The title of your play — American Badass: 12 Characters in Search of a National Identity — suggests its inherent topicality. Could you tell us a little more about the show and what first inspired you to write it?
Oh jeez. I always clam up when people ask what the show I'm working on is about. Here goes. Its twelve monologues with shorter pieces in between (costume changes). The title was about looking at our national character at that particular time close to the end of the Bush Administration before we knew who would be the Presidential candidates. To me, there's something Pirandellian about doing this so I gave a nod to Six Characters in Search of an Author. It was difficult terrain to navigate. The satire shows on TV were covering things in an immediate way during this so I was trying to write something that would stand on its own. If you go back and see an old Saturday Night Live episode, the "Weekend Update" segments sometimes fall flat because you don't know what they are referencing. I hope that it serves as a time capsule for the George W. Bush era and, should it be performed by others, gives a strong sense of how things were. Hopefully, we'll have learned from this.
I felt angry and powerless through most of that administration. I wanted to express that but also show some understanding of people who supported Bush. I don't think I clarified why things happened or what was behind their decisions but I did get closer to how people felt and how situations affected them. Once we get on the other side of our financial crisis, I think we'll see a trend where politics and class will be the new racism and sexism. I strongly believe the roots of this were planted in this administration. Mind you, I don't think we're too far beyond where things were thirty years ago with racism and sexism but slamming on someone for having different political points of view or less money will get that aggression and ugliness out. Our foreign policy was based on being the biggest bully. That didn't work out so well as we got further into trouble in Iraq and started using private military contractors. Blackwater having free reign to do what it wanted frightened me.
And there's some funny stuff like the competitive eater character and fake commercials. At the time I wrote it, I had no idea that Obama would become the nominee for President, let alone the President. It was a scary time but I didn't want to simply lampoon it. I can't wait to see Will Ferrell's piece as Bush opening on Broadway soon. I have one Bush piece in Badass where he's at a press conference at the opening of his Presidential library. I used lots of snippets of things he has actually said and questions he was really asked and pastiched them together.
In American Badass you play numerous characters, much like Eric Bogosian used to and similar to what Danny Hoch does now. What made you decide that the piece should be a solo show instead of a more "conventional" multi-character play?
Check this out. When I was in drama school, I saw Danny Hoch do a Bogosian monologue. The one where he talks about looking at the spot on his shoe. He had this great moment where he pointed at the shoe and then his eye again. Hilarious. There were a lot of guys who did Bogosian pieces back then. I did the one from Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll where he takes the acid and thinks he's Messianic so he asks the girl to take a bath with him. When Martin Denton offered to publish Badass, I got excited thinking about the potential number of guys who could do these monologues in acting classes across the country. They don't have to read a whole play. Perfect for the non-majors looking to pick up girls in acting classes. One character, the Blackwater contractor, is named Eric as an homage to Bogosian. I'm sure that one will get the most time in those drama classes. Now that I think about it, I called the character in my show Gotham Standards Eric who is a "dog". They're the guy's guys. The ones who say things I couldn't bring myself to say in real life. They walk a line between being charming and offensive. They are the Erics.
Most of the ideas I have for solos come to me years before I do them. This one was only months. I had been wanting to write a piece called Town Hall where Chris Harcum would be running for President. The idea kept stopping where I'd think about what platform I'd have. Also, people in the audience would eat me alive asking me questions on history and policy. Plus this would be moving into more Christopher Guest territory. Then I started thinking about what was bothering me about Operation Enduring Freedom and the Second Gulf War and digging into things I ignored. Monologing is a way of getting back to the roots of theater. When I have something I want to say, I have a character talk about it without any extra stuff. Of the ten solos I've created, only two have been in this style. What's good is that the audience will connect to one character on a certain night. If they hate a character, it'll be replaced in a few minutes with a new one. But then there's no dramatic drive. It's a trade-off. I couldn't get my head around having all these people come together and be in the same room so I had individual pieces.
