Critics’ Forum

Theater
Bogosia n Double-Play
By Aram Kouyoumdjian

To describe a play as “talky” seems rather silly; dialogue, after
all, serves as a foundation for drama. Eric Bogosian’s plays,
however, are “talky.” They don’t unfold as intricate narratives.
They don’t have much plot. Bogosian is far less interested in what
his characters have to do than in what they have to say. In fact,
the need to talk, to rant, to spew words with ferocity often defines
the figures who populate Bogosian’s solo performance works.

The preoccupation with talk spills over into Bogosian’s full-cast
plays, two of which were revived in recent Los Angeles productions.
The teens and twenty-somethings of “subUrbia” have little to do but
talk, as they loiter outside a convenience store. And words are
tantamount to currency in the aptly-named “Talk Radio.”

By all indications, the brief incarnation of “subUrbia” at the
Hollywood Fight Club should have been a disaster. The venue itself,
located in a strip mall, boasts a playing area for which “stage” is
too strong a word. At the matinee I attended, the sun shining
through the storefront windows asserted its own “lighting design” on
a set that could not have cost more than a latte.

Unexpectedly enough, the show worked. Sort of. Well, it worked as
much as it could have in the face of such impediments. It worked
mostly because of a committed cast that generated honest and
energetic performances to offset some of this middling production’s
shortcomings.

The play’s minimal plot finds its young suburbanites in front of a 7-
Eleven, their usual hangout, when a former friend from high school,
who has found fame as a rock star, returns for a visit. This
auspicious reunion offers potentially life-altering choices for the
locals. After all, dreams are still alive for some of them, like
the aspiring artist Sooze (Stacy Michelle Gold), even if they’ve
proven paralyzing for the idealistic Jeff (Beau Hirshfield) or
disillusioning for the jaded Tim (Jeremy Rodriguez).

For the most part, Bogosian’s script sounds authentic in recreating
the language of youth (although its slips are all-too-painful to the
ear). The language of youth, however, is fickle and ever-changing,
so a number of references in “subUrbia” had been updated for this
production in order to keep the text, now a dozen years old,
relevant.

Fortunately, the script had an ally in director Frank Krueger, who
achieved a sense of urgency whenever necessary (the “roughhousing”
among the characters turned quite physical) but knew to allow
quieter sequences to unfold at the appropriate pace. Still, he
never missed the play’s funnier elements (drawing a hilarious,
albeit over-the-top, performance from Brad Robinson). One only
wished he were better equipped with the resources to have production
values consistent with his vision.

Crisp production values were on full display in the Gangbusters
Theatre Company’s staging of “Talk Radio,” which had a limited run
at Theatre 68 in Hollywood. This early play from Bogosian’s canon,
virtually devoid of plot, dramatizes an hour from the talk show of
controversial (and fictional) shock jock Barry Champlain the night
before his show is to go national. Scenic designer Danny Cistone’s
meticulous replica of a broadcast studio provided the perfect
setting in which Champlain, winningly portrayed by Christian
Levatino, would expose his callers’ demons while struggling with his
own.

In a strong ensemble, Jonathan Burbridge stood out as Champlain’s
call screener, perfectly balancing Levatino’s intensity with a
casual portrayal punctuated by both laughs and poignancy. Equally
worthy of mention was Matt Mann, riotous in his scene-stealing turn
as a drugged-out fan who finagles his way onto Champlain’s show.

The play, however, belonged to Levatino, who constructed a complex
character in Champlain, even as he unleashed Bogosian’s words with
all their intended fury. In Levatino’s hands, Champlain’s rage was
explosive and profane, his introspection solemn and quiet. One
could not help being struck by the depth of his performance, which
revolved, for significant stretches of time, around a microphone.
But Levatino practically gave life to this inanimate object in
developing an organic, even visceral, interaction with “callers” who
never appeared onstage.

Director Leon Shanglebee confidently helmed the edgy work, managing
to keep focus where the script meandered. Even in its deviations,
however, Bogosian’s raw, intense, and kinetic writing always
maintained tension and commanded attention.

All Rights Reserved: Critics Forum, 2006

Aram Kouyoumdjian is the winner of Elly Awards for both playwriting
(“The Farewells”) and directing (“Three Hotels”). His performance
piece, “Protest,” was recently staged at the Finborough Theatre in
London.

You can reach him or any of the other contributors to Critics’ Forum
at comments@criticsforum.org. This and all other articles published
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