Play about Eugene O'Neill to be presented in staged reading on Monday, February 27, at freeFall Theatre, St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – E.G.O.: THE PASSIONS OF EUGENE GLADSTONE O'NEILL will be presented in a staged reading on Monday, February 27, at 7 p.m. at freeFall Theatre, 6099 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg. Suggested donation is $5.00 at the door. Sarasota-based Jo Morello has written the multi-award-winning play, which will be directed by Susan Forbes, SDC/AEA/MFA. Forbes is a professional director as well as associate professor and faculty chair at SUNY Empire State College. "E.G.O. is one of the strongest, most intriguing new plays I have read," said New York-based Steven Ditmyer, director and instructor at The Neighborhood Playhouse and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Ditmyer directed an earlier reading of this play.

Four of Tampa Bay's finest actors provide an up-close-and-personal look at Eugene O'Neill, the father of modern American Drama, the only play playwright to have won four Pulitzer Prizes--the last awarded posthumously for Long Day's Journey Into Night--and the only American playwright ever to have won a Nobel prize.

Jim Sorensen portrays O'Neill and his passions: for his second wife, Agnes (Natalie Symons), and third wife, Carlotta (Jeni Bond), both of whom he expected to serve his ultimate passion, to be "an artist or nothing." The result is a triangular conflict in which the women fight for his attention and against his readiness to discard anything—and anyone—that gets in his way. The play further reveals O'Neill's restriction that Long Day's Journey Into Night should not be read until 25 years after his death and never, ever staged—but Carlotta has her own ideas. Ward Smith plays a double role, as Eugene's brother Jamie and his son, Eugene Jr.

The playwright
Jo Morello has written three plays about Eugene O'Neill, which have won over a dozen awards. In addition, in January the Eugene O'Neill Society named her as its newsletter editor and a board member. A freelance writer as well as playwright, she has recently written articles on O'Neill's work for American Theatre magazine (December 2011) and the Eugene O'Neill Society Newsletter (November 2011). In addition to the Eugene O'Neill Society, she is a member of the Eugene O'Neill Foundation, Dramatists Guild and the American Association of Community Theatres. Her O'Neill plays have been presented as productions or staged readings across the country including the Neighborhood Playhouse, NYC; Provincetown Theater, MA (Eugene O'Neill Society's 6th International Conference); the Old Barn at Tao House, O'Neill's California home (10th Anniversary presentation, Eugene O'Neill Foundation Playwrights' Theatre); Banyan Theatre Company, Sarasota; Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Original Short Play Festival, NYC; and publication by eoneill.com.

Morello's playwriting awards include three individual Artists Fellowships and three Artists Enhancement Grants from Florida's Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs; the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center Young People's Drama Project; Choate Rosemary Hall's Discovery contest; and Beverly Hills Theatre Guild Children's Theatre competition.

The director
Susan Forbes has worked in the professional theatre for 30 years as an actor, director and dramaturg. Her work has taken her to many theatres including The Muny, Kenley Players, Trinity Repertory Company, Pasadena Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, The Opera Company of the Palm Beaches, The Hangar Theatre and The Irish Classical Theatre. As an educator, she has taught in a variety of environments including Ohio University, the Northwest Children's Theatre, Wells College and SUNY Empire State College. During her career, Forbes has worked with such "greats" of stage and screen as David Hyde Pierce, Billy Crystal, Cloris Leachman, Tim Conway, Robby Benson, Stacy Keach, Don Ameche, Hinton Battle and Jodi Benson.

Her directing credits include Stop Kiss, Reckless, Squeeze Box (off-Broadway), Vessels, Homebody/Kabul, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, An American Daughter, Quilters, A . . . My Name is Alice, Crimes of the Heart, As You Like it, Durang/Durang, A Midsummer Night's Dream, No Exit, The 15- Minute Hamlet, Nunsense, The Club, Cloud Nine, Top Girls, The Yellow Wallpaper, I Stand Before You Naked, Godspell and many others.

For further information, contact jo@jomorello.com or visit jomorello.com