JUNK GIRLS World Premiere- A Los Feliz Theatre Company Production at Zephyr Theatre for the Hollywood Fringe Festival
My play JUNK GIRLS, about a group of young American women fighting our country's wars in Iraq & Afghanistan in their own way during the bleak winter of 2007, has premiered in Los Angeles as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival and has two remaining encore performances on Thursday, September 9th and Saturday September 11th. The latter date of course is the twentieth anniversary of the horrific attacks on America and the beginning of the war in Afghanistan which came to a tragic end during the play's initial run. Featuring an amazing cast of some of the most brilliant actors in California and already the winner of the Hollywood Encore Producers Award 2021 and selected as one of the productions deemed "Pick of the Fringe" this year, this has been an honor and a dream.
World Premiere: TERRIFYING TALES OF THE SPANISH LADY
The world premiere of the horror film I wrote about the ravages of the 1918 influenza pandemic on America will take place on Saturday June 19th 2021, at Hollywood Blvd Cinema in Woodridge, Illinois! This film, from shooting the first teaser trailer to the last take of the final scene, took over five months to make in a pandemic-slowed world and we can't wait to show it to the great people of Illinois and to film fans everywhere!
The Joliet Drama Guild presents I WAS A TEENAGE ALLOTMENT ANNIE- Now Available on DVD!
The Joliet Drama Guild presents A CHRISTMAS CAROL '69
REST FOR THE WEARY SPIRIT: CHICAGO PREMIERE at GORILLA TANGO
POSIN', OR AIR FOR NORMAN ROCKWELL: WORLD PREMIERE in CITY LIT THEATER'S ART OF ADAPTATION FESTIVAL
Based on Friedrich Schiller’s poem “Die Ideale," POSIN' takes us to 1938, where in the middle of the Atlantic aboard the German ocean liner S.S. Bremen, dedicated Nazi art minister Adolf Ziegler is preparing a quiet young woman named Kirsten for a modeling session when their afternoon is disrupted by a shy and stuttering visitor, famed Saturday Evening Post cover illustrator Norman Rockwell, en route to London for a mysterious purpose. As Rockwell speaks with both the artist and the model, some dark truths about America, sexuality, painting and politics will be revealed, along with a haunting secret about what it means to truly give your all to art.
Written by Mark Mason
Directed by Mark Mason & Kendall Alaine Reasons
Featuring Carissa Meyer, Bob Romay, & Nathan Randall Miller
City Lit Theater's Art of Adaptation Festival
Saturday, July 29th 2017- 7:30pm
Sunday, July 30th 2017- 2:00pm
City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Chicago
Written by Mark Mason
Directed by Mark Mason & Kendall Alaine Reasons
Featuring Carissa Meyer, Bob Romay, & Nathan Randall Miller
City Lit Theater's Art of Adaptation Festival
Saturday, July 29th 2017- 7:30pm
Sunday, July 30th 2017- 2:00pm
City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Chicago
THE EMPATHY FESTIVAL: Director of PERSONAL HEROES by Jordy Williams
This play about a frustrated young businesswoman (Carissa Meyer) taking care of her troubled, comic book-obsessed little sister (Larissa Strong) has been a joy to direct and all the plays of this festival curated by Tanise Robnett & Alif Muhammed's Talif Productions have been a delight to see and experience.
FINAL PERFORMANCE: Tuesday, May 30th, 2017- 9:00 p.m. at The Public House Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street in Chicago
FINAL PERFORMANCE: Tuesday, May 30th, 2017- 9:00 p.m. at The Public House Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street in Chicago
ANGEL DOWN AT LOVE Selected as Semi-Finalist for American Blues Theater's 2016 Blue Ink Playwriting award
Thanks to American Blues for honoring this dear-to-my-heart play this year, and to all the talented theater artists, actors and directors who've participated in workshops and readings of this piece over the past three years, since its beginnings as the short play MISS MOORE'S SENIOR DRAMA CLASS PRESENTS... at the City Lit Art of Adaptation Festival in 2013 to table readings at The Theatre School and my apartment to the staged reading held last summer at Black Rock Pub and Kitchen, it's been a joy working with all of you and I hope that ANGEL gets a full production soon.
