President of the Eugene O’Neill International Society. She is the author of Vows, Veils, and Masks: The Performance of Marriage in the Plays of Eugene O’Neill (University of Iowa Press, 2023).

Ronán Noone (Boston University) is the author of eleven plays, four of which have had off-Broadway productions. In Thirst , Noone tells the story of two Irish immigrant maids and an American chauffeur who were in the kitchen while the action in O’Neill classic family drama, Long Day’s Journey into Night unfolded in the living room. Noone will speak about writing Thirst and why deracination and immigration are essential to understanding O’Neill’s oeuvre. A native of Clifden, Connemara, Noone’s honors include the Elliot Norton Award for Best Play and a Kennedy Center National Playwriting Award. He teaches in Boston University’s MFA Playwriting Program.

Turlough McConnell will close the afternoon with a script-in-hand reading by Thomas Carty, Trisha Griffin-Carty and Janet Corcoran of his theatrical portrait of O’Neill’s childhood in post-Famine New York: Eugene O’Neill: An Irish-American Boyhood . While working on history projects with the Sisters of Charity of New York, McConnell discovered how O’Neill’s memories of his early years inspired key scenes in Long Day’s Journey into Night. McConnell is a writer, award-winning producer and playwright whose work explores where Irish history and American culture meet. A native of Buncrana, County Donegal, he has made New York his home for more than 50 years.