Eugene O'Neill Theater Center

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center

The Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit theater company founded in 1964 by George C. White. The O'Neill is the recipient of the 2010 Regional Theater Tony Award. The O'Neill is a multi-disciplinary institution that has had a transformative effect on American theater. The O'Neill pioneered play development and stage readings as a tool for new plays and musicals, and is also home to the National Theater Institute (est. 1970), an intensive study-away semester for undergraduates. Its major theater "conferences" include: the National Playwrights Conference (est. 1965); the National Critics Conference (est. 1968), the National Musical Theater Conference (est. 1978), the Puppetry Conference (est. 1990), and the Cabaret & Performance Conference (est. 2005). The Monte Cristo Cottage, Eugene O'Neill's childhood home in New London, Connecticut, was purchased and restored by the O'Neill in the 1970s and is maintained as a museum. The company also received a Special Tony Award in 1979. The theater's campus, overlooking Long Island Sound in Waterford Beach Park, has four major performance spaces: two indoor and two outdoor. The O'Neill is led by Executive Director Preston Whiteway.

Also known as Walnut Grove and Hammond Estate, the seven buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 21, 2005.

Read more about Eugene O'Neill Theater Center:  National Playwrights Conference, National Theater Institute, Major Works, Notable O'Neill Alumni

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