ANGEL DOWN AT LOVE: A Staged Reading at Black Rock Pub and Kitchen
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A Play by Mark Mason
Dance choreography created by Brenann Stacker Carousel Club routines devised by Chelsea David and Katy Nielsen Narrated by Carissa Meyer; starring Ali Burch, Wardell Julius Clark, Chelsea David, Rebecca Flores, Kristi Forsch, Joe Goldammer, Rob Grabowski, Sasha Kostyrko, James Lusk, Brian Muldoon, Brendan Meyer, Katy Nielsen, Kein P. Onickel, and Brenann Stacker ONE NIGHT ONLY, June 2nd, 2015, Black Rock Pub & Kitchen, 3614 N. Damen Avenue, Chicago...6:00pm for dining/drinks, 7:30pm showtime! |
The Fifth Annual Chicago One-Minute Play Festival
8:00pm on April 29th and April 30th, 2015
The Den Theatre, Chicago
TO SERVE AND PROTECT: REMIX- written by Mark Mason, directed by Sydney Chatman, starring Kenva Calloway, Bart Fitz, Tiffany Renee Johnson, and Mansa Ubuntu
NO TRAIN, NO PAIN- written by Mark Mason, directed by Spenser Davis, starring Abby Blankenship, Sam Fain, Addison Heimann, Emily Marso, Pavi Proczko, Jazzma Pryor, Joel Reitsma, and Terrence Sims
The Den Theatre, Chicago
TO SERVE AND PROTECT: REMIX- written by Mark Mason, directed by Sydney Chatman, starring Kenva Calloway, Bart Fitz, Tiffany Renee Johnson, and Mansa Ubuntu
NO TRAIN, NO PAIN- written by Mark Mason, directed by Spenser Davis, starring Abby Blankenship, Sam Fain, Addison Heimann, Emily Marso, Pavi Proczko, Jazzma Pryor, Joel Reitsma, and Terrence Sims
BLACK ICE COFFINS: A Staged Reading at Mars Gallery Produced by OUTLAW PRODUCTION COLLECTIVE
A Play by Elizabeth Kay Kron and Mark Mason
Presented by Outlaw Production Collective
Costume Design, Makeup and Technical Direction by Norine McGrath
Sound Design by Adam Goron and Mark Mason
Narrated by Mary Jo Bolduc; starring Rob Bersano, John Christopher Brown, Jennifer Hadley, Joe McCauley, Nathan Randall Miller, Katy Nielsen and Kein Onickel
ONE NIGHT ONLY, March 2nd, 2015 at Mars Gallery, 1139 W. Fulton Market Street, Chicago...7:00pm for cocktails/beer, 7:15pm start time!
Presented by Outlaw Production Collective
Costume Design, Makeup and Technical Direction by Norine McGrath
Sound Design by Adam Goron and Mark Mason
Narrated by Mary Jo Bolduc; starring Rob Bersano, John Christopher Brown, Jennifer Hadley, Joe McCauley, Nathan Randall Miller, Katy Nielsen and Kein Onickel
ONE NIGHT ONLY, March 2nd, 2015 at Mars Gallery, 1139 W. Fulton Market Street, Chicago...7:00pm for cocktails/beer, 7:15pm start time!
City Lit Theatre's 7th Annual Art of Adaptation Festival: FROZEN FIRE
Written by Mark Mason
Directed by Amy C. Buckler
Featuring Rebecca Flores, Benjamin Johnson and Teresa Veramendi
Performances Friday June 13th, 2014 at 7:30pm and Sunday June 15th, 2014 at 2:00pm
City Lit Theatre, 1020 West Bryn Mawr Avenue, Chicago
It's 1948 in a dank room on the North Side of Chicago, where a beautiful nightclub singer under the watchful eyes of a young stenographer casts aside a magazine and picks up a dusty poetry volume...but before she can get more than a few stanzas out, the questions begin. Questions about flames, torture, crime and Hell: she would do anything to die rather than talk, but the man asking is going to make her answer for her guilty past and possibly deadly future. Inspired by Amy Lowell's haunting, elegiac poem "A Fairy Tale," the music of Duke Ellington, the film noir classics of the 1940s and the real-life murder of Chicago showgirl Estelle Carey, FROZEN FIRE is about a christening amidst the darkness, nightmares of being alone, and what we're capable of when we lose our innocence and received its world premiere in a wonderfully dark production directed by the extremely talented Amy C. Buckler for City Lit Theatre's Art of Adaptation Festival.
