Post by Techguy on Aug 6, 2006 0:56:02 GMT -5
I saw Eric Bogosian's "Talk Radio" on my cable listings last night and had to watch. After viewing this movie based on his play, I Googled some more information on this actor who will portray the new MCS Captain. I found this collection of his letters to share here:
www.ericbogosian.com/archive.html
And this interview from May 1996:
www.ericbogosian.com/studio.html
Studio Theater interview with Eric Bogosian, May 1996
Studio: Why this play now in your career..after solo-work and Talk Radio? [/b]
EB: I started acting when I was in high school, started writing when I got to New York in 1975. In fact, my early pieces around the late seventies were, for lack of a better term, "plays." Both "Sheer Heaven" and "The New World" employed over a dozen actors. I also wrote a number of pieces for smaller ensembles ("Garden"; "I Saw the Seven Angels"; "The Ricky Paul Show"; "Men in Dark Times")ranging from three to six players. Around 1980, when I was very broke, I started making the solos in earnest. Audiences liked them and they were cheap to produce. This work got the attention of Joe Papp and I found myself in the more traditional theater world once again when I appeared at the Shakespeare Festival for the first time in 1982. The attention I got from these solos ("Men Inside"; "FunHouse" and "Drinking in America") opened doors for me again to stage my larger work. "Talk Radio" a play for a company of about ten, was produced by the Shakespeare Festival in 1987. Later that year I wrote the screenplay and in 1988 acted in the film version directed by Oliver Stone.
"subUrbia" is my second full-length play and it reflects my love of the creativity of actors and of ensemble theater. I write my plays to create an excuse for full-tilt acting and performing. I provide the bricks and mortar with the words and situations - the director and the actors and the designers build the house.
Studio: From your work one gets the impression that you are really "plugged in" to pop culture...Are you trying consciously to be "hip"?
EB: I write for an audience that likes what I like, reads what I read, thinks about the things I think about. In many ways, this puts me in opposition to the people who go to the theater generally. And in fact, most people who shares my values and concerns, who have my sense of humor don't go to the theater at all. I find most theater very static, meant to be "read" by a sophisticated theater crowd. Oddly, the theater we revere from the Greeks to Shakespeare wasn't like this at all. The theater I revere is an event. I try to write, whether it be solo work or ensemble, so that event can happen with this particular group of actors and this particular audience on this particular night. I'm not hip, my audiences are not hip - but we're not the audience you usually find in the theater. I write for my "tribe", you either get it, or you don't.
Studio: What playwrights/performers have influenced you in your work/playwrighting...any idols?
EB: I would love to get the energy of Iggy Pop or Red Hot Chili Peppers or Green Day and fuse it with elegance perfection of Chekhov. I studied David Rabe's "Hurly Burly" while working on this play (as well as "The Three Sisters"). David Mamet and Sam Shepard have been influences. August Wilson is truly fine.
Studio: You've made some script revisions for this production. Why? Were there specific issues with the text you wanted to address this time?
EB: Ensemble is hard to do. It's like 3-D chess. And this play was a long time coming, very layered. Jo Bonney asked that I do revisions because after many viewings, some moments rang hollow. She was unsatisfied with certain "beats" and resolutions. Jo has no reverence for the published text. As far as she's concerned, it's not finished until it's finished. Every show is a new opportunity to complete the work.
Studio: What's happening with the film? What new projects are you working on?
EB: By the time the audience is reading this in Washington, we should be just wrapping in Austin where Richard Linklater has been shooting the film. The film is very close to the play. Rick saw it a couple of times at Lincoln Center and felt very good about it. I have been very happy working with him. I am of the theater, he is a lover of film. But deep down we see things very much the same way. Unfortunately the play cannot appear everywhere, this is a nice way to let people get a peak at it. As far as new stuff goes, I am writing a new play "Griller." It's coming along. We'll see. [/color]
www.ericbogosian.com/archive.html
And this interview from May 1996:
www.ericbogosian.com/studio.html
Studio Theater interview with Eric Bogosian, May 1996
Studio: Why this play now in your career..after solo-work and Talk Radio? [/b]
EB: I started acting when I was in high school, started writing when I got to New York in 1975. In fact, my early pieces around the late seventies were, for lack of a better term, "plays." Both "Sheer Heaven" and "The New World" employed over a dozen actors. I also wrote a number of pieces for smaller ensembles ("Garden"; "I Saw the Seven Angels"; "The Ricky Paul Show"; "Men in Dark Times")ranging from three to six players. Around 1980, when I was very broke, I started making the solos in earnest. Audiences liked them and they were cheap to produce. This work got the attention of Joe Papp and I found myself in the more traditional theater world once again when I appeared at the Shakespeare Festival for the first time in 1982. The attention I got from these solos ("Men Inside"; "FunHouse" and "Drinking in America") opened doors for me again to stage my larger work. "Talk Radio" a play for a company of about ten, was produced by the Shakespeare Festival in 1987. Later that year I wrote the screenplay and in 1988 acted in the film version directed by Oliver Stone.
"subUrbia" is my second full-length play and it reflects my love of the creativity of actors and of ensemble theater. I write my plays to create an excuse for full-tilt acting and performing. I provide the bricks and mortar with the words and situations - the director and the actors and the designers build the house.
Studio: From your work one gets the impression that you are really "plugged in" to pop culture...Are you trying consciously to be "hip"?
EB: I write for an audience that likes what I like, reads what I read, thinks about the things I think about. In many ways, this puts me in opposition to the people who go to the theater generally. And in fact, most people who shares my values and concerns, who have my sense of humor don't go to the theater at all. I find most theater very static, meant to be "read" by a sophisticated theater crowd. Oddly, the theater we revere from the Greeks to Shakespeare wasn't like this at all. The theater I revere is an event. I try to write, whether it be solo work or ensemble, so that event can happen with this particular group of actors and this particular audience on this particular night. I'm not hip, my audiences are not hip - but we're not the audience you usually find in the theater. I write for my "tribe", you either get it, or you don't.
Studio: What playwrights/performers have influenced you in your work/playwrighting...any idols?
EB: I would love to get the energy of Iggy Pop or Red Hot Chili Peppers or Green Day and fuse it with elegance perfection of Chekhov. I studied David Rabe's "Hurly Burly" while working on this play (as well as "The Three Sisters"). David Mamet and Sam Shepard have been influences. August Wilson is truly fine.
Studio: You've made some script revisions for this production. Why? Were there specific issues with the text you wanted to address this time?
EB: Ensemble is hard to do. It's like 3-D chess. And this play was a long time coming, very layered. Jo Bonney asked that I do revisions because after many viewings, some moments rang hollow. She was unsatisfied with certain "beats" and resolutions. Jo has no reverence for the published text. As far as she's concerned, it's not finished until it's finished. Every show is a new opportunity to complete the work.
Studio: What's happening with the film? What new projects are you working on?
EB: By the time the audience is reading this in Washington, we should be just wrapping in Austin where Richard Linklater has been shooting the film. The film is very close to the play. Rick saw it a couple of times at Lincoln Center and felt very good about it. I have been very happy working with him. I am of the theater, he is a lover of film. But deep down we see things very much the same way. Unfortunately the play cannot appear everywhere, this is a nice way to let people get a peak at it. As far as new stuff goes, I am writing a new play "Griller." It's coming along. We'll see. [/color]