Cover

WAKE UP
AND SMELL
THE COFFEE

BOOKS BY ERIC BOGOSIAN
AVAILABLE FROM TCG

The Essential Bogosian

(Talk Radio, Drinking in America, Funhouse and Men Inside)

Notes from Underground

(Also includes Scenes from the New World)

Pounding Nails in the Floor with My Forehead

Sex, Drugs, Rock & Rock

subUrbia

Title Page

WAKE UP
AND SMELL
THE COFFEE

THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP/NEW YORK

Dedication

For Amanda

A Note

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee premiered at the Jane Street Theatre in the spring of 2000. Eighteen months later, when this book was scheduled for publication, terrorists attacked New York City and Washington, D.C., killing thousands.

The imagery in these monologues reads very differently now. As I reviewed the material for a final edit, it was painful to scan the line: “A dark day dawns on this American city this morning, a city in mourning this morning …”

I feel things now I didn’t feel when I wrote those words. I know things now I didn’t know then. My thoughts on the bombing in Oklahoma City are different. Airports, flying in planes, is an altogether altered experience. Arabs and Muslims have greater dimension for me now. My personal fear is more tangible. And perhaps, most importantly, my faith in people has changed—ironically I have more faith now.

I considered removing lines or updating references. My strongest impulse was to dump the book altogether. My director Jo Bonney and my editor Terry Nemeth convinced me that the material must stand as written. Ironically, despite the tone of these monologues, they are a product of a more innocent time.

And so, here’s Wake Up and Smell the Coffee. I no longer perform the piece in its entirety.

Eric Bogosian

New York City

February 2002

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank folks for making Wake Up and Smell the Coffee possible.

First and foremost, Jo Bonney, my collaborator and director, this show belongs to both of us.

Thanks to Arabella Powell, our wonderful stage manager.

To the editors of this edition Terry Nemeth and Kathy Sova, thank you for your extraordinary support and effort.

Thanks to my producers Fred Zollo, Nick Paleologus, Robert Birmingham.

Thanks to George Lane and Ron Taft who keep the water hot.

Thanks to Peter Askin for his beautiful heart and mind.

To Ellen Rusconi, Scott Striegel, and all the folks at the Jane Street Theatre. To the irascible Philip Rinaldi and Barbara Carroll. To John Arnone, Kevin Adams and Don DiNicola who made it look and sound so terrific. To Carin Goldberg, John Howard and Joan Marcus for pretty images. To Kathy Russo and Mary Shimkin at Washington Square Arts who keep my ass moving. To Will Knapp for road support. To Michael Rausch for always being there, no matter what. To Matthew Van Winkle who sorted it all out. And thanks to Performance Space 122 and the Knitting Factory where most of the work was first presented.