What happens when a hopelessly romantic divorced man falls madly in love with a beautiful woman rabbi -- but he's not yet over his ex-wife? In other words, why are relationships always so difficult? As this poignant love triangle opens, Joss Katz crashes a bat-mitzvah and becomes smitten with the enigmatic Rabbi Thalia Kleinman. Desperate to meet her, Joss contrives a wild excuse about needing spiritual guidance and they begin a roller-coaster relationship. But Kleinman has a past shadowed by terrorism. She manipulates Joss into mentoring her younger brother Bobby. Brilliant and troubled, Bobby is embroiled with Meir Schlom, who has a dangerous scheme for confronting surging world-wide anti-Semitism. Besides pursuing Thalia and his kooky former spouse Ellen, Joss deals with his curmudgeonly roommate and best friend, Mandelbaum. Embittered by his messy divorce, Mandy creates an organization dedicated to a life free of entanglements with women called Straight and Happy Without Them.
My new play, "Mad Mel and the Marradians," a sci-fi romp (hmm, Gary is Syfy Channel PR Director, writes sci-fi play), will premiere at the 12th Annual Midtown International Theatre Festival for five performances, premiering July 11 at 6PM; Saturday, July 16 at 2:30PM, Tuesday, July 19 at 8:30PM, Sunday, July 24 at 6PM and Thursday, July 28 at 8PM at the Main Stage Theatre, 312 West 36th Street in New York City. In the play, the ambitions of Imperial Chancellor Larynx of Marradia -- a planet very far away -- to become High Priest Dubya are threatened by writer Melvin Worthington. In his best-selling "scholarly" books about the Marradians and their visit to Earth 30,000 years ago (which he thinks he has totally made up), Worthington stumbles upon a secret that threatens the existence of the human race - bringing the Marradians to Manhattan to stop him. Directed by Carlo Fiorletta, it will star Jordan Auslander, William Beckwith, Rachel Caccese, Robert Gaines and Mary Riley.
My previous plays were "Ponzi Man" and "A Tomato Can't Grow in the Bronx."
And remember to join me Sundays at 9PM/ET for my radio show, "Purple Haze" at blogtalkradio.com/mediablvd. The number is 347-205-9801.
I am also the author of four novels. "Jesse's Girl" is a thriller about a widowed Brooklyn father who searches for his adopted teenage son, who has run away from a Montana wilderness drug treatment program to find his biological sister in Kentucky. In the romantic triangle "Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman," a divorced middle-aged man falls in love with a beautiful, enigmatic woman rabbi, while still in love with his ex-wife. "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," a political baseball novel -- baseball and bailouts, as American as appple pie --follows a Cinderella baseball team led by a ruthless owner with political ambitions. "The Man Who Wanted to Play Center Field for the New York Yankees" is a baseball Rocky. All are available on Amazon.
My dating and relationship book, "How to Find a Woman...Or Not" provides a comic guide to finding true love anywhere on Planet Earth -- in the gym, on the street, riding mass transit, waiting to get your teeth cleaned, visiting a friend in the hospital, buying a book or lamb chops -- or dating online.
