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Battered souls: 'Anna Christie' weaves a classic tale of love and despair
Jim Williams is Johnny the Priest, Rachel Foster plays Anna Christie and Stephanie Jones is Marthy Owen in “Anna Christie.”
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The sea sometimes foams into a tragic force shaping human destinies.
In “Anna Christie,” a weary former prostitute seeks out her estranged sea captain father, hoping to find forgiveness from him, while hiding her past from a stoker she loves in Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
Directed by James Cady, the Vortex Theatre will stage the O’Neill classic from Friday, Sept. 13, to Sept. 29.
As a child, Anna Christie was abandoned by her father, Chris, to live with harsh relatives in Minnesota 15 years ago. Although she escaped her family, Anna descended into prostitution, and she still resents her father’s desertion.
Premiering in 1921, the play won the playwright his second Pulitzer.
“ ‘Anna Christie’ is right at the top, up there with the great plays, ‘The Iceman Cometh’ and ‘A Long Day’s Journey into Night,’” Cady said.
The characters are battered souls, using alcohol and other means of escape to survive their own aching loneliness. They are seeking love and forgiveness, both from others and themselves.
Anna’s father Chris is “getting older and he’s captain of a coal barge,” Cady continued. “She comes to a saloon where she meets Chris. He’s happy about it and he’s guilty about it. Anna lives with Chris on the barge.”
Seeking sanctuary, Anna feels refreshed by the sea.
First working as a nurse’s aide after she flees her family, Anna eventually turns to life in a St. Paul brothel.
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“She was raped by her cousin when she was 16 years old,” Cady said. “She comes back with a real hatred for men.”
Chris has taken in a shipwrecked sailor named Mat.
“They fall in love, much against the father’s wishes,” Cady added. “She is now drawn to the sea.”
Anna finally tells both men the truth about her past. Mat reacts angrily, and he and Chris leave.
“It’s a unique play for O’Neill because it has a happy ending,” Cady said. “He was roundly criticized for it, too. He wears all his emotions on his sleeves. He’s always in conflict.”
“Anna Christie” marks the third O’Neill play Cady has directed. The double-cast production features Rachel Foster, Matthew Van Wettering, Philip J. Shortell, Harry Zimmerman, Stephanie Jones, Tyler A. Strand, Shannon Hayes, Jim Williams and Sergiu Iva.
