Eugene O'Neill Festival
The late, exceptional Paul Robeson is the figurative guest of honor at the ninth annual Eugene O'Neill Festival held Thursday to Sunday in Danville. Produced by the Eugene O'Neill Foundation in association with the National Park Service - which operates Tao House, O'Neill's home during the years he wrote his last plays, including "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "The Iceman Cometh" - this year's festivities celebrate the O'Neill-Robeson connection, two of the towering figures of 20th century American theater.
The festivities begin 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Danville's Village Theater with a presentation of the Tao House Award to Robeson, the first such posthumous award in the festival's history, followed by a performance of O'Neill's "All God's Chillun Got Wings." Originally performed by Robeson opposite Mary Blair, the drama about racist social pressures destroying an interracial marriage was met with heavy police harassment and Ku Klux Klan death threats when it opened in New York in 1924 (something about a kiss). Directed by Eric Frashier Hayes and performed by Michael J. Asberry and Alexandra Matthew, "Chillun" will also be presented Friday and Saturday.
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