Television and movies have a bad habit of portraying addicts as toothless, run-down, bent-over stragglers who can barely walk and communicate. This couldn't be farther from the truth — many addicts look just like the person sitting next to you on the train or across from your desk at work. Actor Andre Royo spoke to me candidly on "Salon Talks" about his own recent journey with addiction and the dangers of attaching stigmas to addicts — all part of his performance in the one-man show "Drinking in America," written by three-time Obie Award winner Eric Bogosian and available now on Audible.
In fact, taking on this project felt like fate during a dark time in his own life, Royo shared with me. "I felt a sense of loneliness. I was really into drinking at that point and I just wasn't happy. I'm thinking to myself, 'I'm going to get f**ked up and I'm on a one way ticket,' like 'Leaving Las Vegas.'"
