Talk Radio (play)

Talk Radio is a 1987 Pulitzer Prize-nominated play written by Eric Bogosian, based on a concept by Bogosian and Tad Savinar. It centers around Barry Champlain, a Cleveland-area shock jock, on the eve of his radio show's national syndication.

“	Talk Radio kind of surprised people, because they revived it last year, twenty years after it had been written, and it felt fresh. But that's because I don't really write about topical stuff; I write about American attitudes, American values, my values, my attitudes. And to the degree that anybody sees things the way I see things, they can relate.	”
—Eric Bogosian on the play's revival

The play, with Bogosian in the lead role, premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater on May 28, 1987, in a production directed by Frederick Zollo. The production also featured John C. McGinley, Zach Grenier, Mark Metcalf, and John Onorati.

A film adaptation of Talk Radio, directed by Oliver Stone, was released in 1988.

A production was staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2006, directed by Stewart Lee, featuring Mike McShane, Phil Nichol, and Stephen K. Amos.

Talk Radio made its Broadway premiere on March 11, 2007, in a production starring Liev Schreiber, and featuring Law & Order: SVU stars Stephanie March and Peter Hermann, and The Covenant's Sebastian Stan. The opening night cast also included Christine Pedi, Barbara Rosenblat, Adam Seitz, Marc Thompson, Kit Williamson, Cornell Womack and Christy Pusz. The show was directed by Tony Award-winner Robert Falls, and has received Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama League award nominations for Best Revival of Play and Best Actor in a Play. Additionally, Schreiber was awarded the prestigious Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance. The show made its final Broadway performance at the Longacre Theater (220 West 48th Street) on June 24, 2007.

In November 2007, Talk Radio made its Southeastern Premiere at the Mosaic Theatre, in Plantation, Florida, and in Israel, on December 2007 Talk Radio ('Sikhot Layla') is premiered by Gesher Theater.

Criticism

• Rossi, Umberto. “Acousmatic Presences: From DJs to Talk-Radio Hosts in American Fiction, Cinema, and Drama”, Mosaic, 42:1, March 2009, pp. 83–98.

External links

• Official Talk Radio on Broadway website
• NY Times review of 1987 production
• The Blog Apple review of the 2007 Broadway Revival
• Talk Radio playwright Eric Bogosian Downstage Center XM radio interview by the American Theatre Wing, March 2007