NEW ORLEANS – Center stage next week, starting Friday, Oct. 14, 2016, Loyola University New Orleans Theatre performs Eugene O’Neill’s classic American tragedy “Beyond the Horizon.” The play, which has been adapted by Department Chair of Theatre Arts and Dance Associate Professor of Theatre Dr. Laura Hope, is under the direction of theatre veteran Mark Routhier.
Set on a farm in Massachusetts at the beginning of the 20th century, this riveting drama pits brother against brother for the heart of one woman. It is a powerful, timeless work by America’s greatest playwright and the father of contemporary American playwriting. This nationally acclaimed play first premiered in 1920 and was the first play written by Eugene O’Neill. Only 31 years old at the time, O’Neill won his first of four Pulitzer Prizes with this play.
“The theme for the College of Music and Fine Arts’ Montage series this year is ‘Creative American Spirit,’ so I chose to do a season of plays all written by American playwrights,” said Dr. Hope. “We always choose one play for our season that is a classic, broadly defined. This year, our classic offering is ‘Beyond the Horizon.’ Eugene O’Neill is really the father of modern American playwriting. He was an experimenter in theatrical structure and theme. He placed the U.S. on the theatrical map with his plays.”
Award-winning director Mark Routhier is a company member of The NOLA Project and a veteran of the National New Play Network. Through his work with The NOLA Project, Routhier’s directing credits have received various accolades from Top 5 plays of 2015 by the Times-Picayune to 5 Big Easy Awards, including Best Director of a Drama. This year, Routhier is passing along his knowledge to students as an Extraordinary Professor of Theatre Arts. Both Dr. Hope and Routhier are both former members of the artistic staff of Magic Theatre in San Francisco, one of the nation’s premiere new-play development theatres and presenters, currently run by Loyola theatre alumna, Loretta Greco ‘82.
“It’s been a thrill to work with Mark on this heart-wrenching, great American tragedy,” Hope said. “I would never have guessed when we both lived and worked in the San Francisco theatre community that happenstance and coincidence would find us both in New Orleans working together on a play by one of the greatest American playwrights.”
Performance times are:
Friday, Oct. 14, 2016, at 7:30 p.m. (Opening Night)
Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016, at 2 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 21, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 22, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.
Loyola University New Orleans is located at 6363 St. Charles Ave. All performances will take place in Loyola’s Lower Depth Theatre located in the Communication/ Music Complex at the corner of Calhoun Street and St. Charles Avenue. Tickets are $12 for general admission and $8 with student ID, for seniors, and Loyola faculty and staff.
Free parking is available in the university’s West Road garage.