Directed by Amy C. Buckler
Featuring Rebecca Flores, Benjamin Johnson and Teresa Veramendi
Performances Friday June 13th, 2014 at 7:30pm and Sunday June 15th, 2014 at 2:00pm
City Lit Theatre, 1020 West Bryn Mawr Avenue, Chicago
It's 1948 in a dank room on the North Side of Chicago, where a beautiful nightclub singer under the watchful eyes of a young stenographer casts aside a magazine and picks up a dusty poetry volume...but before she can get more than a few stanzas out, the questions begin. Questions about flames, torture, crime and Hell: she would do anything to die rather than talk, but the man asking is going to make her answer for her guilty past and possibly deadly future. Inspired by Amy Lowell's haunting, elegiac poem "A Fairy Tale," the music of Duke Ellington, the film noir classics of the 1940s and the real-life murder of Chicago showgirl Estelle Carey, FROZEN FIRE is about a christening amidst the darkness, nightmares of being alone, and what we're capable of when we lose our innocence and received its world premiere in a wonderfully dark production directed by the extremely talented Amy C. Buckler for City Lit Theatre's Art of Adaptation Festival.
The Fourth Annual Chicago One-Minute Play Festival
7:30pm on Sunday May 4th and Monday May 5th, 2014
Victory Gardens at the Biograph Theater
RIDE THE DEW- written by Mark Mason, directed by Jo Cattell, starring Ali Burch, Matthew Browning and Lorena Diaz
SAVE OUR TOWER- written by Mark Mason, directed by Hutch Pimental, starring Lauren Vogel, Jennifer Hadley and Luke Grimes
Victory Gardens at the Biograph Theater
RIDE THE DEW- written by Mark Mason, directed by Jo Cattell, starring Ali Burch, Matthew Browning and Lorena Diaz
SAVE OUR TOWER- written by Mark Mason, directed by Hutch Pimental, starring Lauren Vogel, Jennifer Hadley and Luke Grimes
City Lit Theatre's 6th Annual Art of Adaptation Festival: MISS MOORE'S SENIOR DRAMA CLASS PRESENTS...
Adapted from Edna St. Vincent Millay's SECOND APRIL and the November 22, 1963 edition of LIFE Magazine, my new play MISS MOORE'S SENIOR DRAMA CLASS PRESENTS THEIR ANNUAL "TRIBUTE TO AMERICAN POETRY" PRE-THANKSGIVNG RECITAL 1963 received a world premiere production at City Lit Theatre's Art of Adaptation Festival on July 19th and 21st, 2013, directed by myself and starring Ellen Chambers, Tori Ayres Oman, Erin O'Shea and Zack Shornick. This short tragedy, about a high school teacher trying to teach her students a lesson about theatre and mortality that takes an unexpected turn, was a joy to create and a fantastic opportunity to work with some of my favorite Chicago actors. The Chicago Reader gave us a shout-out here, featuring a photo taken of our cast by the great Sam Parry...thanks to all who came!
Hollywood Fringe Festival: Vivaldi's Winter
The Smiley Face and The Frown Entertainment Group, the same terrific company that produced Rest for the Weary Spirit in Los Angeles in 2012, presented a collection of works written by myself, Ellen Chambers, and Ashley Victoria Robinson for the 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festival. "Human nature is by far one of the most powerful forces known on Earth. Our emotions fuel our drive to make the decisions we make on a day to day basis. This three part collection, starring JP Rapozo and Ashley Victoria Robinson, focuses on the darker side of humanity all while trying to find that thread of hope. One set, two actors, three stories, and four different characters, Vivaldi’s Winter is sure to take the audience on an emotional journey while exploring humanities deepest and darkest of secrets. From our sexuality, to our natural instincts, all the way to the morals we are taught, Vivaldi’s Winter will invoke thought and emotion throughout the telling of these tales. Snuggle up, this 60 minute journey has some stormy weather ahead."
