He remains the only American playwright to receive the honor and it was awarded prior to the writing or performance of any of the famous Tao House plays. (the stipend actually helped pay for the construction of Tao House and the purchase of the land).
As part of the award ceremony, the following was stated:
"It is difficult to explain the vital processes in the living organism; it is difficult to interpret the inmost essence of matter, but it is perhaps most difficult to sound the human mind and to understand the soul in its shifting phases. With passionate intensity and impulsive genius Eugene O’Neill has done this in his dramas, and one cannot but be captivated by the masterly way in which he deals with the great problems of life"
It occurs to me that Sondheim's similar "passionate intensity and impulsive genius" has done the same for musical theatre as had O'Neill for drama and that the work of both will endure in a like manner. |
