Hundo4U Productions has announced its two-night engagement of Eric Bogosian’s POUNDING NAILS IN THE FLOOR WITH MY FOREHEAD, a modern classic from New York’s underground scene that will be making its Chicago premiere in this production. This work by the author of such plays as TALK RADIO, SUBURBIA and GRILLER, is a series of 12 monologues by 12 different men who are all unhappy with the way they feel society has left them behind. VARIETY called it “a funny, frightening glimpse of the not-so-quiet but nonetheless desperate lives that Americans in (Bogosian’s) world endure.” Jeff Award winning actor and Pride Films and Plays artistic associate Donterrio Johnson will explore these twelve personalities, each bubbling and scratching at the seams of social unrest.
The social strata depicted in the play range from the Baby-Boomers to the 80s punk-rock and hip-hop explosion of New York in this dirty, dangerous and dazzling one-man show.
The stage is set against a lively backdrop of collaged video and audio installations, designed by Carl Wahlstrom and Zach Guyette, interweaving the images, histories and ideologies that are embedded within the American televised subconscious, which is consumed and shared at great speed. This two-night engagement will be held at The Broadway, Pride Arts Center, 4139 N. Broadway, on October 16th and 30th, 7:30pm. For tickets, visit www.Hundo4uproductions.com
Bogosian writes in the introduction to the play, “We float in a matrix of billions of image fragments, sound bites, plot-lines, news reports and ad copy. An endless stream of voices speaks to us — day in, day out, week in, week out.
Add to this the avalanche of attitude from every direction: comedians, talk shows, hit songs, interviews, speeches, reports, ‘specials’ and on and on and on… Millions think together and dream together. Slowly but surely, millions go mad together.”
LISTING INFORMATION
POUNDING NAILS IN THE FLOOR WITH MY FOREHEAD
by Eric Bogosian
CHICAGO PREMIERE
directed by Jon Dambacher
starring Donterrio Johnson
produced by Hundo4U Productions
Wednesday, October 16 and Wednesday, October 30 – 7:30 pm
Press Opening October 16 at 7:30 pm
The Broadway, Pride Arts Center
4139 N. Broadway, Chicago
All setas $20.00
Tickets available at Hundo4uproductions.com
Eric Bogosian’s play is a series of 12 monologues by 12 different men who are all unhappy with the way they feel society has left them behind, all performed by Jeff Award winning actor and Pride Films and Plays artistic associate Donterrio Johnson. The twelve characters are all bubbling and scratching at the seams of social unrest. The social strata depicted in the play range from the Baby-Boomers to the 80s punk-rock and hip-hop explosion of New York in this dirty, dangerous and dazzling one-man show.
BIOS
Donterrio Johnson (Performer)
With a keen eye for detail and a knack for intricate storytelling that is thought-provoking and modernistic, Donterrio Johnson has created some incredible art as both actor and director over the past 15 years. He was a Jeff Award-winner for his Judas Iscariot in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR with Theo Ubique and has earned raves for his Dan in NEXT TO NORMAL and his Caldwell B. Cladwell in URINETOWN, both with BoHo Theatre. He has also appeared in the Chicago cast of SPAMILTON and as Leading Player in PIPPIN at Mercury Theater and recently returned from a year-long stint in the National Tour of WAITRESS.
Johnson’s notable directing credits include: BUYER AND CELLAR, THE COLORED MUSEUM, 101 DALMATIANS , EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES WILLY WONKA, LAST FIVE YEARS, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS AND THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE. Donterrio has worked with companies such as Pulse Theatre Company, Prisco Center, and The REPA Center. An artistic associate of Pride Films and Plays, he directed the company’s production of BUYER AND CELLAR earlier this year and will direct PFP’s productions of A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, AMERICA’S BEST OUTCAST TOY and THE PASS this season.
Jon Dambacher (Director)
As a California native Jon began writing and directing plays for the Actors Theatre of Sacramento, the B St. Theatre, and Stage 3 Theatre, where he served as Artistic Director. In Los Angeles, he wrote and directed three feature films and a TV pilot. He was honored to have his recent production of BELOW THE BELT be one of fifty included within the Setting The Stage exhibit at Design Museum of Chicago. Past work has taken Jon to Vienna Austria, UCLA & the prestigious Criterion Collection.
Eric Bogosian (Writer)
Playwright and actor Eric Bogosian became well-known in New York in the 1980s for his intense one-man theater pieces, winning the Obie Award three times as well as the Drama Desk Award. In 1987, TALK RADIO, Bogosian's Pulitzer-nominated play in which he also starred, caught the attention of the greater film world and was adapted into a feature film starring Bogosian.
After the release of that film, Bogosian worked regularly as an actor in film and television while remaining very active in the theater. He is also known for the play, SUBURBIA directed by Robert Falls and produced by Lincoln Center Theater, and later adapted for film by director Richard Linklater. In 2010, Bogosian starred on Broadway in Donald Margulies' TIME STANDS STILL with Laura Linney, Brian Darcy James, Alicia Silverstone and Christina Ricci. In addition to his numerous plays, Bogosian is the author of three novels - MALL, WASTED BEAUTY, and PERFORATED HEART. His non-fiction history, OPERATION NEMESIS: THE ASSASSINATION PLOT THAT AVENGED THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, was published by Little, Brown in 2015.
Hundo4U Productions
Hundo4U is small collaborative team of Chicago based artists dedicated to unearthing rarely produced classics & championing new original plays. They produced a five-week run of Richard Dresser’s BELOW THE BELT at Redtwist Theatre earlier this year.