SANTA BARBARA THEATRE PRESENTS
HUGHIE
A play by Eugene O'Neill

SBT: The Santa Barbara Theatre announces the opening of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie, with Morlan Higgins and Gregory Sanders, opening at Center Stage Theater on Friday, April 7 at 8 P.M.

Jason Robards starred in the Broadway production of Hughieand Al Pacino recently performed this short O'Neill play at the Mark Taper Forum. Award-winning actor Morlan Higgins, whom Santa Barbara saw play André in Athol Fugard's latest play, Exits and Entrances, follows these noted actors in the role of Erie Smith, a Broadway hustler. Hughiedescribed his central character as "a teller of tales."

SBT is producing HUGHIE in association with the Namaste Theatre Company. Director Michael Uppendalh directed this play as the centerpiece of the O'Neill Festival at O'Neill's Tao House in Danville, CA last fall. Gregory Sanders reprises his role as the Night Clerk.

Hughiewill be followed on April 20 by Michele Lowe's String of Pearls, directed by SBT Co-Artistic Director Stephen Sachs.

Discount tickets for both plays are available through SBT at (805) 963-7282.

SBT: The Santa Barbara Theatre
in association with
The Namaste Theatre Company

presents

HUGHIE
By Eugene O'Neill

Morlan Higgins - Greg Sanders

Directed by

Michael Uppendahl

Set Design Kris Sandheinrich

Costume Design Ann Closs Farley

Lighting Design David F. Hahn

Sound Design Michael Peters

Production Stage Manager Elvi Morris*

SBT: The Santa Barbara Theatre's production of Hughie by Eugene O'Neill is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. Hughie was originally staged by The Namaste Theatre Company at the Tao House as the centerpiece of the Eugene O'Neill Festival in the fall of 2005.

CHARACTERS (in order of appearance)

A Night Clerk: Gregory Sanders*

"Erie" Smith, a teller of tales: Morlan Higgins*

TIME AND PLACE: The lobby of a small hotel on a West Side street in midtown New York City. It is between 3 and 4 am in the summer of 1928.

The play is approximately an hour in length and is performed without an intermission.

* The actors and stage manager are members of Actors' Equity Association, the union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

SBT: The Santa Barbara Theatre is a professional theatre and a non-profit, 501 (c)(3) corporation. SBT is a proud member of the Santa Barbara Performing Arts League.

DIRECTOR'S NOTE

Eugene O'Neill was racing against the degeneration of his body from disease. He sealed himself up in his treasured Tao House to finish The Iceman Cometh, A Touch of the Poet, and Long Day's Journey Into Night. Before diving further into the character of his long dead brother in A Moon for the Misbegotten, O'Neill wrote Hughie. Although short, Hughie is among O'Neill's most powerful, profound, and funny plays, and Erie is among his greatest characters.

WHO'S WHO

Morlan Higgins (Erie Smith) is very pleased to be back at Santa Barbara Theatre. SBT'ers may remember him as André in SBT's inaugural production of Athol Fugard's Exits and Entrances. He has recently returned from a South Florida run of Exits and Entrances for which he was nominated for The Carbonell Award and will be off to New Jersey in May to play André again. He has won dozens of acting awards for his work on LA area stages. He received seven different actor of the year awards for the World Premiere production of Exits and Entrances at the Fountain Theatre, making him the first actor to sweep the Ovation, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, Garland and LA Weekly awards in a single season and the first lead actor to ever win the Ovation award twice. Other award-winning performances include Dylan at the Skylight Theatre, Equus at the Pasadena Playhouse, Mary Barnes at the Odyssey Theatre, After the Fall and Boys in the Band at the Fountain Theatre, The Birthday Party, Mad Forest, Dealing with Clair and Water Children at the Matrix Theatre and the American Premiere of Irish playwright Billy Roche's The Cavalcaders at the Florida Stage. Last fall he played Erie under Mr. Uppendahl's direction in a special presentation by the Eugene O'Neill Society on the grounds of O'Neill's former home in Danville, California. Playing Erie at the Tao House, just a couple of hundred feet from the very desk where O'Neill wrote Hughie, was a very moving experience and Morlan is very excited to have the opportunity to bring this beautiful play to Santa Barbara.

