Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Presents EDEN, 7/16

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center announces that three musicals, BUDDY'S TAVERN, CLEAR, and EDEN, will be developed at its 2010 National Music Theater Conference under the leadership of artistic director Paulette Haupt. The Conference runs from June 26 through July 16 on the O'Neill's campus in Waterford, Connecticut.

The three musicals will undergo the O'Neill's signature development process, employing acclaimed professional actors, directors, and music directors in an intensive series of rehearsals, discussions, and public readings.

Selections were chosen from among 129 musicals received through the O'Neill's Open Submissions process, which allows any writer or composer with or without agent representation, to submit, and utilizes readers from across the country to evaluate and recommend promising projects in need of development.

Box Office and online ticket sales open Wednesday, June 9; advance ticket sales will be available to O'Neill Members beginning Monday, May 17.

2010 NATIONAL MUSIC THEATER CONFERENCE SELECTIONS:

BUDDY'S TAVERN

Composer - Kim Oler

Lyricist - Alison Hubbard
Librettist - Raymond De Felitta

Performances: Saturday, June 26 at 8:00 pm; Sunday, June 27 at 3:00 pm; Wednesday, June 30 at 8:00 pm; Friday, July 2 at 8:00 pm

Based upon the film Two Family House, set in the 1950's, BUDDY's TAVERN tells the story of an Italian-American factory worker on Staten Island, and his quest to run his own business - a bar where he can sing his heart out to his customers. Family pressures, race relations, unexpected love, and the struggle to achieve one's dreams, come alive in this new romantic comedy.

CLEAR

Composers - Stew and Paul Oakley Stovall

Lyricist - Paul Oakley Stovall

Additional Music - Tom Kitt, Irv Johnson and Stephen Goers

Performances: Saturday, July 3 at 8:00 pm, Sunday, July 4 at 3:00 pm, Wednesday, July 7 at 8:00 pm, Friday, July 9 at 8:00 pm

CLEAR sings a tale of destiny, luck, and the commonality of the human experience. From the slave castles of Ghana to a rooftop in Sweden; from the shores of Lake Michigan to the streets of Seoul, our storytellers continue to find that change is inevitable... and (r)evolutionary. A spiritual quest in our decidedly computerized times, CLEAR fuses music, memory and pure love to remind us how best to live life.

EDEN
Composer - Mel Marvin
Librettist/Lyricist - Jonathan Levi
Performances: Saturday, July 10 at 8:00 pm, Sunday, July 11 at 3:00 pm, Wednesday, July 14 at 8:00 pm, Friday, July 16 at 8:00 pm

EDEN is a musical of chaos in two acts, a story of natural and unnatural disaster. Ranging between the Scylla of Hurricane Katrina and the Charybdis of the War in Iraq, EDEN follows the story of six characters in search of survival, who bump up against one another and come away with varying degrees of triumphs and bruises.

Box Office (860-443-1238) and online ticket sales open Wednesday, June 9; advance ticket sales are available to O'Neill Members Saturday, May 15. For further information, call the O'Neill at 860-443-5378 x 213, email theaterlives@theoneill.org or visit www.theoneill.org. Schedules are subject to change.

The O'Neill, founded in 1964 in honor of Eugene O'Neill, four-time Pulitzer Prize Winner and America's only playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, is the country's preeminent organization dedicated to the development of new works and new voices for the American theater. The O'Neill has been home to more than 1,000 new works for the stage and 2,500 emerging artists. Scores of projects developed at the O'Neill have gone on to full production at theaters around the world, including Broadway, Off-Broadway and major regional theaters.

O'Neill programs include the National Playwrights Conference, National Music Theater Conference, National Critics Institute, National Puppetry Conference, Cabaret & Performance Conference, and National Theater Institute, which conducts semester-long, accredited intensive theater training programs and Theatermakers, a six-week accredited summer program.