DANA BLOCK chats with Barry Birr of Eagle Radio

“I grew up in St. Joseph, Missouri, where my father was an actor, my mother was a classical pianist and artist, and my brother was a kid-comedian.  We were a house full of art and artists.  I don’t think we fit into the St. Joseph mainstream very well but somehow we were there and we thrived in the community for three generations. Then, life took a chaotic turn.  My little brother became schizophrenic.  “Monkey Man” is about Marc Block, a rebellious, mischievous and brilliant kid who went down a rabbit hole and morphed into a gruff, obsessive, schizo-man, alienated from society, compulsively writing in notebooks and drawing pictures of a dark, underground world populated by “small character humans.” Eventually, Marc began hitchhiking around the country and became a cowboy of the highway.  “Highway Man” kept drivers awake at night, he said, by telling them his stories:  “The combustion engine has three moving parts which can be controlled through the aspiration of the concern in location of the apprehendi…”  

 This show begins and ends at The Trail’s End Motel in Niagara Falls, where Marc holed himself up and I went to visit him after twenty years.  Sections of the show are taken directly from his rants and revelations in his notebooks. "Monkey Man” is a powerful show, entertaining, funny, and heartbreaking.  It has been selected by The United Solo Festival, 2019, to be performed Off Broadway on Nov. 2nd @ Theater Row on 42nd Street, NYC.  Tickets and information can be found at http://unitedsolo.org/us

Dana Block