Moon Over Waterford: O’Neill Benefit on 7/15 Features Kate Burton

Kate Burton will be the headliner of a one-night-only summer reading on July 15 at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. Burton, who was nominated for not one but two Tonys this year–for Hedda Gabler and The Elephant Man–will be reading the part of Josie Hogan in O’Neill’s A Moon for the Misbegotten.

Well, she’ll be reading part of the part: This benefit performance will skip the exposition and get right to the long, poignant Act Three monologues that round out O’Neill’s tale of love and woe between the wisecracking, big-hearted Josie and the aimless, desolate Jamie Tyrone.

Proceeds from the benefit reading will be carried forward to October and applied to the annual Eugene O’Neill Celebration, a weeklong toast to the works and life of the towering dramatist. Tickets are $100 for general seating, $150 for reserved; admission includes a pre-show reception at Monte Cristo Cottage. For more information or reservations, phone 860-443-5378, ext. 213.

The O’Neill has yet to announce who’ll read opposite Burton. Last year’s benefit featured Brian Dennehy in excerpts from Long Day’s Journey Into Night, the Moon prequel in which he then went on to star at Chicago’s Goodman Theater.