Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company

Interviewed by Nathan Hollabaugh - March 26, 2009

Actor Tony Bingham recently made his Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Co. debut in I Nipoti, the third installment in Mark Clayton Southers’ "Culture Clash" series. Although this was his first production with PPTCO, it certainly wasn’t his first appearance on the Pittsburgh theatre scene. Recent credits include The Goat and The Chicken Snake (Playhouse Rep), Take Me Out (barebones productions), The Missionary Position (City Theatre), Savage in Limbo and Risk Everything (Caravan Theatre of Pittsburgh). The stage has provided many roles for him to play, but only recently Tony landed what he considers to be the sweetest role of all, “Dad”. In December 2008, Tony and his wife Dana Hardy announced the birth of their first child, Jack Harrison Bingham.

How did you approach your role in “I Nipoti”? Tell us about your character [Nico] in “I Nipoti”.

Umm…heh-heh. Like, literal or do you mean just sort of sub-textual or like, uh, what I think he is? Or –

Tell us about him…Well, okay, first of all, just tell us about him in terms of –

I’ve got an idea –

If somebody hasn’t seen the show – who is this guy?

He’s a captive of his own culture, the Italian culture, which can tend to be from my experience, y’know, pretty, uh, [sighs] not – which can tend to prevent you from exploring outside arenas in the world. Y’know, if you get too caught up with the family then everything in your life is influenced and chosen through family lines and family experiences and your perspective becomes narrowed, and I think that ultimately is what this character is all about – moving through the world with a narrow perspective and suddenly being thrown into a situation that forces him to live outside of his comfort zone. Y’know, he didn’t really have a father to influence him, which is an additional need for him to be so reliant on the family as a whole y’know, because there’s no larger culture in lock-step with the “it takes a village” sort of philosophy.

So, in considering what you just said about who this character is, how did you approach your role in “I Nipoti”? Or, in other words, what particular kinds of things did you do to prepare for this part?

Every show brings its own challenges and for me, every show has a different approach. As far as approaching this character it basically came down to what’s given in the text. I mean, I don’t think that this character is one that utilizes a lot of subtext – everything is pretty much right on the surface. So, the approach that I sort of took, and – y’know, you don’t realize it until you’re about two weeks into the process – but, y’know, what’s being given to you by the other people on stage is going to determine how you deliver your own material. For me, again, when there’s no subtext – I mean he doesn’t have any ulterior motives, or – y’know he’s not trying to trick or fool any body. So, for me, a lot of it was just being able to listen to what was being delivered to me and what was written for this character and make it an appropriate response to what’s being given. This was more sort of a– I’ll just say it’s more of a Meisner approach for this particular show, the sort of listen-and-respond kind of aspect as opposed to deep tactics– he doesn’t have a lot of tactics. He doesn’t have – I mean every now and then there will be a beat change in terms of his objective, but they’re very few and far between for this character. Y’know, I don’t think he wants anything more than just his uncle to get better, to get the family sauce back in order, and, uh, and that’s pretty much it. I think he stays along those lines until he starts to learn his lessons and has to deal with the resistance he gets from his cousin.

How did you first get into acting?

I was part of the speech and debate team in high school, the forensics team, and that sort of was the springboard for it. I got cut from the tennis team, and I went and tried out for the speech team, and they put me right on and - that’s all she wrote! Y’know and I tried to sort of keep acting out of my life as much as I could while I started college but, y’know it was sort of undeniable. So…I eventually came back around to it.

What was the first production you did in college?

In college? The Fantasticks. I was cast as “The Mute”.

So you talked about trying to keep acting out of your life as much as you could –

Well sure! It’s a dumb career! I mean, [laughs] y’know, you go to school to get a piece of paper that’s worthless and then you go try and do it and then you back to school to get an ever bigger piece of paper that’s even more worthless – unless you’re going to teach, of course – um, so, y’know it’s…there’s one percent of us who make a living off this career. So, y’know, the chances of being in that “one percent” are slim to none. So…but, when it’s inside of ya and y’can’t beat it back anymore, you just gotta ride that beast.

So, what do you love about acting? What pulls you to it?

