Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953) was one of the 20th century’s most important American dramatists, and a winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936. His work is often considered to mark the beginning of contemporary American playwriting, as well as the introduction of realism into the American theatre. His best known works include Anna Christie, Desire Under the Elms, Strange Interlude, Ah! Wilderness, The Iceman Cometh, and Long Day’s Journey into Night. Scenes from Desire Under the Elms form the basis for a section of Three Love Stories Near the Railroad.