1922: The Hairy Ape was first produced by the Provincetown Players. The production, directed and designed by Robert Edmond Jones, was praised for its use of expressionistic set design and staging techniques, and was transferred to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway. Actor Louis Wolheim became famous for his interpretation of Yank.
1930: A London production featuring African American actor Paul Robeson playing the lead white role, was a critical success, despite having only five performances.[6]
1944: A low-budget film version produced by Jules Levey, released by United Artists, starred William Bendix, Susan Hayward, Dorothy Comingore, and John Loder. According to a review in the New York Sun it had a "happy ending" and generally "made the story lighter and less loaded with social significance".[7]
1987: Later notable productions by Peter Stein's revival
1996: A postmodern multimedia interpretation by the Wooster Group with Willem Dafoe playing the protagonist.
2004: The Hairy Ape received positive reviews at the San Pedro Playhouse, Cellar Theatre in San Antonio, Texas. Deborah Martin of the San Antonio Express News said of Brad Milne "His Yank is raw and hard to forget."
2006: The Hairy Ape was staged to positive reviews by the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York City. The Irish Voice declared, "O'Neill's spirit still resonates. [This] new production of The Hairy Ape reminds us why O'Neill is considered the first Irish-American playwright."
2009: Director Sean Graney of the Hypocrites Theatre Company staged a production of The Hairy Ape at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.[8] BBC Radio 3 broadcast a radio adaptation of The Hairy Ape directed by Toby Swift later that year.
2012: The first major London revival in 25 years at the Southwark Playhouse in London Bridge.[9] Director Philip Boehm of Upstream Theater staged an acclaimed production of The Hairy Ape in St. Louis, Missouri later on that year. It is staged in London's Old Vic in October and November 2015.
2017: The Park Avenue Armory staged a production of The Hairy Ape starring Bobby Cannavale, directed by Richard Jones, and designed by Stewart Laing.[10] Cannavale received a 2017 Obie Award for his performance presented by the American Theatre Wing.[11]
2021: The Classics Theatre Project presented a new adaptation of The Hairy Ape directed and adapted by Joey Folsom which caught the attention of The Eugene O'Neill Society as well as The Eugene O'Neill Review.
