Writing for stage and screen
Click on the photo to watch this performance, from the 2016 Kansas City Fringe Festival
Jesus on Toast – The hit play from KC Fringe is now a feature screenplay
The proprietor of a failing small-town cafe fabricates a miracle to boost his business. That does the trick but he's forced to scramble when an investigator from the Vatican shows up. Just when it seems as if he's gotten away with his fraud, a real miracle happens in the same diner. Jesus on Toast is a comedy about religion, immigration, politics, and other laughing matters. → Elevator pitch, script available.
The 1939 ISDT race was put on by the Nazi Party. This team of soldier-racers barely escaped after Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland while the race was unfolding. Theirs was the real motorcycle ‘Great Escape’.
the trophy – Based on an epic and untold true story
September, 1939: The Royal Army motorcycle racing team traveled to Nazi-controlled Austria to compete in the International Six Days Trial – a race that’s been called ‘the Olympics of motorcycling’. The British team was in the lead after the fifth day of competition, but then Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland
The soldier-racers suddenly had to choose between winning the race and, possibly, becoming prisoners of war before the first shots had even been fired. They chose to escape to Switzerland on their racing motorcycles, guided by a sympathetic Wehrmacht officer. →Read the amazing true story, script available
Nira Johnson was a pioneering African-American drag racer who. Although he was never famous in the U.S., he served as the inspiration for comic-book hero in France. It’s hard to say who was more surprised; Nira, upon learning of his status in France, or the comic book artist, upon learning Nira was black.
Monsters of the salt – Help make this documentary while there’s still time.
They say “art imitates life”, but ‘Monsters’ is a story of life imitating art, imitating life. In the 1980s, a popular French graphic novelist used an obscure photo of ‘Nira Johnson’ in an old magazine as the inspiration for comic-book hero. Decades later, a famed French custom-builder crafts a real-life replica of a motorcycle he’s only seen in a comic.
As a motorcycle journalist, Mark was fascinated by the French builder and artist – both of whom loved American hot-rod culture even though neither had visited the U.S.
After Mark wrote their story, he was contacted by the real Nira. Not only is he still alive, he still owns the original motorcycle. →Read the amazing true story.