Where Has Mark Been ?

My Linked-In profile hasn't been updated in a while.

My Facebook Status Updates have been somewhat misleading. 96% of them make reference to caffeine (Starbucks hot or iced, home-brewed hot or iced); the number of days until the condo pool officially opened, and subsequently, and the amount of time spent tanning (3 days worth since Memorial Day because of the never-ending rains). There are even occasional references to writing and work. (Yes, I still do both).

In reality, I've embarked on a theatrical literary adventure. A former client and current friend (of two plus decades, but as eternally youthful as I) invited me to collaborate with him on a project (details being blogged and stored for release here when the time is right). He and his business partner want me to take one of their client's programs and turn it into a performance piece.

The Backstory

I majored in theatre in undergraduate school, and I studied theatre administration in graduate school. I've worked for arts organizations and media groups that cover them. I've covered theatre as a print and radio journalist. I've done my share of shows and I've seen hundreds of other people's shows. So, it seemed like a golden opportunity to jump back into the world on the other side of the footlights and to plunge back into a little showbiz.

I've scripted events, benefits and radio specials. But, in all of this, I'd never written a play. In fact, I'd taken but one playwrighting class for which the assignment was to write a 15 minute, one-scene, one-set, two-character non-musical, which would be staged, performed and designed by fellow students. We were told "write of what you know".

Well, some classmates wrote of love, anger, anguish angst, etc. etc. I, having procrastinated on the assignment until the weekend before it was due, returned to school on the train, seated behind two middle-aged suburban Jewish women who bragged about their successful children and their fabulous grandchildren, while dissing their husbands and their childrens' spouses. It was shortly after the moon walk.

OK. Fifteen minutes. How about the first two Jewish women to land on the moon ? (Never mind that I couldn't figure out how they got there...OK, one's son worked for NASA and they went on a tour and got lost). OK. They could diss the silver mylar costumes, the view from space ("I can't see Larchmont"), and so forth. I couldn't quite find the right ending, so I ended it with NASA son rescuing them and bringing them back to earth with moon rocks as souvenirs for the grandchildren. "Moon Yentas" is born, played out, and dead in one afternoon.

I was chastised after the playlet was staged. The audience laughed. The professor said I had taken situation comedy to a new low. I was advised to "channel my creative writing in other directions".

Anyway, the current project is daunting--it taps my theatre experience, my imagination, my journalist's skills, and my writing expertise. There are perameters to be observed, producers and others to answer to, and all kinds of rules and regulations that answer less to art and more to the bottom line.

It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I'm taking the work very seriously. I've had to discipline myself to write carefully and quickly. (unlike the copy for brochures, press releases, advertisements, proposals and grants, and the other wordsmith activities which I can polish off with distractions and interruptions galore). Phone calls, emails, instant messages, and the web itself provide easy distractions, where I lose my concentration completely. I used to be able to work with radio news or showtunes in the background. On this project, news distracts me and showtunes send me into a Broadway fantasy world which is alluring but somewhat dangerous to flirt with until this project is farther along.

On the fantasy high end, I imagine that I win a Tony Award (which is presented before the awards show begins on TV, so I don't have to buy a new tuxedo). I pose for photos with Marian Seldes and Cheyenne Jackson. The show is picked up for film and TV and my retirement is enhanced by royalty checks. People refer to me as "the writer" instead of as "the PR dude". I become a philanthropist.

On the nightmare low end, it could all be in vain. Ben Brantley's #3 pinch-hitter pulls out WebMD's list of symptoms to describe the audience's response. (I think it was in the play "Butterflies Are Free" when someone describes a piece of writing as having "feverish passages and fluid movements" while the other character drolly replies "so does diarrhea, but I wouldn't call it entertainment". I'm invited to be guest speaker at the Longmeadow Senior Center and no one shows up.

But, if I don't pursue this, I'll always have regrets.

The Process Begins...

I'm finding it easiest to write in the early morning, fueled by coffee and morning chill. But, as the official 9-to-5 "work day" begins, I've found a quiet escape place to write, and use the high-speed internet at the town library.

Now that the initial project research is underway, and drafts #1 and draft #2 (complete revision of draft #1) of the project's outline have been submitted, I can begin to merge this project better with other work and play. I've emerged from the world of inaccessibility and unavailability.

In planning for this experience, I had to revamp and retool Mark G Auerbach Public Relations in the short term. I've added a couple of clients and new projects this year. I've said farewell to a longtime client, in order to fine tune the kind of work I'd like to do (and should be doing). I am also looking for new projects in marketing, public relations, media buying and occasional special events production that will compliment and enhance my experiences and my client roster.

I'll be visible more often.

Now, back to work...I thank my colleagues, clients, and friends for their understanding and flexibility.