HUGHIE by Eugene O'Neill

On October 18th and 19th, Red Hook’s own Bobby Cole returns to the stage as Erie Smith in Eugene O’Neill’s HUGHIE more than thirty years after first performing the role at Sunny’s back in 1992.

Set in 1928, just after New York’s infamous train derailment and on the cusp of the Great Depression, Hughie captures the smoky solitude and fragile hope of the city’s sleepless souls in O’Neill’s hauntingly lyrical style.

On Saturday the hour long performance of Hughie will be accompanied by two new short pieces in develpment by local writers.

On Sunday, The Milkman and Sons—a lively local four-piece 1920s jazz band—will keep the spirit swinging before and after the performance. Feel free to dress the part, and be ready to dance! O’Neill would’ve raised a glass to that.

ROBERT FRANCIAS COLE

"Bobby" founded the Brooklyn Stage Company in Red Hook in 1994, where he directed Waiting for Godot aboard the Waterfront Museum Barge and Macbeth at the Ferris Civil War Factory. His stage work spans decades of New York and regional theatre, including standout performances as Erie Smith in Hughie (Westbeth), Hamm in Endgame, and Kuvl in The Day the Whores Came Out to Play Tennis (Mortals Theatre).

Other notable roles include Oedipus in Oedipus Rex (Gene Frankel Theatre), Judd Fry in Oklahoma! (Weston Playhouse), Orin in Little Shop of Horrors and Bill Sikes in Oliver! (North Country Arts), The Ghost in Hamlet (Crux), Nixon in Red Channels (Theater for the New City), Manfred in Brendan Connolly’s Action Will Be Taken, and Baron Von Sims in Gary Indiana’s Curse of the Dog People (LATEA).

He has also appeared as Detective Bender in Bender (Ontological), Deeley in Old Times, and Engstrand in Ghosts (Sunny’s Bar). Most recently, he has starred in Booth McGowan’s The Generals and The Iguana Becomes Marco with Quick & Dirty Theatre (IRT/Green Lung Studios).

Bobby is also the author of Salome on the Rocks, which premiered aboard the Waterfront Museum Barge in 2016.

DAVID "DITTO" TAWIL

"Ditto" trained at HB Studio under Anne Jackson, Rob McCaskill, and Ivan Kronenfeld. He starred as Dad in Shanley’s The Dreamer Examines His Pillow at the Ohio Theatre NYC, and has also played Erie Smith in Eugene O’Neill’s Hughie directed by Aaron Gonzalez for Actors Theatre NYC and Cinematheque Miami.

His additional stage credits include Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Miami Cinematheque), Manny in Dan Klores’s Little Doc at Rattlestick Theatre NYC (featuring the debut of Adam Driver), and A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller at the Waterfront Museum in Red Hook.

On screen, he has appeared in Fiddler on the Roof, Darren Aronofsky’s Pi, The American Game, Money Train, and the television series Spin City. David is also the author of Hoop Dance.

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