''Hughie,'' a one-act play by Eugene O'Neill

"Hughie," a one-act, two-character play by Eugene O’Neill, starring David Tawil. Also featuring Mark Kroczynski and directed by Aaron Gonzalez. Produced by Ditto Productions. Multi-Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Eugene O’Neill wrote the one act play Hughie in 1940, set in the year 1929 ... two years that resound loudly in American history. Hughie is about the American psyche in periods of economic and emotional distress, which is why 2009 is a perfect year to reflect on our current conditions and where they slide into perspective. Small-time gambler Erie Smith (David Tawil) lives in a seedy New York hotel, and Hughie, (Mark Kroczynski) the hotel’s clerk is a captive audience for Erie’s regular ranting and tall tales. Erie comes home from a night of grief-stricken drinking because Hughie has died. Will there ever be a companionship replacement for one loner seeking solace in another? And does this also represent O’Neill’s personal struggles with alcoholism? Or further, Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes? (who fought against FDR, but ultimately upheld several New Deal innovations). With a complex talent like O’Neill, these are things to think about while experiencing Hughie, over a half a century after it was written. David ’Ditto" Tawil, who’s Ditto Productions is producing the play, is a New York film, television and theater actor who spends part of the year in Miami. His film credits include Pi (directed by Daniel Aronofsky), American Game, Money Train, and Crazy as a Fox. He had appeared on hit television show, Spin City, and performed on stage in several John Patrick Shanley dramas, including The Italian American Reconciliation and The Dreamer Examines His Pillow, which Tawil produced in 2007 for The Ohio Theater.