Play by Jonathan O’Neill ’11 Featured in The New York International Fringe Festival

My Personal Hell, a play written and directed by Jonathan O'Neill '11, has been selected for this year’s New York International Fringe Festival. The comedy-mystery involves a young journalist who is murdered while investigating a scandal in his small hometown. Brought to Purgatory, he is told that he cannot leave until he names the identity of his killer. A right answer sends him to Heaven, but a wrong answer sends him to Hell.

The play features four additional members of the Regis class of 2011: Giancarlo Milea, Vincent Pellizzi, and Christopher Pedro are in the cast, and Patrick McCarthy serves as a stagehand. All five Regians worked on the Regis Rep throughout high school in productions like Les Miserables. O'Neill, Milea, and Pellizzi also broke the Guinness World Record for Longest Continuous Dramatic Performance in the summer of our Junior year at Regis with The Bald Soprano.

(Pictured: members of the cast of My Personal Hell performing a scene from the play)

The New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC) is the largest multi-arts festival in North America, with more than 200 companies from all over the world performing for 16 days in more than 20 venues. The play, originally written for the Experimental Theater Club at Fordham University, was chosen by the Festival after a competitive selection process that took place this past spring.

O'Neill, who may be the youngest playright in this year’s Festival, considers himself lucky and humbled to get selected. He also credits many lessons learned at Regis for preparing him to be able to produce a script worthy of the Festival.

"The Regis Rep—like every club at Regis—is filled with people who totally give themselves over to their work," said O'Neill. "Being a part of such a close-knit community of hard workers has taught me a lot about the value of dedication. It's also helped me find that quality in other artists."

The play is loosely based off of Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit, which O'Neill first read in Mr. Acosta's French IV class at Regis.

"He introduced me to a lot of books and dramas that inspire me," added O’Neill.

Performances of My Personal Hell began in August. The final performances are on 8/21 at 2:00 PM, 8/23 at 9:30 PM, and 8/24 at 4:45. All performances are held at the Archdiocese's brand-new Sheen Center at 18 Bleecker Street. Show listings and tickets can be found here: https://fringenyc.org/basic_pagefly.php?ltr=M#MyPers

With a year of college left to complete, O'Neill is proud of the work that he and his Regis classmates have already accomplished.

"Giancarlo, Vinny, Pedro, Pat, and I have come a long way from the Regis Rep," added O'Neill. "It's a huge honor to be able to do something we love and be treated like professionals."

Above: Regis Staff Member José Machuca '92, Jonathan O'Neill '11, Vin Pellizi '11, Giancarlo Milea '11, Anjit Fageria '11, and Chris Pedro '11 pose for a photo after a recent performance of My Personal Hell.

Above: Jonathan O'Neill '11 (left) performing as Thenardier with the cast (right) in the Regis Repertory's 2011 production of Les Miserables.