ERIC BOGOSIAN RETURNS TO HIS ROOTS IN SHOW, BOOK
The Associated Press
October 2, 2013 Wednesday 01:01 PM GMT
By MARK KENNEDY, AP Drama Writer
NEW YORK
Eric Bogosian has been looking back on his old angry work lately
and laughing.
The former monologist who used to speak about substance abuse and
dangerous sex has been sifting through two decades of work for
an upcoming book “100 Monologues” and a new one-man show, “100
(Monologues),” at the Labyrinth Theater Company.
“Man, I talk about drugs, A LOT. I talk about sex, A LOT. That was
what my life was about, which it isn’t now,” he says. “I don’t think a
monologue show about being a dad is as interesting as being a guy being
on the edge of some sex, drugs and rock `n’ roll kind of lifestyle.”
Both the book and the show, which runs through Oct. 19, pull pieces
from Bogosian’s six solo shows between 1980 and 2000 including
“Pounding Nails in the Floor With My Forehead” and “Wake up and Smell
the Coffee” for which he received three Obie Awards.
“I didn’t know what I was doing. And there was something good
about that,” he says of the monologue style that he now calls a
“shoot-from-the-hip, intuitive, crazy thing.”
The new show and collection of his monologues correspond with a
special project involving many of his actor-friends, including Liev
Schreiber, Bobby Cannavale, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jessica Hecht and
Jeremy Sisto. All will help record 100 of Bogosian’s monologues for
online posting starting this winter.
Bogosian is perhaps best known for his 1987 play, “Talk Radio,” in
which he starred as a shock jock both onstage and in a film version
directed by Oliver Stone. TV fans likely know him as a police captain
on NBC’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.”
He’s written a number of full-length plays his “subUrbia” was made
into a film and appeared in several movies, including Robert Altman’s
“The Caine Mutiny Court Martial” and “Under Siege 2” opposite Steven
Seagal. Bogosian also has written several books, as well as the
upcoming “Nemesis,” about a group of Armenian assassins who went
after Turkish leaders after World War I.
Bogosian, 60, took a break from rehearsal to talk about the show,
the fate of the monologue, how an angry young man became a cop on TV,
and an odd fantasy that involves a vampire.
AP: Why 100 monologues?
Bogosian: One day I was just curious as to how many monologues there
were. I counted them up and it was like 99. If I threw in the guy from
`Talk Radio,’ then I had 100 monologues. So I called up my publishers
and I said, `You know, there are a hundred of `em. Why don’t we put
out a book?’
AP: You left the monologue around 2000. Why?
Bogosian: It’s all about real shotgun attitude stuff. Monologues
put out one idea really hard and fast. I sort of moved into other
realms where I could explore something different, like a novel or a
history book.
AP: Is it weird seeing others perform your work?
Bogosian: They bring something else. In fact, they do things and I’m
like, `Oh, I didn’t know you could do that with that line.’ Or they
find a beat somewhere I didn’t know about. I wrote it and I didn’t
realize you could do it.
AP: What happened to the monologue as an art form?
Bogosian: It was at its best when all the monologues worked in one big
theme. But eventually that started to fall by the wayside. Monologue
shows started to become a showcase for talent, or because of Spalding
Gray’s influence, people thought that the minutia of their personal
lives was fascinating, not being the artist that Spalding was.
AP: Will it ever disappear?
Bogosian: I don’t think it’s something that will ever die because
it’s very cheap to produce. When you’re a starving artist, it’s a
great way to get started. But I think when it’s used as a stepping
stone to other things, then it does have a capacity to get lost.
AP: How did a counterculture icon end up a police captain on a “Law &
Order” franchise?
Bogosian: I totally accept the idea that a person’s ideas can change
over their life. But I never said anything against cops, I never said
anything against soldiers, in my work. I come from a blue-collar town
and grew up with guys who were cops and carpenters and soldiers. So
I have a great deal of respect for those guys.
AP: What appealed to you about doing the show?
Bogosian: I wanted to do that kind of show because I felt that those
shows are very similar to the style of the old Elia Kazan dramas,
where nobody ever smiles and everything’s very intense. I wanted to be
able to do something where I never smiled and was grumpy all the time.
AP: Where do you want your career to go?
Bogosian: Who knows where my little journey’s going to go as an actor
because I’m not out there all the time. Honestly, I’ve got one thing
left to do: I want to play a vampire in something and then my entire
card will have been filled. I got to play an intense drama. I got to
be the villain in an action movie. I got to be on `Law & Order.’
AP: A vampire, really?
Bogosian: Yes. I want to be an old vampire. I want to be the leader
of all the other vampires.
Online:
http://labtheater.org