Mark Contorno (playwright, composer and lyricist) is a native of Chicago, who has also lived in New York and Los Angeles. He has written numerous plays and musicals some of which were produced in Chicago as well as New York and Charleston, South Carolina.
Come see us perform Mark’s play, Egil Foss and His Left Hand, along with seven other short plays, online Nov. 13, 14, 20, 21 at 7 p.m. For details, check out our 60 is the New 40 Festival page. For tickets, click here.
Here’s what Mark has to say about his play and his thoughts on theater during the pandemic and beyond.
- How do you describe the essence of your play to those who haven’t seen it?
“Egil Foss and His Left Hand” attempts to underline the opportunities that can be gained from building relationships across generations and the value they can bring.
- What was your inspiration to write this script?
My inspiration for writing this script came from my own personal experience. I was once the young man in the script.
- How and why did you become a playwright?
Throughout most of my life I’ve written songs and in my twenties I especially became interested in musical theatre. The problem I faced was that I had no one to write the book so I jumped in and gave it a try. People seemed to like some of my work and so I started to write plays and never looked back.
- What are your hopes and expectations for theater in a post-Covid world?
So many of us are starving for theatre and I expect that to fuel a great new energy as theatre returns.
- Have you been writing during the Covid quarantine? If so, what projects do you have underway? If not, how have you been filling your days?
The Covid quarantine has given me time to fill my days writing and/or tweaking both musicals and plays I’ve written. I was able to finish a draft on what I call a film noir musical and a play about trying to get your play produced called “I Wrote A Play, Now What.”