Chaz Bono is currently starring in a limited performance run of “Down the Road,” the dramatic psychological thriller about a serial killer, directed by Jordan Shappell. Bono portrays William Reach, a likeable character full of Southern charm. The play is being held at Lounge Theatre in L.A. through August 16.
Besides being an actor, Bono is also the producer of this play. In addition, not only is he an author, musician, activist and transgender person, he just happens to be the son of Cher. In speaking with him I found him to be very well spoken and extremely passionate about his acting career.
The character you portray in “Down the Road,” William Reach, is a serial killer. How did you prepare to play a serial killer?
I had originally worked on this character in acting class. I did a scene from the play – that’s how I originally encountered the character of Reach. I read a lot. I did a lot of different things. I looked at different serial killers online and read a lot of books about people who were famous serial killers, like Ted Bundy. I read a book by a doctor who is considered the modern-day father of [criminal] psychology, Dr. Robert Hare. He studied psychopaths in prison and came up with this thing called The Psychopathy Checklist. Here he had a breakdown of a lot of the characteristics of psychopaths, and this was incredibly helpful. I started to learn more about that, then I started to see things in the script that was like the stuff I was learning about. It just all worked really well together, and it gave me a license, and I found as an actor to make bolder decisions. A psychopath acts very differently, emotionally caught up, especially with anger. Psychopaths have that inner explosion over nothing, and they go up to 100 and then back to zero just like that! Then the other stuff was just making strong choices as an actor, what you have to do with any character you’re working at.
You seem like a nice guy, not really the serial killer type.
I tend to really like playing dark characters. I ended up finding a niche that I’m really good at. I don’t know if it started with feeling this pressure to disappear as much as possible, to try and get people to see me as an actor. … It’s much more fun to play [a dark character] than an average person. It’s more fun to play a bad guy.
Was it more fun than “Dancing With the Stars”?
You know, “Dancing With the Stars” was something that got me back to the place where I am doing what I love to do. I credit “Dancing With the Stars” for sending me back on the road to a huge life change.
So you also produce the play as well?
Yes, I produced it as well. This is the first play that I produced.
What was that like for you?
It’s hard, really hard, and I produced it all by myself. I put up the money, and I literally had to do absolutely everything from finding every person who worked on it to designing things. I never designed before, like the programs and stuff, and I kind of had no business doing it. It was really, really stressful, and still is every week. Are you from New York?
I am from New York.
So in L.A. it’s really hard to get people to go to the theater. Every week it’s a grind. You literally feel like you’re begging people. I usually take Monday and Tuesday off, and I’m on social media and literally emailing everyone I know. I’m just begging people to come.
Why not bring the play to New York?
I would love to, but I probably have to recast. I would at least want to keep my director. All of the actors are out of the same acting studio. I’d at least like to keep Jordan Sheppell, who directed it. He’s done a great job. He is a first-time director and a young kid, but he has done a great, great job. Our first review came out yesterday, and it was really good.
I heard it was fabulous, and I heard you were fabulous.
Yeah, it was really good. I think it is a really interesting piece about the responsibility of the media, and it is really an interesting psychological thriller about a really toxic individual [getting] into the psyche of other people and damaging them without doing any sort of physical damage whatsoever. I like that. You know, I have dealt with people in my life that I think were probably sociopaths. They wreaked havoc before I was old enough or strong enough to be able to say “go away.”
So now you act, you are an activist, an author, and now a producer. Is there something else that you still wish to accomplish?
No! This is it. This is honestly all I have ever wanted to do. I live in New York and went to performing arts high school. I was actually the last class before it switched off to LaGuardia. This is really what I always wanted to do with my life. As a transgender person, I really couldn’t play female parts very well. So I realized that I would have to go in a different direction and figure out something else to do. So when I started to get back into acting classes three years ago, I was 43. It was kind of like I stuck my toe back into the water to see what would happen. It became very apparent to me quickly that this was always the only thing I ever was passionate about. Now I can play characters that I feel comfortable playing. There was a part of me that was a little afraid of getting back into it. I felt that if I did, I probably would not ever be able to do anything else. It would put me in a position to actually care about something. It was scary. It was easier not to do something than face the possibility of failing. That has been my life for the last three years. For me there are no other options. I will keep doing this until I am successful at it, and hopefully make money doing it.
Is there anything else that you would like to talk about?
I am doing a Web series that is going to come out in September called “God’s Secrets,” which I am pretty excited about. It’s really a high-end Internet series. This is a very dark superhero series.
That sounds like fun.
Yes, it is.
How long is the play going to run?
We opened two weeks ago, and we will close on August 16.
Look for information on “Down the Road” at phxfireproductions.com
