The Theater: Thrice Blessed

Manhattan’s Theatre Guild last week excitedly opened a bulky package from one of its favorite playwrights. Not since Days Without End in 1934 had Eugene O’Neill come through with a new play. But last week he sent the Guild three: The Ice Man Cometh, A Moon for the Misbegotten and A Touch of the Poet.

Of the three, only A Touch of the Poet is part of the nine-play cycle on which O’Neill has been working, long and mysteriously. It belongs near the middle of the cycle but, like each of the others, is complete in itself. The Guild does not plan to produce it until 1947. First production—probably next October—will be The Ice Man Cometh, starring Eddie Dowling.