What pulls me to it is the opportunity to allow people to watch the work and learn something from it. My goal is always, no matter what show it is, for at least one audience member to sit back at the end and go, “Fuck!” Y’know whether that be good or bad or, y’know, just to have learned some sort of lesson or have some sort of – I don’t want to say life-altering-experience – but just to offer a perspective that would allow an audience member to challenge themselves to think outside of, again, outside of their own “box”.

But to do that, you could work toward that end by writing or by directing. What is it about acting that you love?

It’s way easier than those other two! [laughs] Shit! I mean, y’know, I could never write. It’s just not something that I was born to do. Directing I’ve done it, but I find that to be even more nerve-wracking than anything else because then it’s all on you. At least with acting you’re responsible for your own thing and it’s your own ass on the line but when you direct – I mean, you’re responsible for all the elements and…that kind of sucks. Plus, I like to, uh, y’know go out there and exorcise the inner demons, and who doesn’t? I mean in whatever shape or form that takes place, on some level, I mean it is psychological. Um, David Mamet would totally disagree with that but, not that, y’know I don’t take a lot of what he has to say very close to the heart. But I do think that there’s some psychological aspect of it that allows you to go out there and do things that you wouldn’t normally do, say things that you wouldn’t normally say, and sometimes that helps you work-out some inner shit that you’ve got goin’ on and sometimes it just helps you be somebody that you’ve always wanted to pretend to be – and that’s fun.

In this show, in “I Nipoti”, what is it that the part of Nico – what are you doing or saying in this part that you wouldn’t normally say or do? What “demons” are you getting to exorcise, or what parts of you – or NOT parts of you – are you getting to play out that’s not you, that’s a stretch for you, that’s beyond you?

Well, I mean, it’s always fun to do a hardcore stereotype, y’know? And the “Italian, New York” stereotype is sort of fun to do. I enjoy doing that. Y’know at the same time – and Mr. Southers knows this – the play is in two acts and Act One is very different than Act Two, so Act One for me is very much about going out there and doing that New York, Italian, sit-com “guy” and it’s fun to do that. Act Two, y’know, the actor playing Uncle Tano reminds me a lot of my grandfather and so, there’s this – and again, this came a couple weeks into it – but sort of this odd connection because I was in my grandfather’s hospital room when he died and he’s the only person I’ve ever actually watched take their last breath. So as far as exorcising demons goes, in order to get to that emotional place for me, I go to that dark place and somehow…I feel like I bring honor to my grandfather when I do that.

What do you hate about acting?

Actors…[laughs] Um, uh – I hate memorizing lines. I mean, ultimately that’s what it comes down to – I hate sitting down and learning a script. I just hate it. I mean, there’s no grander day than when I can put the script down. I mean I even hate calling for “line”. So, I like to- y’know, once I’ve got it all in my head, that’s when I can really start to enjoy it. But up to that point it’s always a battle. So, I hate learning lines.

When you consider your work and your career so far, what do you most regret?

Going to school. If I could do it all over again, I’d go straight to Los Angeles right from high school and start from there. Because, y’know, I do- I mean, who wouldn’t as an actor want to be in the one percent that does make it? And I think you give yourself a better opportunity just goin’ out there and doing it. Schools great, and it’s, y’know, good to have degrees and all that stuff, but if I knew that I was going to spend my life as an actor I would leave school off to the side and try and go right out there and do it initially, because I feel like I wasted some years and time. The clock ticks on all actors. And all roles. I mean, I’ll never play Romeo. [laughs]

Who do you as an actor admire? And why?

There’s a lot of people.

Just a few.

It varies. I mean, I love Ellen Burstyn. I think there’s almost no one more real to watch than her. I like Anthony Hopkins because, uh, like myself he’s very hard on himself. I saw him in an interview one time and he was talking about The Lion in Winter and he just talked – which I thought he was fabulous in – but he talked about how terrible he was, how he was just ranting and raving and screaming – and then when I went back and watched it: he was right. So I admire his ability to- y’know, I mean we all judge ourselves, so I like that about him…Who else do I love right now?…I love Sean Penn, I mean he’s a real chameleon. Y’know the ability to disappear in a role is a really admirable quality, and on the other side of that there’s always Kevin Spacey who I don’t think can disappear into a role. Although I don’t think he’s a bad actor I just don’t think he has a very large range. So, y’know, those three. I used to say, “Pacino, DeNiro”, and all that, but as their careers have gone on they just sold out and suck ass now. Back in the day though, those guys, I mean, DeNiro, there’s no better performance than DeNiro in Raging Bull. None. Never. None. So, it’s not that I don’t admire them, I just don’t admire what they did with their careers.