I only had a couple of months to write this. My name was drawn from a hat on Halloween at the FRIGID Festival. All I had for the application was a title. I had written off getting in and forgot about it. I found out I was accepted at the beginning of November, panicked for a couple of weeks, took notes, did research, got a bad case of playwright's block from listening to other people, freaked out, and then put on my game face and took on the dare. Finally, I wrote the first character in the beginning of January 2008 using all the things people told me I should say and do in this piece. Like Edward Albee's process, only crappier. He thinks about things for a long time and then writes it all down in a big burst. I believe I edit and rewrite more than he does. The first character is named Jeff as an homage to Jeff Lewonczyk, who, with his lovely wife, Hope Cartelli, gave me lots of good advice. Once I had that character who tore Chris Harcum apart, it opened me up to be able to become other people talking about other things good and bad.
Some people told me they learned new things in this piece while others learned nothing. Some saw things from different perspectives while others held on to their point of view and were only happy when they were reinforced. I suppose it could have been more of this or that but, in the end, it was a step forward for me by going into an area where I was weaker.
You have a penchant for creating solo work. What interests you about that particular form?
I think there is something special when the playwright and the entire cast inhabit one human body and is in front of a live audience. When it's cooking, it's awesome. My girlfriend says it's like watching an Olympic figure skater. When it's on, it's the best. When it's off, it's still good but you know it's off. I was in a rock band in high school so I'd go see all the big acts at the stadium. The guitar solos were what would make or break the evening for me. I studied dance and saw people perform what they choreographed. So when I saw Danny Hoch do ten minutes of characters, it was a revelation. He was already championing people when he was 18. He wrote his own material and he took his space. Musicians perform their own songs and dancers perform their own dances. Why can't actors...?
Also, I'm kind of like Alec Guinness where I only get these little roles now. People don't know what to do with me so they don't use me. Conversely, one of my specialties is to play the part no one knows how to cast. If a breakdown reads, "He's a guy...he looks...I don't know...and there's a....'something' quality about him" I would be the first choice. I know I could tear up a Richard or Henry or Trigorin but I get Horatio, Buckingham and Firs. Eight or twelve weeks of squeezing myself in a corner backstage to avoid the dust, neuroses, egos, games, and fragile self-esteem in actors who wish they were somewhere else and directors who wish they were working with other people is not as fun as it once was.
And I like writing plays. Fortunately, getting produced is easy. People bend over backwards to put your stuff on, especially in New York. The rent's cheap, publicity's next-to-nothing, and audiences come in droves with cash and tips. I kid. There are a lot of headaches getting a play in front of people and working solo sometimes circumvents issues. On the other hand, it's all on you. Opening night for Badass was disastrous from my perspective. I was about 40 hours under-rehearsed and had a back spasm from an injury slipping under a car. Long story. I took four ibuprofen and rubbed a topical muscle relaxant on my lower back. People on the front row had watery eyes by the end of the Jeff monologue. I was having my first tech, first dress, first run on that stage, and my first audience all on that opening night while in lots of pain. No one can help you at that point.
On the other hand, it is like doing a high-wire act. It's putting yourself out there and doing things other people wouldn't dare. A lot of people get around that by doing what I call "issue porn" or "sketch comedy" solo performance. The former points out something is wrong and everyone can agree it's wrong. The latter is entertainment without responsibility. It rides on laughs. This piece sometimes knocked on those doors but I tried to always take it elsewhere if that was the case.
American Badass was directed by your frequent collaborator, Bricken Sparacino. What do you like about working with her? And how does she influence and shape the finished product when you two work together?
This was the fourth solo of mine she directed and the eighth piece overall. Two of the solo pieces we worked on were brand new. Two were reworkings from earlier runs. A piece tells me when it is time to do it again and get it closer to my idea of perfection. She's honest without being insulting. She works hard and has lots of good ideas. She's good about pointing out where I repeat myself or go over people's heads. She allows me to unfold what is there rather than putting concepts on me. She looks after me to make sure I'm healthy, sane and safe. She protects the space and is a good liaison with the audience and management. She has actual notes not just random junk to hear herself speak. She has my trust. She laughs easily at what I do. (That's good and bad. I sometimes get false confidence.) We respect each other.
