Long Story Short

Meet the Mannons, who put the fun in

dysFUNctional family.
Who's Who?
Ezra Mannon, a brittle New Englander, is judge,
mayor and, most recently, one of Grants generals
in the Civil War. He has a bad heart and a hard time
expressing love.
Christine Mannon, his vivacious wife, stopped
loving him as soon as they were married.
Lavinia Mannon, their severe daughter, hates her
mother and adores her father.
Orin Mannon, Lavinias weak-willed brother, hates
his father and adores his mother.
Adam Brant is the bastard son of Ezras uncle by a
servant. He is captain of a ship in the merchant
marine, and romances both Christine and Lavinia.
Peter is Orins childhood friend and Lavinias fianc.
Helen, Peters sister, is Lavinias childhood friend
and Orins fiance.
Where and When?
A house in a small Massachusetts town (and a ship
in Boston harbor) in the summers of 1865 and 1866
.
What's Going On?
The curse on the house of Mannon, a prominent
New England family, goes back a generation to Ezra
Mannons father Abe and uncle Ben. Ben was kicked
out of the family when he impregnated a French
Canadian serving girl named Marie Brantne. A
gambler and a drunk, eventually he killed himself.
Marie asked Ezra, now head of the family, to help
her; but he ignored her, and she died. Thus her son,
Adam Brant, has an understandable grudge against
Cousin Ezra. While Ezra and his son Orin are off
fighting in the Civil War, Adam Brant approaches the
family as a suitor to Lavinia. The handsome captain
ends up seducing Christine.
When the opera begins, the war has ended
President Lincoln has just been shotand Ezra
Mannon is on his way home. His wife Christine and
his daughter Lavinia are both awaiting him: Lavinia
is excited to see him, Christine is not. She never
loved her husband, and having finally experienced
love with Adam, cannot endure Ezras touch. The
night of Ezras return, Christine gives him poison
instead of his heart medicine; but before he dies,
Ezra reveals to Lavinia what Christine and Adam
have done.
A few days later, Orin returns home from the war. A
new war is now raging, between Lavinia and
Christine, and Orin becomes the battleground.
Lavinia forces Orin to come with her as she follows
Christine at dead of night to Adams ship. They spy
on Christine and Adam, and when Orin sees the
mother he loves so passionately in another mans
arms, he starts to unravel. He stabs Adam the
instant his mother is gone. When Orin tells Christine
what he has done, Christine shoots herself.
Lavinia and Orin travel to the South Seas for a year.
When they return to Massachusetts, their friends
Peter and Helen find them transformed. Lavinia has
finally become a beautiful woman, the spitting
image of her mother, and Orin has disintegrated.
Orin writes a letter outlining the grisly history of his
family and threatens Lavinia that he will give it to
Peter if she tries to marry him. He tries to molest
his sister, and when she runs from him, crying Go
and die! he shoots himself. Lavinia, who seems
eager to marry Peter, reveals when he embraces her
that she still loves the dead Adam Brant. She
dismisses Peter and instead embraces her lonely
fate, shutting herself up forever in the house of
Mannon.


Eugene ONeill
Americas first great playwright was born in New York City in
1888. His father was a famous actor, and as a child ONeill travelled
around the country with his parents.by the time he recovered his
health he had decided to become a playwright. He was 24 years old.
During the 1920s, ONeill had a new play on the New York stage
practically every year.