by Eugene O'Neill
As a short substitute reading to make up for some unexpected absences, we dove into the stokehole of Eugene O'Neill's expressionist "comedy of ancient and modern life," THE HAIRY APE. The reading was held on Wednesday, Jan. 18th at 6pm Eastern.
About a beastly, unthinking laborer known as Yank, the protagonist of the play searches for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the rich. At first, Yank feels secure as he stokes the engines of an ocean liner, and is highly confident in his physical power over the ship's engines and his men. However, when the rich daughter of an industrialist in the steel business refers to him as a "filthy beast", Yank undergoes a crisis of identity and so starts his mental and physical deterioration.