The American Theater World Says Goodbye to George C. White, Creator of the O’Neill Center
WATERFORD, Connecticut – August 14, 2025: George C. White, who started the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, a big deal for new American plays, has died. He was 89 and passed away on August 6, 2025, just before his 90th birthday. White’s death is like the end of something big for the place he built. It really changed how new plays, musicals, and theater people get help in the United States and other countries.
A History of New Work and Artists
Back in 1964, White started the O’Neill Center in an old house in Waterford, Connecticut. It became super important for a lot of American writers, directors, and actors. The center had a cool way of helping artists work on new stuff without the stress of New York’s money pressure. It was pretty new at the time, and a lot of theaters all over have copied it since.
White’s idea gave a place for now-famous people like August Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein, Christopher Durang, and Sam Shepard to do their thing. The O’Neill also helped actors like Meryl Streep early on. He was in charge for 37 years, and the center even got two Tony Awards and a National Medal of Arts.
White’s Start and Idea
White went to Yale University and Yale School of Drama. He started out knowing what he wanted to do. He went all over the world doing theater stuff before he came back to the U.S. to make a different kind of theater. He wanted to make a place where new theater voices could be heard and helped without money being the main thing.
He used his life insurance money, $1,200, to get the center going. Then, he got people in town to give the writers a place to sleep and eat. That’s how this big theater place got its start.
How the O’Neill Center Got Bigger
The O’Neill Center started with new plays, but it grew to have a bunch of other programs that are now important in American theater. The first one was the National Playwrights Conference in 1965.
After that came the National Critics Institute and the National Theater of the Deaf. In 1970, White started the National Theater Institute, which was a tough training program for college students. He also started the National Music Theater Conference in 1978, which was the first program to help develop new musicals.
More Than Just the O’Neill
White didn’t just stay in Waterford. He helped start the Sundance Institute, which shows how much he cared about helping new artists in different fields. He directed plays all over the world and even did cultural exchange stuff with China and the Soviet Union when things were tense.
In 2011, White got into the Theater Hall of Fame because he did so much for American theater. He also helped run the Theater Management Program at Yale. He used theater to connect people from different countries.
What He Left Behind
The O’Neill Theater Center, named after the only American playwright to win a Nobel Prize, has been a safe space for artists for years. It was White’s goal to help people try new things and take risks. The center has given a place for all kinds of artists to play around and create.
White leaves behind his wife of 67 years, Elizabeth “Betsy” Conant Darling, their three kids, ten grandkids, and a big family. The artists he helped and the plays that started at the O’Neill will keep his work going. The center is still doing well, which shows how great his idea was.
