Marc Straus' Play in Verse

Marc Straus read at Monkey Joe's in the Kingston area not long after he started writing and publishing poetry, and it struck us then that he would have much to offer his readers, given both his writing skills and his particularly sensitive medical perspective. He has continued to pursue poetry, and his play in verse, being performed in Garrison on December 1st, may very well warrant your attention. Part of a press release describing that event appears below.

Garrison, NY, October 7, 2007: Philipstown Depot Theatre announces the staged reading of NOT GOD - A Play in Verse by award winning poet and distinguished oncologist Marc Straus, December 1^st at 8:00 pm, featuring actors Jennifer Dorr White and Peter Van Wagner. The recipient of outstanding reviews, NOT GOD, a play in two acts, has been lauded as “a clever and poignant collection” of poetic monologues alternating between the voice of a cancer patient and a doctor. NOT GOD premiered as a stage production at the York Theatre Company in New York City on April 21, 2004. Most recently, in November 2007, it was presented as a staged reading at Yale. Northwestern University Press published the book, NOT GOD, in 2006. Nancy Robillard is Director of productions at Yale and at the Depot Theatre. Straus'’ NOT GOD is filled with eloquence and power, making it a compelling read, and breathtaking to watch. The Depot Theatre is located at Garrison Landing, Lower Station Road, Garrison, New York. For information and directions, call 845-424-3900 or log onto www.philipstowndepottheatre.org/ or e-mail membership@philipstowndepottheatre.org . Ticket prices are: $15.00 adults; $12.00 Students.

Marc Straus, author of three books of poetry, is a distinguished medical oncologist whose literary work has been performed in venues throughout the country. The poems in his latest book Not God, –A Play in Verse, document one woman's encounter with cancer, a journey through illness whose end, while inevitable, is also unknown. Alternating with the words of her doctor, these poems form a remarkable dialogue of the flesh becoming word, and of the body inventorying--and finally transcending--its limitations.

Marc Straus' professional career includes head of oncology at Boston University Medical Center, head of neoplastic diseases at New York Medical College, and research and clinical fellowships at the National Cancer Institute. He has published nearly 100 scientific papers and three textbooks on lung cancer. In 1991, Straus began writing poetry. Two years later, he was awarded a Yaddo Fellowship. In the years since, his poems have been published in over 100 literary journals, including The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Tikkun, TriQuarterly, and The Journal of the American Medical Association. He has written two previous volumes of poetry, One Word (1994) and Symmetry (2000), both published by Northwestern University Press. In addition, Marc Straus has written about art for various magazines, including Art International and Provincetown Art, which includes a major review of the 2006 Whitney Biennial. He has written for galleries and museum exhibits. Marc has curated numerous exhibits for galleries and museums, including "The Lineage of Eva Hesse" at The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. Marc is co-Founder of the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill, NY.