Journey back to danville

The Eugene O’Neill Foundation and the National Park Service will present three performances of A Long Day’s Journey Into Night this month at Tao House, the playwright’s former estate in Danville. The production celebrates the 50th anniversary of the play’s American debut. But if the author had gotten his way, there wouldn’t be any anniversary to celebrate at all.

That’s because O’Neill, the only American playwright to win the Nobel Prize, instructed his wife, Carlotta, that Long Day’s Journey, now widely considered to be his best play, was never to be performed. It wasn’t even intended to be published until 25 years after his death. (The play focuses on O’Neill’s troubled family life, including his mother’s addiction to morphine.)

Carlotta broke her promise shortly after her husband’s death in 1953, and the play first hit the stage in 1956. Now, it returns to the site where it was written, to be performed by The Pear Avenue Theatre of Mountain View as part of the seventh annual Eugene O’Neill Festival. The festival also includes a parade of dalmatians in honor of O’Neill’s beloved pet, Blemie.

Performances are October 6 and 7 at 7:30 p.m., and October 8 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets cost $30. To order, call (925) 943-7469 or go to www.dlrca.org. For information, visit www.eugeneoneill.org.