An Evening with Chicago Playwrights
I was one of the panelists at this Theatre Pros event, along with Andrew Hobgood, David Barr III, and Rohina Malik. It took place at Victory Gardens Biograph Theatre on Sunday, April 7th, 2013 at 7:00p.m. and there was a challenging, creative discussion...good time had by all!
The Artistic Home Ensemble's 12th Annual Cut to the Chase Festival: MUSE ON A TUESDAY MORNING
Directed by Shane Kenyon and starring Jennifer Betancourt and Chad Ramsey, my one-act play about an adulterous affair in Manhattan coming to a tragic end received its world premiere on February 8th, 2013 as one of the five pieces in the Artistic Home's acclaimed Cut to the Chase series, where it ran for three sold-out weeks.
Allotment Annie
Produced by InFusion Theatre Company
January 3rd - February 3rd 2013
Strawdog Theatre
1944: In war, sometimes you have to kill to keep love alive.
Welcome to the Victory Canteen, a run-down serviceman's bar in Poughkeepsie, New York, staffed by two young American women scarred by loss and burned by love. They're Francine, a quiet bartender who makes a mean gin rickey and carries a dark secret, and Virginia, a promiscuous hostess on her fifth husband and hungry for more. As they practice Nazi-stabbing and throat-slitting with a cynical teenage Western Union messenger, their five o'clock whistle-lives explode into swingin' romance with the entrance of a dashing Army Air Force pilot and a womanizing Pennsylvania paratrooper. But when a harebrained war profiteering scheme turns to sex, betrayal and murder, our hometown heroines learn what really happens when you give your all to Victory. A world premiere from InFusion Theatre Company written by myself and directed by Bridgette O'Connor-Harney, starring Kate Black-Spence, Beau Forbes, C.J. Langdon, Carl Lindberg, Mallory Nees, and Amy Katherine Rapp.
"Mason’s play is seductive, its lighthearted dialogue quickly giving way to dark psychological intrigue. It is a worthy, revisionist addition to our dominant legend." -Rory Leahy, Centerstage Chicago
"Full of the spectacular passions that made film noir and women’s pictures such draws in the 1940s...playwright Mark Mason works with a twisted sense of layered drama and reams of poetic dialogue." -Bryan Kirst, Sheridan Road
"Playwright Mark Mason pens a rare tale of the shenanigans that went on during the chaotic war years. His interesting and disenchanting angle goes against the typical American patriotic stories. It’s fascinating. In particular, the climatic end to Act 1 is a riveting shocker." -Katy Walsh, Chicago Theater Beat
Welcome to the Victory Canteen, a run-down serviceman's bar in Poughkeepsie, New York, staffed by two young American women scarred by loss and burned by love. They're Francine, a quiet bartender who makes a mean gin rickey and carries a dark secret, and Virginia, a promiscuous hostess on her fifth husband and hungry for more. As they practice Nazi-stabbing and throat-slitting with a cynical teenage Western Union messenger, their five o'clock whistle-lives explode into swingin' romance with the entrance of a dashing Army Air Force pilot and a womanizing Pennsylvania paratrooper. But when a harebrained war profiteering scheme turns to sex, betrayal and murder, our hometown heroines learn what really happens when you give your all to Victory. A world premiere from InFusion Theatre Company written by myself and directed by Bridgette O'Connor-Harney, starring Kate Black-Spence, Beau Forbes, C.J. Langdon, Carl Lindberg, Mallory Nees, and Amy Katherine Rapp.
"Mason’s play is seductive, its lighthearted dialogue quickly giving way to dark psychological intrigue. It is a worthy, revisionist addition to our dominant legend." -Rory Leahy, Centerstage Chicago
"Full of the spectacular passions that made film noir and women’s pictures such draws in the 1940s...playwright Mark Mason works with a twisted sense of layered drama and reams of poetic dialogue." -Bryan Kirst, Sheridan Road
"Playwright Mark Mason pens a rare tale of the shenanigans that went on during the chaotic war years. His interesting and disenchanting angle goes against the typical American patriotic stories. It’s fascinating. In particular, the climatic end to Act 1 is a riveting shocker." -Katy Walsh, Chicago Theater Beat