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THEATER Eugene O'Neill's 'Long Day's Journey into Night' opens at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Comment By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune Posted Mar. 24, 2015 at 10:12 AM Updated Mar 25, 2015 at 10:13 AM By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune Posted Mar. 24, 2015 at 10:12 AM Updated Mar 25, 2015 at 10:13 AM » Social News Director Christopher Liam Moore says he knew he would direct a production of Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey into Night." It was only a matter of when. His production awaited the perfect ensemble of five extraordinary actors, the perfect theater space and the perfect design team. It all came together this year, in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 80th season. Moore’s production of “Long Day's Journey Into Night” opens in the Thomas Theatre at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 29, and runs in repertory until October 31. Previews are set for 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 25, 1 p.m. Friday, March 27, and 8 p.m. Saturday, March 28. Tickets Tickets start at $30 and range to $95. “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” is the play O’Neill never wanted produced. Although the play is undoubtedly a dramatic masterpiece, O’Neill wrote it as expiation more than art. O’Neill completed “Long Day’s Journey” in 1942. In the play’s dedication, he called it “a play of old sorrow, written in tears and blood.” He locked the manuscript away and gave his wife explicit instructions. “Long Day’s Journey” should not be published until 25 years after his death and it should never be performed. But, when O’Neill died in 1953, his wife disobeyed those wishes and allowed both publication and production in 1956. “Long Day’s Journey’s” action spans a single day in August 1912, from early morning to midnight, in the Tyrone family’s fogbound beachfront Connecticut summerhouse. The Tyrone family is facsimile of O’Neill’s own family. Father James Tyrone is a veteran actor. His career on hold as he endlessly performs the play and the role that made him prosperous and famous,“ The Count of Monte Cristo.” Older brother Jamie also is an actor, rapidly destroying himself with drinking and whoring. Younger brother Edmund thinks he wants to be a writer but an incipient case of tuberculosis looks to put his career and his life to a premature end. Their mother, Mary, is a morphine addict, filled with resentment and remorse for what she sees as a life gone awry. “Yes, this is a really sad play,” Moore told his cast on the first day of rehearsals. “But when I first think of this play, I think about the desperate and incomplete way these people love each other. I see this as a play about forgiveness.” Moore’s “perfect ensemble” has Michael Winters as James, Judith-Marie Bergan as Mary, Jonathan Haugen as Jamie and Danforth Comins as Edmund. Autumn Buck, a Southern Oregon University Theatre Arts Program student and OSF acting company trainee, plays Kathleen. Staged in the Thomas Theatre, the play draws its audiences into the drama. “The space is so intimate, almost claustrophobic, that the audience becomes part of the experience,” says the production’s dramaturg, Lydia Garcia. “Ironically, the stage in the Thomas is roughly the size of the Tyrone’s living room as O’Neill described it. Then scenic designer Christopher Acebo built this incredible staircase that goes up, up, up into the gallery. It takes Mary an eternity to climb those stairs.” It is not a coincidence that this summer, the Festival also presenting a production of “The Count of Monte Cristo” — the version that O’Neill’s father made famous — in the outdoor Allen Elizabethan Theatre. Garcia feels this is repertory theater at its best. “These two plays have a history with one another,” Garcia says. “ 'The Count of Monte Cristo’ is so central to ‘Long Day’s Journey’ that it is almost a character in the play. O’Neill’s father performed ‘Monte Cristo’ more than 6,000 times. He was still performing it at the time ‘Journey’ takes place. Even the Tyrone’s summer home is called Monte Cristo Cottage. By doing the two plays in the same season, we are bringing to life a slice of the history of American theatre.” “Long Day’s Journey” is a famously long play and OSF’s production runs a bit over three hours with one intermission. “It won’t feel like three hours,” Garcia says. “O’Neill’s characters are so seductive, they pull us into their world. It is really a ghost story. Only, some of the ghosts don’t realize they are still alive.” Roberta Kent is a freelance writer living in Ashland. Reach her at [email protected]. By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune Posted Mar. 24, 2015 at 10:12 AM Updated Mar 25, 2015 at 10:13 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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