Gregory Sanders (Night Clerk) stumbled heedlessly into the world of theatre in 1987 when Sylvia Ward cast him as Christopher in her great, original play Fireworks, which premiered just up the road at UCSB's Studio Theater. Since then, Gregory has appeared in over fifty stage productions in Los Angeles, New York, Denver, and San Francisco. Gregory earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting from the University of Southern California and a Master of Fine Arts in acting from the National Theatre Conservatory, at The Denver Center for The Performing Arts. In 1997 Gregory wrote and performed his first solo piece entitled Eight Women's Lives I've Ruined, directed by Michael Uppendahl. He followed that up with his solo shows Iago, and Not About My Father, and has begun rehearsal for his latest project, Master of Fine Art.

Michael Uppendahl (Director) is the founding and current Artistic Director of the Namaste Theatre Company in Los Angeles, for which he has directed the West Coast Premiere of Eric Bogosian's subUrbia (Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Direction), the World Premiere of R. A. White's adaptation of Nathanael West's The Dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin (Backstage West Garland Award for Best Direction), Tony Kushner's The Illusion (Ovation and LADCC Nominations), August Strindberg's The Stronger and Pariah, Martin McDonagh's The Lonesome West (six Ticketholder Awards, including best production and direction) and many other original productions and plays, as well as all benefit and Little People/Big Theatre performances. Other directing credits include the World Premiere of Greg Sanders' Eight Women's Lives I've Ruined, Lee Blessing's Two Rooms and Eleemosynary, Keith Reddin's 34 Down at Atlantic Theater Company in New York, and Eric Bogosian's Blow Me. He has written or developed many original plays and screenplays. His first credit was CBS' Becker, starring Ted Danson.

Elvi Morris (Stage Manager) is excited to be joining The Santa Barbara Theatre. Highlights of her career in the entertainment industry for theatre, music and special events include Stage Manager for Naomi Judd's Brown Bag Lunch Tour, 1995 and Norwest Culture Fest Dancestage, 1996­97. She was Venue Manager for Colorado's First Night at Elitch Gardens, and V.I.P. area for LoDo Music Festival, 1996-97. In 1998, she was Festival Coordinator for Summer Solstice Celebration, Production Manager for Winterfest, and became the Event Coordinator/M.C. for Sensei Yamamoto's Celebrations of Life, 1998 - 2003. More recently she was the Stage Manager for the 2001 Avocado Festival, and several productions of Ensemble Theatre's 2004-2005 Season.

Single tickets are $32.50 - $39.50, depending on the day of the week. Five dollar discount for seniors (over 62) and college students with an ID. High School student rate is $15 for all performances. Group Discounts are available for 10 or more. For more information, please call SBT at (805) 963-7282. Out of the area, call (866) 963-7282.

All performances will be held at Center Stage Theater, 751 Paseo Nuevo.

For full information, please write to:

SBT ­ The Santa Barbara Theatre

P.O. Box 23211, Santa Barbara, CA 93121

Or call (805) 963-7282. That's 963-SBT2!

Purchase tickts online
Online purchases subject to $1 surcharge.
If online sales are closed, tickets may still be available
by calling the box office at 963-0408.

Purchase by phone with Visa, MC, AmEx
(805) 963-0408 (V / TDD)

BOX OFFICE INFORMATION
The Center Stage Theater Box Office is open Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 5:00 P.M., and one hour before each performance. See below for location.

Tickets may also be purchased by telephone using Visa, Master Card, and American Express. Phone (805) 963-0408 (V / TDD).

LOCATION AND DIRECTIONS
Center Stage Theater is located in the Paseo Nuevo Center, upstairs at the intersection of Chapala and De la Guerra Streets, Santa Barbara, California.

Take Highway 101 to Carrillo Street, exit and turn toward the mountains (northbound turns right, southbound turns left). Proceed to Chapala Street (fourth light) and turn right. Proceed 1-1/2 blocks and turn left into either of two entrances to Paseo Nuevo. Park near the elevator, or proceed to roof-level parking.