Eugene O'Neill was an American playwright in the 20th century. O'Neill's works are known for their realism and he is often compared to other famous playwrights before him such as Chekhov, Ibsen, and Strindberg.

Eugene O'Neill's 1922 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, "Anna Christie," is the story of a young woman who following an illness decides to visit and spend some time with her father, a coal barge captain who she hardly knows. During this time she meets a sailor, Mat, who is looking to settle down, and the two fall in love. "Anna Christie" is a gripping drama of a woman torn between the expectations of two men, her father and her lover, and the shocking confession of her past life that this conflict evokes.