Tryon Fine Arts Center presents one of Eugene O’Neill’s greatest dramatic works, “A Moon for the Misbegotten,” performed by Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theater, America’s oldest theater company in its 207th year.

 

On a Connecticut tenant farm, on a barren patch of earth in 1923, two lost souls find hope under a lover’s moon. In this touching and heartbreaking play, Josie Hogan is a boisterous woman with a quick tongue and a tarnished reputation.

 

It’s been a hard and lonely life, working the Tyrone farm with her bullying father. When James Tyrone Jr.’s mother dies, he returns to the farm to settle the estate. One night, under the autumn moon, he opens his heart to Josie. Sparks fly and hope burns anew as two “misbegotten” people come together.

 

“A Moon for the Misbegotten” had its world premiere at the Hartman Theatre in Columbus, Ohio in 1947. The play premiered on Broadway in 1957 and has been revived four times since (1973, 1984, 2000, 2007).

 

These subsequent revivals earned numerous Tony Awards. In 1975, the cast of the first revival performed the production for a TV movie, resulting in five Emmy Award nominations, winning one. The most recent revival traveled to Broadway after a run at London’s Old Vic Theatre, starring Kevin Spacey.

 

American playwright Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953) penned over 50 plays during his career that spanned three decades. In the 1920s, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his works “Beyond the Horizon,” “Anna Christie” and “Strange Interlude.”

 

“A Moon for the Misbegotten” was O’Neill’s final play, written following two other autobiographical plays, “The Iceman Cometh” and “Long Day’s Journey into Night.” The latter earned him his fourth Pulitzer posthumously in 1956. Among his distinctions, O’Neill was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936.

Kate Galvin returns to the Walnut to direct. She is the winner of a 2014 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical for Midsummer – a play with songs. Additional directing credits include work with the Flat Rock Playhouse, Inis Nua Theatre Company, and others.

 

Walnut Street veteran Michael Toner will play the role of Phil Hogan. Walnut Street veterans Anthony Lawton (James Tyrone, Jr.) and Jamison Foreman (Mike Hogan and T. Steadman Harder) join the cast with Angela Smith making her Walnut debut as Josie Hogan.

 

“A Moon for the Misbegotten” will become the sixth Walnut production to embark on a tour. The Walnut celebrates Philadelphia’s finest talents and is proud to share them with America.

 

“A Moon for the Misbegotten” is part of the 2015-16 Main Stage Season sponsored by Millard & Company. The event sponsor is Missildines. For tickets or for more information, visit  tryonarts.org, call the box office at 828-859-8322 or visit us at 34 Melrose Avenue, Tryon.