She works like a dramaturge in the beginning with me. I'll email the script and she'll have notes she'll give after she hears it the first time. Because she writes and performs as well, she can see things from practical perspectives. She talks me back from the edge a lot. She nurtures me through the rough spots. She sees almost every performance so she helps carry it to term and then helps get it into college. Or, I guess I actually birth it so she mid-wifes it and babysits it. I don't know. Either way, she gets it into a better college than I would have as a single parent of a solo performance. We haggle over changes sometimes. She'll want me to say something and I'll fight it a bit. On this one, I tried to do whatever she said. On the more personal pieces, the debate is different. "But that's how it happened." "But it sucks." It's good when we can rehearse every other day. That way I can get a day to work on things and run them over and over before she sees them again. Every day and the progress is slower. It's antithetical but true.
I want to also mention how fortunate to have been able to work with Maryvel Bergen who did my lighting design and Debby Schwartz who made original music and sound design. Their work really helps make many worlds. I was also adeptly aided by Carolyn Raship on graphics, Chris Foster on costumes and Daniel McKleinfeld with multimedia. These are all artists who can work a can of Coke and some crayons and make something glorious. I'm a design moron so I'm always impressed when people take my stuff and do all the value-added magic.
You've written and performed in both your own plays and solo shows. Do you have a preference between the two, as either a writer or an actor?
I don't know. I just finished a new play. I plan on playing the main character. There are three other roles in it. I feel confident I can do this since I've done so much solo stuff. The trick is making the other parts as good or even better than yours. And not making yourself out to be the best person. I hate seeing those plays. Waste. Of. Time.
I like just being an actor when the role calls for physical, vocal and emotional involvement on my part. I like just being the writer when I write pieces I could never do for actors I love. Part of the fun to me is shaking things up and doing something different each time. I don't like developing patterns. I like good surprises. I like one side of me to help the other.
You've done a lot of work as a teaching artist. What exactly does a teaching artist do, and what do you like about this kind of work?
There's the old phrase by Shaw "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." I've heard some say, "those who can't do either, administrate." A teaching artist smashes all that by doing, teaching and administrating. By the way, Shaw recanted his phrase later in his life. A teaching artist is one part working artist, social worker, therapist, surrogate parent, friend, referee and teacher. In NYC, they fill in the gap where arts are missing in schools. I also consider people who work and teach adults to be teaching artists. An artist does their work and usually says it's a mystery. Like Daniel Day-Lewis when he won his last Oscar. A teaching artist breaks their process down and shares it. That's the main difference.
By and large teaching artists fall into two camps: good hearted and insane. In public schools, you deal a lot with at-risk, high needs, angry, violent people. Then there's the students. It isn't for everybody. It takes about ten years to be a good one. I put in five years and had to take a break to replenish myself personally and professionally. City kids are interpersonally smart and can read you from the moment you walk in. They sense your weak spots and press them until you cry. I've seen the biggest, toughest guys blubber from working with kids.
I think the performing arts can breed a lot of neurosis. You get judged on how you look over how good your work is, especially now with training being out of style and reality TV influencing everything. Teaching artists give to people. I've learned more about people and myself through this work than anything else. Your life and art gain a sense of purpose. Children should be our first priority. Building families and communities. The arts can be an important part of that.
What's coming up next for you?
Three plays and three books. I'm adapting an autobiography into a play. Maybe one more solo in a couple of years. It will be a sci-fi piece. One of the books will be on solo performance. I taught a workshop but mostly that became about dealing with people's blocks and ways they cheat themselves. Some people hope solo performance will fix their lives. Really they should be doing The Artist's Way or taking a class with a casting director. The solo performance book will be published on my website for free. I think solo performance is how I can give away what I have received in this life. That's one of the assignments I've been given from beyond.
I'm an Associate Artistic Director and Resident Playwright with Core Theatre Co. That will keep me away from crime.
Interview with Chris Harcum was conducted by Michael Criscuolo January 2009.