Bob Bucci grew up in Greenport and currently lives between New York City and Hillsdale, NY with his husband. 

In this interview, Bob describes his experience growing up in Hudson with his family, who owned and operated Bucci’s Restaurant on Warren Street, and his early interest in the arts, particularly music and theater. After graduating from high school and completing an internship at Mac-Hadyn Theatre in Chatham, he moved to NYC in 1983, where he lived as a working actor while taking “survival” jobs in between roles. 

Bob talks about how much he enjoyed working with various companies in NYC and traveling around the country to perform, including returning to performances at the Mac-Hadyn Theatre. He highlights a publishing job he took to supplement his acting career as giving him valuable experience in marketing and promotion, which he still currently works in, and how he made the transition from on-stage to off-stage. He also discusses his social life in the city and the experience of entering gay society during the AIDS crisis, and how his work in marketing led to meeting his husband, Chris. 

Bob also talks about his complicated relationship with Hudson and with his family, and how those relationships have changed over the years. Although Hudson has become a very positive place for the LGBTQ+ community, he experienced discrimination and harm for his sexuality in his youth, and for a long time believed he would never return to the area. His parents struggled to accept his sexuality and relationship with Chris, and he reflects on how his marriage to Chris was a source of tension for his parents. 

Bob ends the interview by discussing the strength and power of the LGBTQ+ community and the gains that have been made in queer rights, and offering words of wisdom for LGBTQ+ youth concerned about their future. He highlights the invaluable love of his sister-in-law, his three nephews, and in particular his Aunt Madaline, who nurtured his interest in the theater and supported Bob and Chris enthusiastically. 

This interview might interest those researching or wishing to learn more about LGBTQ+ youth in Hudson during the 1970s and 80s, theater and performing arts in NYC during the 1980s and 90s, and the societal and economic transformation of Hudson between the 1960s and the 2020s.