About Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
Historic, Historical Places, Theatres And Entertainments, Cultural, Interesting Places, Historic Districts, Other Theatres
The Eugene O'Neill 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 two Tony Awards, the 1979 Special Award and the 2010 Regional Theatre Award, and the 2015 National Medal of Arts presented on September 22, 2016 by President Obama. 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 National 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 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.
