Monkey Man

Dana Block and Off Center for the Dramatic Arts invite the public to “Monkey Man,” a one-woman show about her brother Marc who documented his descent into mental illness while hitchhiking thousands of miles cross country.  Set in Dana’s family home of rural St. Joseph, Missouri, “Monkey Man” chronicles the devastating effect his illness had on her middle class, Jewish family.  Unexpectedly funny, eccentric and deeply moving,  “Monkey Man” illuminates the vulnerability of a family and a sister as they watch a dear son and brother fall over the edge.  

The title “Monkey Man” comes from “a little stuffed monkey Marc carried around until the damned thing disintegrated,” says playwright and performer, Dana Block.  “Growing up, Marc was a gut-splittin’, hell-raisin’ comedian of a kid. But when he became a teenager and schizophrenia set in, he went into a dark orbit, taking on the persona of “Highway Man”, his mission, in his own words, to “tell my stories to drivers, keep ‘em awake at night.”  “Marc tried to reason his way out,” Dana says, “finding tunnels, underpasses and crosscuts, but nothing ever led him back home.”