Bermuda College to present papers on Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill.

Mr. O'Neill, who was also a four-time Pulitzer Prize winner, was born in 1888 and lived in Bermuda during the 1920s.

His daughter Oona, who was born in Bermuda in 1925, divided her childhood years between Bermuda and New Jersey and later married Charlie Chaplin.

Conference organiser Sharon Watkinson, who is chair of the Theatre and Fine Arts department of Niagara University in New York, said Mr. O'Neill was most noted for making the "greatest inroads'' in establishing modern American drama.

He was best known for plays such as "The Iceman Cometh'' and "Emperor Jones'' -- the story of an American black who proclaims himself king of a small tropical island, said to be inspired by both the Haitian revolution and O'Neill's impressions on Bermuda in the 1920s.

The impetus to have this year's conference in Bermuda came partially from local artist Joy Bluck Waters, who is the current owner of Spithead -- a historical home which Mr. O'Neill once owned, where he wrote the play "Strange Interlude''.

Mrs. Bluck Waters, who has donated materials to the Maritime Museum about Mr.

O'Neill's time in Bermuda, will be awarded a medal at the conference for the restoration of Spithead.

John H. Diggins, a history professor at the City University of New York, gave the conference keynote address on Thursday entitled "O'Neill's America: The Playwright as Historian''.

Dr. Diggins discussed the opening of "The Iceman Cometh'' in 1946, which disappointed American audiences but was well-received in London.

Dr. Diggins argued that the four-and-a-half hour play, written in 1939, was a decade before its time -- noting that Time Magazine thought the play "too theatrical'' and said it was "scarcely deeper than a puddle''.

But Dr. Diggins said "The Iceman Cometh'' went against the patriotic spirit of most Americans during that time period.

He noted that American audiences did not want to learn about defeat and adversity following the Depression, but preferred to focus on economic improvement.

According to Dr. Diggins, Mr. O'Neill considered America "the greatest failure in history'' for its focus on materialism, and wanted Americans to begin to understand themselves through his work.

Members of the public interested in learning more about Eugene O'Neill are invited to attend sessions of the conference, which concludes Sunday afternoon.

Today's sessions include: O'Neill's Later Plays from 8.30 a.m. to 10 a.m., Model Research Approaches to Eugene O'Neill from 10.30 a.m. to 12 p.m., O'Neill in Production from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., and O'Neill and Other Writers from 3.30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday's sessions include: O'Neill Past and Present from 9 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. and O'Neill's Relations with Film, Stage and Ireland from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Sunday's sessions include: O'Neill and Other Worlds from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m.

and O'Neill in Bermuda from 2.30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m.

All presentations are at the Bermuda College New Hall Lecture Theatre.