Invitation Only

Addiction Performance Project

Addiction & Substance Abuse

Directed by Bryan Doerries

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Tue, Dec 03.2024 4:30 PM

Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center 555 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest
Washington, D.C.

The Addiction Performance Project presents dramatic readings of Act Three of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night as a catalyst for guided audience discussions about substance abuse and addiction as they affect individuals, families, caregivers, and communities. O’Neill’s play depicts the struggles of Mary Tyrone, a woman who abuses prescription painkillers and relapses into full-blown morphine addiction, and the impact this has on her family. This unique participatory event is intended to break down the stigma associated with addiction and promote healthy dialogue among diverse communities - public and professional - fostering compassion, cooperation, understanding, and positive action.

Featuring performances by Kathryn Erbe (Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Oz), Jumaane Williams (New York City Public Advocate), Marjolaine Goldsmith (Company Manager, Theater of War Productions), and Anthony Edwards (ER, Top Gun).

Adapted, directed, and facilitated

by Bryan Doerries.

About the play

Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'neill

Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night depicts the struggles of Mary Tyrone, a woman who abuses prescription painkillers and relapses into full-blown morphine addiction. It is also the story of how Mary's addiction rips her family apart, as her morphine use slowly becomes apparent to her husband and two sons, who struggle with alcohol abuse and addiction. It is widely believed that Long Day's Journey into Night is an autobiographical play, and that the troubled characters in it are based on members of O'Neill's own family, including his mother, Ella, who struggled with morphine addiction for most of her life. In his dedication of the play to his wife Carlotta, O'Neill states that it is a "play of old sorrow, written in tears and blood," and that he wrote it "with deep pity and understanding and forgiveness for all the four haunted Tyrones." O'Neill wrote the play for personal reasons, and the Addiction Performance Project present the plays to diverse audiences to elicit personal responses and candid discussion about addiction.