About the Play:

A Moon for the Misbegotten has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues, Male Monologues and Female/Male Scenes.

A Moon for the Misbegotten is a full-length drama by Nobel Laureate and four-time Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene O'Neill. His last completed play, this is a sequel to his semi-autobiographical Long Day's Journey Into Night and picks up eleven years later, as Jim Tyrone (based on O'Neill's older brother Jamie) grasps at a last chance at love under the full moonlight. Set in a dilapidated Connecticut farmhouse in 1923, this American classic centers on Josie, a towering Irish woman with a quick tongue and a ruined reputation; her conniving father, Phil Hogan; and Jim Tyrone, Hogan's landlord and drinking companion, a cynical alcoholic haunted by the death of his mother.

Following the events of O'Neill's classic Long Day's Journey into Night, Moon for the Misbegotten brings James "Jamie" Tyrone, Jr., to the home of his tenant farmer, Mike Hogan, a salty Irish geezer. There he encounters, after years, Hogan's voluptuous, amazon-like daughter, Josie. During one moonlit night, as the lovestruck Josie seems to claim him as her own, the truculent, drunken Jamie drowns in a wave of self-pity and remorse. When dawn comes, the moon is gone and so is the man, leaving Josie with a new challenge to her dauntless spirit. This paperback edition features an insightful introduction by Stephen A. Black, helpful to anyone who desires a deeper understanding of O'Neill's work.

A Moon for the Misbegotten premiered in 1957 at the Bijou Theatre on Broadway in New York City and has enjoyed several revivals on Broadway. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and is regularly performed in regional, high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 1 female, 3 male

What people say:

"It is not excessive to write that O'Neill created serious American drama." — Tony Kushner

"Another beautiful play by O'Neill... a compelling piece for the theatre." — New York Daily News

About the Playwright:

Eugene O'Neill (1889–1953), the father of American drama, the author of 49 plays, won four Pulitzer Prizes for drama, and is the only American playwright to have received a Nobel Prize (1936).