So, on another kind of- just a little bit of a different tack: Who inspires you?

Um…I mean, that’s a tough one. I get inspired by my wife a lot, because she’s so determined. And tenacious about what she wants. She always, no matter how difficult the task, she always finds a way to go get it and make it happen for herself. So I’m inspired by her motivation. But I’m also inspired by my dad, and his, ehm, and his– I’ll just say even-handedness. Y’know, his approach to difficult situations that could easily send someone off the deep-end, he always seems to have some sort of calmness to deal with it. And I’m sure a lot of that influence comes from my mom as well. Being able to sort of handle rough situations. Because y’know as I’ve just said, you’re only as good as the woman behind you…or beneath you. [laughs] Or next to you! [laughs] So…

[laughing] Okay, back to “I Nipoti”: What were some of the challenges of this role, and how did you overcome them?

Of this particular role, was to try to not make it look like the stereotype that it is. I mean, it is a stereotype of a typical Italian New-Yorker, but to walk out there and try to make it not be that, that was a challenge. To try to make it as real as possible. There’s a lot of text, so it was a challenge to learn all of it. You know, it’s a challenge in Act Two to find that emotional place that’s necessary to tell the story. It’s a challenge to st-…yeah, I mean…

How’d you overcome some of this?

I mean, you just go out and do it man. Y’know you just – I mean trial and error. As far as finding the realistic character, it’s just trial and error. And feedback, and, y’know, having a good director like Wali [Jamal] come in and help smooth things over and point you in the right direction and give you support. I mean, that was helpful in overcoming it. And uh…Act Two continues to be challenge for me and will be until we close the play. So, I overcome it every night by just going out on stage and trying to be truthful and sometimes I’m successful and sometimes I’m not.

What have you been reading lately?

Baby magazines. [laughs] Baby 411, Happiest Baby on the Block – you see a theme here?

Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah I’m pretty much immersed in that world.

How old’s your child now?

He’s four months on [April 1^st]. Yeah.

What have you been watching lately?

Baby Einstein, Your Baby Can Read, Sesame Street – but I turn it off when Elmo comes on, ‘cause, I hate Elmo…um, [laughs] I’ve been watching this great new series on HBO called Eastbound & Down. Caught up on Big Love, and, uh – we just got a DVR so it’s been great. Been watchin’ everything. A lot of basketball, too, lately.

I’m into season three of “The Wire” right now–

We haven’t gotten into that one yet, but I’ve heard it’s pretty awesome.

It’s amazing.

Yeah, I’ve heard that from everyone that that’s the next thing we need to watch.

What have you been listening to lately?

Hmmm…a lot of Red Hot Chili Peppers off the Stadium Arcadium album – um, because of this show I’ve been listening to a lot of Louis Prima, and Keely Smith. Umm, I listen to a few songs off of the, uh, Hustle and Flow soundtrack, particularly “Get Crunk, Get Buck”. I dig that song. And uh, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp”. [upon hearing this answer from the far side of the dressing room, fellow cast member Kevin Brown sings “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp”] Exactly! So, uh…[laughs]

[laughs] Pimpin’ ain’t easy, is it?

No! [laughs] No, you gotta get your money for the rent…

Last question: What have you been eating and cooking lately?

Eating and cooking lately?

Yeah.

Okay…

Food. Everybody has to eat. So what’s Tony Bingham eating?

It’s always oatmeal in the morning, and yogurt for a mid-morning snack, and then a Power Bar, and then a smoothie, and then – that’s always the same, almost every day. Not necessarily in that order, but it’s always those things. And then dinner is usually chicken, or homemade pizza – Boboli, pizza maybe – or turkey chili. I would love to say pasta and like all that Italian crap but um, it’s just not on the menu right now, so– I do have free day on Saturdays and that usually filled with a really shitty pizza and a couple of cheeseburgers and like, a bag of Doritos (I’m not lying, a whole bag).

What flavor?

“Spicy Nacho”. Or “Habañero” if they have it. If they have the “Habañero” I go for that.

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