Pacific Resident Theatre’s unparalleled flair for re-imagining the classics continues with their staging of the rarely produced play, A Touch of the Poet, by Eugene O’Neill, Thursdays through Sunday, until Feb. 12.

Robert Bailey directs a cast that includes Julia Fletcher, Matt McKenzie, Julia McIlvaine, John Dittrick, Brendan Farrell, Anthony Foux, Ron Geren, August Grahn, Dennis Madden, and Dalia Vosylius.

Burning with the dramatic fire of irreconcilable passions, Mr. O’Neill’s masterpiece is set near Boston on the eve of Andrew Jackson’s election. Irishman Con Melody drowns memories of his former greatness in his homeland, as a soldier and aristocrat, as the drama unfolds inside his tawdry tavern and his poverty in America. His headstrong daughter struggles to win a better future for herself and her family.

“Matt McKenzie commands the stage in a tour-de-force performance. A production for serious theatergoers” –  Broadway World

“Produced with skill and their special brand of expertise. Even the smallest role shines” – Splash Magazines

Eugene O’Neill is the only American playwright ever to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature and he is a four-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize. His masterpiece Long Day’s Journey into Night (produced posthumously 1956) is at the apex of a long string of great plays, including Beyond the Horizon (1920), Anna Christie (1922), Strange Interlude (1928), Ah! Wilderness (1933) and The Iceman Cometh (1946).

Between 1920 and 1943, O’Neill completed 20 long plays–several of them double and triple length–and a number of shorter ones. After Shakespeare and Shaw, O’Neill became the most widely translated and produced dramatist in the 20th century.

Performances are staged at 8 o’clock, Thurdays through Saturdays, and at 3 on Sundays at 703 Venice Blvd., Venice. Tickets are $25 – $30 and may be purchased online at http://www.pacificresidenttheatre.com or by calling 310.822.8392.

Ms. Borne may be contacted at judith@borneidentities.com