Eric Bogosian's 100 Monologues

Eric Bogosian's 100 Monologues
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monologue: from the Greek μονόλογος; μόνος mónos or "alone, solitary" and λόγος lógos, "speech."

The first recorded monologues and soliloquys go back at least as far as ancient Roman and Greek times. But unless you are someone with huge amounts of time on your hands and you love to surf the internet to discover acting gems that don't get theatrical releases-or you happen to live in New York and frequent the theater on a regular basis--It's often hard to see some of our most talented actors in this isolated, most intense form. Eric Bogosian's latest labor of love, which goes by the self-explanatory name of 100Monologues.com is here to remedy that, at least partly. In these one hundred sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic but always revealing monologues written by the three-time Obie award winner and performed by his posse of A-List actors, you get glimpses into his psyche and that of performers that you may never get elsewhere.

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The themes presented will be familiar to Bogosian's fans: love, loss, alienation, drugs, rock n' roll, politics, everyday life. Did I leave anything out? As with many great ideas, this one wasn't planned or project managed to death, as Bogosian reveals: "I think this all started when one of the actors I play cards with suggested he try one of my monologues. It could have been Dylan Baker or Bobby Cannavale or Liev, I forget. And I said "Yeah, we can shoot it quick and post it." It turned out to be much more complicated than that...But basically, I thought how cool would it be if actors with major chops took a crack at this material. Many actors do these monologues as students and this is a way for them to see how the pros do it. "

Shot with minimal effects and usually from the front with one camera, the style and format brings each individual actor's talent to the fore. It also creates a bewildering and wonderful sense of intimacy--it's one of the best uses of the internet that I have come across so far. The fact that they are monologues--and so well-acted--also means that emphasis is placed on language itself--and in terms of people who can craft the contemporary American idiom, Bogosian has few equals, save perhaps David Mamet, though Bogosian's writing is far less constructed or contrived. The monologues here come from some of the actor's classic performances including Drinking in America; Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll; Pounding Nails in the Floor with My Forehead; Wake Up and Smell The Coffee; FunHouse; and Men Inside. (The book version also includes selections from Talk Radio. )

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A few of the strongest monologues include a high-strung Bobby Moreno performing "Blow Me" fuming at life's everyday inequities and Billy Crudup as a smarmy reformed drug addict rock star in " Benefit." My personal favorite is Jennifer Tilly in "Wood," a charming variant on classic end-of-innocence stories. She ends her disquisition thus (spoiler alert): "Ever since then, every time I wipe my ass I think of Christmas." This may partly be because I happen to adore Tilly every since her performance as the sexy lesbian thief Violet in the 1996 Wachovsky lesbian noir indie Bound. Her at once innocent yet cerebral and almost salacious delivery--the sexy little girl who is also awesomely intelligent and not quite trustworthy (or is she?)--packs a wallop.

Thankfully, 100monologues.com is free, a gift from Bogosian to fellow actors and civilians alike. Other featured performers include Sam Rockwell, Jessica Hecht, Stephen Lang, Dylan Baker, Yul Vasquez, Matt Maher, J. Eric Cook, Lisa Joyce, Karren Karagulian, Sebastian Stan, Michael Stuhlbarg, Vincent D'Onofrio, AChris Bauer, Dallas Roberts, David Cale, Marin Ireland, Zach Grenier, Tate Donovan and Richard Kind. Each week, a new monologue is introduced, a delicious thespian treat: try them out, move around the site, see which ones resonate the most with you and twitter them to friends and colleagues alike.

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