The First Five Years:
1964-69

The Nelson and Aida White House.

The first five years of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center were turbulent and often chaotic, as is any evolutionary process, but they set the stage for the years to come. It took the reforms, and the establishment of ground rules by Lloyd Richards, to structure the Playwrights Conference, but this could not have occurred without the exploratory steps taken in the first few years.

O’Neill playwrights have won Nobel Prizes, Oscars, Emmys, Obies, Pulitzers, Tonys, and their names read like a Who’s Who in contemporary theater, something undreamt of by the 20 angry young dramatists that gathered under the ancient copper beech tree in August of 1965.

When one visits the “Founders Room” in the Nelson and Aida White House, along the frieze can be seen names, both local and national, of those who gave their time, money, and expertise. These people endorsed a dream, and made it happen.

George C. White

George C. White

George White’s career includes not only his 37 years as Founder and Chairman of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, but also numerous activities and accomplishments in theater throughout the world. The son of Nelson and Aida White, George was raised in Waterford, Connecticut, and was graduated from Yale with a BA from Yale University and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

In addition to his responsibilities at the O’Neill, George served as Co-Chairman of the Theater Management Program at the Yale School of Drama, and regularly directed plays in such venues as the Actors Theater, the Guthrie Theater, the Hartman Theater, the Annenberg Center, and the Hedgerow Theater. He was the Founding Chairman of the Sundance Institute, served as a member of the Tony Awards Nominating Committee, and served on the following Boards: National Arts Council, Metropolitan Opera Guild, Arts and Business Council, New Dramatists, Center for Inter-American Relations, International Theater Institute, Connecticut Commission on the Arts, and American Soviet Theater Initiative, Camargo Foundation, and Save Venice. George currently serves as Executive Director of the Johnny Mercer Foundation.

George’s contributions to theater extend beyond the borders of the United States. Beginning in 1972, he has spearheaded cultural exchange efforts in such countries as Australia, Peoples Republic of China, Russia, and Brazil. In 1984 he directed a production of Eugene O’Neill’s ANNA CHRISTIE in Beijing, and in 1987 he directed Meredith Wilson’s THE MUSIC MAN in that same city. He continues to lecture throughout the world on behalf of the U.S. Information Agency. His international accomplishments have been recognized in being awarded the Royal Swedish Order of the Polar Star from King Carl Gustaf, and the French Republic’s Chevalier des Artes et des Lettres. Of particular note are the numerous theatrical exchanges that George initiated in Russia, beginning in the cold war days of the early 1980’s.

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