Eric Bogosian

Actor, playwright, but most importantly a monologist/soloist.

A bit of background.

• Armenian decent.• Grew up in Massachusetts. • He is well known for his six solo

performances Off-Broadway: -"Men Inside," -"FunHouse," -"Drinking in America," -"Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll," -"Pounding Nails in the Floor With My Forehead," -"Wake Up and Smell The Coffee“.

Which he received three Obie Awards for.

Style

• He loves his satire.• Focused on America/American lifestyle. • Vocally and physically embodies his character,

through gestures and accents. • Creates characters from a broad range of society;

often contrasts characters from upper-class and lower-class.

• Also loves a bit of tongue in cheek humour, which is evident in his titles “Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll” and “Wake up and Smell the Coffee”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj3ak-TZNjs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxBKEo2kq_Y

Process

“Why monologues?”

“Around 1979 I came up with this idea of a solo performance in which I would play different characters, not as a showcase, but because I was interested in taking a kind of an inventory of the different characters who lived inside of me.”

“Do you first sort of “goof around” in front of your friends and then record your ideas, or does it happens the other way around? How does it happen?”

“It starts very privately. Originally, the solo stuff was done with tape recorders, long improvisation sessions, from which I transcribed the parts I felt were interesting. Then I would memorize these transcriptions, and begin the process of improvising again. It was a process of layering. Eventually, I would end up with a script of four or five pages of what I considered to be good and worthwhile monologue.