In the immortal words of Hilary Duff's character in the film THE PERFECT MAN, "dear fellow bloggers..." It has been some time since I updated, hasn't it? Since September, I've been through a hideously painful breakup with the partner who'd also been my most trusted theatre collaborator and whom had entrusted me to direct several of her plays over the five years we had dated: this sudden split occurred a little over three weeks after the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, on the day before Valentine's Day, naturally. We lived together, had taken vacations together, spent holidays with each other's families and for a year had been parents to Jack the border terrier: I had thought in my naivete and obliviousness that things were great and bound to get better. So when the breakup happened--suddenly, without warning or seemingly even inciting incident--it took a loooong time for me to process what had happened, for me to throw immature fits and scream a lot over the phone, send incoherent rage-filled text messages, have emergency therapy visits, have arguments with former mutual friends who would inevitably take sides and block me on Facebook, create Tinder & OkCupid & Match.com profiles and then delete them after the hostile messages about my weight and my unattractiveness poured in , ask out women who were way out of my league, cry myself to sleep, listen to Adele or Billy Vera & the Beaters, cry some more, walk Jack, follow the news about what disasters our idiot president incited, pack all of my belongings into boxes, etc. etc. It was a rough two months, give or take. I spent some time with family in Arizona and had to re-evaluate a lot of friendships, relationships and the future itself.
Things are more or less the new normal for me right now, and that's okay...me and Jack are enjoying life and getting out of it what we can, and I've slowly gravitated back into being a more active member of the theatre community. Back in late February, very soon after the breakup, I had a play in this year's edition of the Chicago One-Minute Play Festival, a piece called PROFILES IN...? directed by Anna Trachtman, who I've realized is probably the most dedicated, talented and sympatico director I've had for my work: despite only being sixty seconds, it was a proud moment because this particular drama was a blunt, unsubtle attack on the loathsome Darryl W. Cox and the evil, hopefully vanquished Profiles Theatre and the cowardice displayed by The Joseph Jefferson Committee. I was remiss in keeping you, my lovely readers & friends, informed about that festival because I was in the midst of a full-fledged nervous breakdown. That won't happen again and I'm planning on keeping this blog and this website more up to date and hyping every project, festival or production I have a part of and I'm hopeful to have more good news to share with you in the coming days and months.
As for right now, I wanted to let you all know about The Empathy Festival. The Empathy Festival is a beautiful event from the brilliant minds of Tanise Robnett & Alif Muhammed and their company Talif Productions, it features nine plays exploring writers’ abilities to empathize with characters elsewhere on the gender spectrum than themselves. I was fortunate enough to be asked to direct Jordy Williams' fine play PERSONAL HEROES, a deeply emotional drama about a frustrated young businesswoman (Carissa Meyer) and her relationship with her troubled, comic book-obsessed sister (Larissa Strong.) Having run every Tuesday this month, the fest has its final performance at 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 30th, at The Public House Theater, 3914 N. Clark Street in Chicago, and there's something for everyone: laughter, horror, shock, sadness, mystery, mischief, and above all, of course, empathy for our fellow human beings and for their and our plight on this planet.
I wouldn't miss it for the world. Good to see you again.
Always,
Mark
Things are more or less the new normal for me right now, and that's okay...me and Jack are enjoying life and getting out of it what we can, and I've slowly gravitated back into being a more active member of the theatre community. Back in late February, very soon after the breakup, I had a play in this year's edition of the Chicago One-Minute Play Festival, a piece called PROFILES IN...? directed by Anna Trachtman, who I've realized is probably the most dedicated, talented and sympatico director I've had for my work: despite only being sixty seconds, it was a proud moment because this particular drama was a blunt, unsubtle attack on the loathsome Darryl W. Cox and the evil, hopefully vanquished Profiles Theatre and the cowardice displayed by The Joseph Jefferson Committee. I was remiss in keeping you, my lovely readers & friends, informed about that festival because I was in the midst of a full-fledged nervous breakdown. That won't happen again and I'm planning on keeping this blog and this website more up to date and hyping every project, festival or production I have a part of and I'm hopeful to have more good news to share with you in the coming days and months.
As for right now, I wanted to let you all know about The Empathy Festival. The Empathy Festival is a beautiful event from the brilliant minds of Tanise Robnett & Alif Muhammed and their company Talif Productions, it features nine plays exploring writers’ abilities to empathize with characters elsewhere on the gender spectrum than themselves. I was fortunate enough to be asked to direct Jordy Williams' fine play PERSONAL HEROES, a deeply emotional drama about a frustrated young businesswoman (Carissa Meyer) and her relationship with her troubled, comic book-obsessed sister (Larissa Strong.) Having run every Tuesday this month, the fest has its final performance at 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 30th, at The Public House Theater, 3914 N. Clark Street in Chicago, and there's something for everyone: laughter, horror, shock, sadness, mystery, mischief, and above all, of course, empathy for our fellow human beings and for their and our plight on this planet.
I wouldn't miss it for the world. Good to see you again.
Always,
Mark
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