“I Think of O’Neill as Kronos”: James Ijames on Eugene O’Neill

ABSTRACT Playwright James Ijames, who has garnered critical attention for plays like Kill Move Paradise, Good Bones, and his Pulitzer Prize–winning Fat Ham, shares his thoughts on Eugene O’Neill in this interview. As the title suggests, Ijames sees O’Neill’s influence as almost mythical in scope, although he also speaks to the practical aspect of O’Neill’s craft that he admires. Ijames shares his perspectives on O’Neill’s work from the point of view of his own training as an actor, director, and playwright, which enables him to engage with the plays in myriad ways. This conversation between Ijames and Bess Rowen, both faculty members at Villanova University, provides a brief look into Ijames’s ability to connect to many different kinds of storytelling and to combine an appreciation for the past with an optimism about the future of where we’re headed in the theater.