Producing the Play

Basic Facts

Producing Organization: Public Theatre

Theatre/Venue: Public Theatre/Martinson Hall

City and State: New York City, New York

Month and Year: May 28, 1987 through

Director: Frederick Zollo

Designers: Ted Savinar (Visuals), David Jenkins (Scenery), Pilar Limosner (costumes), and Jan Kroeze (Lighting)

Review Capsule

"New York Times"

Mel Gussow

Section C, Page 3, Column 1, Weekend Desk

May 29, 1987 (Late City Final Edition)

Taken from LexisNexis Academic

Most of the other characters - dozens of them - remain unseen, bizarre voices in the night. But there are also tangible people in Barry's circle, including his producer, and awed assistant (John C. McGinley) and a sexy girl Friday (Robyn Peterson). Each steps forward and, in a spotlighted monologue, pictures another aspect of Barry's career.

"New York Times"

Nan Robertson

Section C, Page 17, Column 1, Cultural Desk

July 30, 1987 (Late City Final Edition)

Taken from LexisNexis Academic

There is a control booth at stage right. Mr. Bogosian as Barry Champlain -"Barry" or "Bare" to his callers - sits jittering at a table at stage left, ready to open his headphones to the next call or punch the cut-off button if the caller displeases him. He is linked electronically to the actors backstage, who hear Mr. Bogosian over phones in each backstage booth, and whose own voices are amplified for the audience by microphones built into the telephone mouthpieces.

Basic Facts

Producing Organization: Mosaic Theatre
Theatre/Venue: Mosaic Theatre
City and State: Plantation, Florida
Month and Year: September 13 through October 7, 2007
Director: Richard Jay Simon
Designers: Sean McClelland (Scenic Designer) and Matt Corey (Sound Designer)




Basic Facts

Producing Organization: Gift Ensemble
Theatre/Venue: Gift Theatre
City and State: Chicago, Illinois
Month and Year: April 2, 2009 through May 30, 2009
Director: Maureen Payne-Hahner
Designers: Courtney O'Neil (Set Designer), Scott Pillsbury (Light Designer), Branimira Ivanova (Costume Designer), Miles Polaski (Sound Designer)

Review Capsule

"Time Out Chicago"
Zac Thompson
Issue 216, April 16 -22, 2009
http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/theater/73486/talk-radio-at-gift-theatre-theater-review

Bogosian’s shallow character analysis doesn’t do much to justify a revival, either.

That leaves acting pyrotechnics as the chief reason for reviving the thing.

"Chicago Critic"
Randy Hardwick
April 30, 2009
http://chicagocritic.com/talk-radio/

Off-stage we hear the voices of the call-in loonies: pregnant, addicted, racist, air-headed, suicidal, attention-seeking, etc.


Basic Facts

Producing Organization: Arkansas State University Theatre
Theatre/Venue: Arkasas State University Theatre in Fowler Center
City and State:Jonesboro, Arkansas
Month and Year: February 13-14, 2009 and February 17-18, 2009
Director: Molly Simpson
Designers: Jeff McLaughlin (Scenic Design), Brent Foland (Costume Design), Bob Simpson (Light Design)

Basic Facts

Producing Organization: New City Stage Company
Theatre /Venue: Adrienne Theatre
City and State: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Month and Year: December 5, 2008 through January 11, 2009
Director: William Roudebush
Designers: Mark Jesse Swanson (Assistant Director/Sound Designer), Dick Durosette (Set Designer), and Cindy Jensen (Graphic Designer)

Review Capsule

"Philadelphia Weekly"
J. Cooper Robb
December 31, 2008
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/arts-and-culture/stage-38473809.html

...Champlain sits behind a microphone abusing his callers and ranting about the state of the nation.

...William Roudebush's cartoonish direction undercuts the scene's power.

"Broad Street Review"
Jim Rutter
December 20, 2008
http://www.broadstreetreview.com/index.php/main/print/bogosians_talk_radio_by_new_city_stage_co1
To be sure, the world of this play takes place on the radio, and the callers never see what Champlain looks like. But the audience of Talk Radio can see, and the casting of Felder—even when concealed beneath a skull-cap and Vietnam-era Army jacket—requires far too great a suspension of disbelief.

Basic Facts

Producing Organization:The producing team is Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, and JAM Theatricals.
Theatre/Venue: Played on Broadway at the Longacre Theater (220 West 48th Street)
City and State: New York City, New York
Month and Year: February 15th through June 24, 2007
Director: Robert Falls
Designers: Mark Wendland (Sets), Laura Bauer (Costumes), Christopher Akerlind (Lighting), and Richard Woodbury (Sound)

Review Capsule

"The New York Times"
Ben Brantley
March 12, 2007
http://www.talkradioonbroadway.com/pdf/Talk_Radio-NYT_Review.pdf

How Barry perpetuates his egomania is given bright, fast life in Mr. Falls’s production, which runs 100 intermission-free minutes. Mark Wendland’s set, which isolates Barry from his co-workers by a glass wall, ideally underscores the sense of the studio as a kind of cosmic control tower. And Mr. Schreiber’s use of microphones is the best argument ever made for the use of artificial amplification on Broadway.

"Time Out New York"
David Cote
March 14, 2007
http://www.talkradioonbroadway.com/pdf/timeoutnewyork.pdf

As splenetic shock-jock Barry Champlain in Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio, Schreiber snorts in derision at his fawning, ignorant callers, snuffles back the toxic drip of his coke-laced mucus and, toward the end of this 100-minute shot of pure theatrical adrenaline