Humpty Dumpty and Other Plays

Eric Bogosian is one of our most singular and exhilarating commentators on American life. His award-winning solo performance works have been performed with acclaim all over the world. As the New York Times has pointed out, Bogosian is a born storyteller with perfect pitch. That is never more evident than in his newest book, which collects his three most recent plays. In Humpty Dumpty, five friends gather for a holiday at a mountain getaway where unforeseen events bring them to the brink of the end of the world; Griller, set in a New Jersey backyard, where a barbecue gathering turns sinister and deadly; and Red Angel, Bogosians riff on Von Sternbergs The Blue Angel, reset on a college campus in 1990s New England.

I want theater to wake me up, not lull me to sleep. My theater is not about fantasy, its not about seduction. My theater is not an outline for a film. It is not a TV sitcom onstage. I...