Miles to Babylon at the American Theater of Actors

Evensong Associates presents Miles to Babylon, written by Ann Harson and directed by Tom Thornton, playing at the American Theater of Actors from 12 - 29 Oct 2006.

Miles to Babylon: Eugene O'Neill was not kind to his mother in his memoir drama, 'Long Day's Journey into Night,' depicting her as a hapless morphine addict with no hope of recovery.

In Harson's version, Ella chooses to face her addiction at the Catholic boarding school she had attended as a girl, where she had become close to the head nun. She is shocked to learn that her mentor had died and been replaced by her schoolgirl rival. The new Reverend Mother seems as concerned with extracting money from the wealthy Mrs. O'Neill as helping to fight her disease.

However, Ella submits to incarceration in her bedroom and the convent's retarded handyman is ordered to prevent her, at any cost, from injecting the morphine she has stashed in her closet. As her withdrawal symptoms increase, Mrs. O'NeiIl becomes willing to do anything to reach the drug, even seduce her captor. Other characters include a visionary young postulant who befriends Ella and symbolizes the daughter she never had.