Yale U. Library Acquires Lost Play by Eugene O’Neill

O’Neill scholars rejoice! The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University has acquired the only known copy of Eugene O’Neill’s “lost” one-act play “Exorcism” (1919). The library says that the play, set in 1912, is based on O’Neill’s suicide attempt from an overdose of barbiturates in a Manhattan rooming house. After its premiere in 1920, O’Neill canceled the production and, it had been thought, destroyed all copies.

First serial rights to Exorcism have gone to The New Yorker, which has published the play in its Fall Books issue with an introduction by the drama critic John Lahr. However next spring, a facsimile typescript of Exorcism, along with the text, will be published by Yale University Press with an introduction by the playwright Edward Albee. Alas, for O’Neill fans who are not New Yorker subscribers (there must be a few, right?), the play is behind the magazine’s pay wall. But for those who want an free aural and visual taste, a very brief video is available of the actor Tommy Schrider reading a speech by Ned Malloy, O’Neill’s alter-ego in Exorcism.