'Hughie' Returns to Danville in January

For the sixth year in a row, the Eugene O’Neill Foundation, Tao House returns to the Museum of the San Ramon Valley as the location for the first Playwrights’ Theatre series of staged readings for 2015.

Written by Eugene O’Neill while living in Danville from 1937 – 1944, Hughie will be seen for only two performances on Saturday, January 10 at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, January 11 at 2:00 p.m. The production of Hughie follows the overwhelming community response to the Eugene O’Neill Festival Festival production of The Iceman Cometh last September. The sold-out performances of Iceman should alert theatre-goers of the need to reserve early for the January performances.

Reservations are available online at the Eugene O’Neill Foundation’s website www.eugeneoneill.org or by phone at (925) 820-1818. Tickets are $25.00 per person.

Hughie tells the tale of the lonely late night struggles as a traveling man who spends the midnight hours with the world’s most disinterested lobby clerk in a small New York hotel in 1928.

Aaron Murphy, who portrayed Hickey in the September production of The Iceman Cometh returns to play the role of Erie Smith in the Hughie production. He will be joined by Dirk Alphin as the lobby clerk.

“Hughie is a complement to last September’s production,” says Foundation Vice President for Programs Eric Fraisher Hayes. “Hughie, however, provides a lot more humor than most playgoers expect from O’Neill.”

“Audiences loved Aaron Murphy’s Hickey,“ says Hayes, who is directing the production. “They’re sure to find him quite engaging in this January production. “

Hughie is one of the final plays by the Nobel Prize winning playwright created at Tao House in the Danville hills, part of the Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site. The one act play is especially appreciated by local O’Neill fans. A revival of the Broadway production featuring Jason Robards was done as a benefit for the fledging Eugene O’Neill Foundation back in July 1975 when efforts were underway to acquire the O’Neill home and property, and save it from the commercial development expected at the time. Robards, along with his colleague, Jack Dodson donated their services for performances at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley and for a two week run at the Westwood Playhouse in Los Angeles.

The January Playwrights’ Theatre is produced by the Eugene O’Neill Foundation, Tao House in partnership with the National Park Service and hosted by the Museum of the San Ramon Valley.

This is the nineteenth season for Playwrights’ Theatre which was begun in 1996 to provide audiences with an opportunity to become more familiar with O’Neill’s early plays. The series also presents works by other playwrights who influenced O’Neill or by dramatists who were influenced by O’Neill. Two additional Playwrights’ Theatre programs are planned for May and will be presented in the Old Barn at the Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site.

--Information submitted by Eugene O’Neill Foundation, Tao House

--Image via WikiMedia Commons