The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
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| Address | 305 Great Neck Road Waterford, Connecticut United States |
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| Type | Regional Theater |
| Opened | 1964 |
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Walnut Grove
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| Coordinates | 41°18′37″N 72°6′35″W / 41.31028°N 72.10972°WCoordinates: 41°18′37″N 72°6′35″W / 41.31028°N 72.10972°W |
| Area | 40 acres (16 ha) |
| Built | 1822 |
| Architectural style | Federal, Gothic Revival, et al. |
| NRHP Reference # | 05001044 |
| Added to NRHP | September 21, 2005 |
The Eugene O'Neill Memorial 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 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.
Also known as Walnut Grove and Hammond Estate, the estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 21, 2005, for its architectural significance, and its associations with Revolutionary War Colonel William North and Edward Crowninshield Hammond, a wealthy industrialist.
The National Playwrights Conference (NPC) is one of the premiere play developmental programs in America. Since its founding in 1965, NPC has developed over 600 new plays for the stage, launching the careers of many notable writers including: August Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein, Adam Rapp, John Patrick Shanley, Lee Blessing, John Guare, Gina Gionfriddo, and hundreds more. Each year, the Conference accepts scripts under an open-submissions policy, receiving nearly 1000 for consideration for the 2011 and 2012 Conferences. A team of over 125 readers made up of theater professionals, dramaturgs, college department chairs and past participants help to read the scripts and select the most promising. Of the 8 plays developed in each of the past 5 years, at least 7 are from the open-submissions process, with one writer typically being invited to participate.
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