Madhouse Theater is proud to present Eric Bogosian’s Pounding Nails In The Floor With My Forehead at Fergies Pub, 1214 Sansom St. March 19th to the 30th.

"Rough and riotous. . . . [This author] is, quite possibly, our most vibrant bringer of bad tidings." N.Y. Times.

"Eric Bogosian has to be reckoned the best endowed taboo breaker the theatre has got." N.Y. Daily News.

"No one can better articulate the anger and absurdity of urban America." AP.

"It's brilliance still has me laughing in incredulous admiration." N.Y. Post.

Madhouse is moving from sketch comedy, their bread and butter, to punch you in the gut, slap you in the face comedy-monologues. Co-Artistic director John Stanton said that “Madhouse is switching lanes but not going off track.”

“Madhouse does comedy and we do it well. Now it’s time to switch it up a bit and go in a slightly different direction but without veering off too far from what we know and do best.”

From the people that brought you those hilarious late-night comedy shows: Saturday Night Special and Late Night Snack. The Philly weekly named Saturday Night Special top of its “Hip-O-Meter. “The Madhouse Theater Company’s late night variety show is the perfect antidote to lame bars and tired club scenes. Wholesome theatrical wackiness guaranteed.” J. Cooper Robb wrote the Special is “much more fun than cruising the bars” and is “consistently irreverent”.

Madhouse co-Artistic Directors Karen DiLossi and John Stanton have assembled a group of six actors to take on Bogosian’s monologues. “We’re not about promoting one particular actor as Philadelphia has far too many good ones,” joked Stanton. “We have a core group of people we’ve worked with over the last few years. We know them, their strengths and they’re comfortable with us. The more an actor is comfortable the farther they are willing to go with the material.” Madhouse is also expanding their arsenal of creative talent by working with new actors as well. “The more the merrier!”

Di Lossi strongly felt, “Audiences will go wild following these crazy characters over the course of an evening . The Bogosian characters are not only funny but vivid and profound. It’s the perfect play for the next step in our growth as an emerging theater company.” Madhouse Theater got its start as a slap dash, make-shift, three legged producing organization by John Stanton in 2000. “We’ve come a long way,” says Stanton. “It’s been a slow process of growth but fulfilling and important. Madhouse is deliberate and smart in what they choose to do. We know what we can do and we want to do it to the best of our ability. Bogosian’s Pounding Nails is something we know we want to do.”

Pounding Nails In The Floor With My Forehead.
Fergies Pub, 1214 Sansom St. March 19-30. March 19, 26, 29 @ 8pm; March 22 , 24 @ 7pm; March 20, 25, 27 @ 6pm; March 30 @ 2pm.

Bios

Eric Bogosian is best known for writing and starring in the play and the film adaptation of that play, "Talk Radio" (NYSF - 1987). For this work he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and received the Berlin Film Festival "Silver Bear Award." He is also well known for his six solo performances Off-Broadway ("Men Inside," "FunHouse," "Drinking in America," "Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll," "Pounding Nails in the Floor With My Forehead," "Wake Up and Smell The Coffee") between 1980 and 2000, for which he received three Obie awards. In addition to "Talk Radio", Bogosian has written a number of full-length plays including "subUrbia" (LCT), "Griller" (Goodman), "Red Angel" (Williamstown Theater Festival), "Humpty Dumpty" (McCarter). He is the author of two novels, "Mall" and "Wasted Beauty" and a novella, "Notes from Underground." As an actor, Bogosian has appeared in numerous films and television programs, starring in Robert Altman’s "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial", Atom Egoyan’s "Ararat," "Under Siege II" and "Wonderland". He currently stars in "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" on NBC.A new production of "Talk Radio" starring Liev Schreiber and directed by Robert Falls, opens next month at the Longacre Theatre and marks Bogosian’s Broadway debut.

Karen Di Lossi Director, received her MA in Theatre from Villanova. She has directed Cinderella Waltz, The Open Couple, Tartuffe, 3Sum, RGDG?, and Squid & Fishy during the 2005 Philly Fringe Festival. Karen directed the World Premiere of Envoy by Belinda Bremner at UArts and was assistant director in another World Premiere, Evan Smith’s Daughters of Genius, for 1812 Productions. She is the Director of Programs & Services for the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia.

Keith Conallen, Actor, has worked with Flashpoint, Lantern Theatre, Brat Productions and Theater Catalyst.

Colleen Corcoran, Actor, was last seen in her one woman show of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in Brooklyn, NY and up in New England at Cape Rep Theatre's production of Six Degrees of Separation. Besides being a Madhouse regular, she’s worked with Azuka Theatre and the Cardboard Collaborative

Allison Heishman, Actor, is happy to be working with Madhouse once again, having acted and directed in both the Late Night Snack and Saturday Night Special Series. She's the Literary Manager for Azuka Theatre, next up Hedwig and the Angry Inch. She can be seen onstage this spring in The Dead Guy for Flashpoint Theatre Company.

Robert Neddoff, Actor, is a member of Vagabond Acting Troupe and has worked with Flashpoint Theatre Company and Mum Puppet Theatre.

Also appearing: Robert DaPonte and Nate Robertson.