Marc Acito and High School
November 10, 2008
There is a glowing introduction to Marc Acito's reading at Wordstock Sunday, by a man whose name I did not catch, isn't noticeably in the program, but who has apparently been a dinner guest of Marc's many times. The man says he wishes he were Marc, whose plate is filling up with glorious movie offers, adventures, new books to write.
Hey, I wish I was Marc!
Marc reads an outrageously funny chapter from his newer book ATTACK OF THE THEATRE PEOPLE. Edward Zanni, his main character is stoned, and gay, and madly infatuated with a Bruce Springstein knock-off who has great pecs and abs.
I feel the longing. And, the laughter.
This is the sequel to Acito's first book, HOW I PAID FOR COLLEGE: A NOVEL OF SEX, THEFT, FRIENDSHIP AND MUSICAL THEATRE, which I totally fell in love with.
Which is not surprising since Marc and I both grew up -- about a decade apart -- in the Jersey suburbs of Manhattan. I interviewed Marc when HOW I PAID FOR COLLEGE was first published. In that book, Edward and his high school friends are pulling every trick in the book to pay for his tuition to Julliard. It is sweet and naughty and funny....and somehow familiar.
After our interview -- which took place in Portland, Oregon -- I say to Marc that the high school in his book reminds me of my high school, and the kids remind me of the drama queens I used to know, and they were as much outsiders as I was, as a journalist, A-student, and class historian. Marc says the book was based on his own experiences -- at his New Jersey high school.
Remember, we're in Portland, thousands of miles -- and a couple dozen years -- away.
"Which New Jersey high school?" I ask cautiously.
"There were actually two high schools represented in my book," Marc says, and when he names each one off, I can't help screaming, "that's my high school!"
Instantly -- and probably forever -- Marc Acito and I are friends -- bound by New Jersey, that high school, and lots of hugs.
So, in the nasal New Jersey accent I used to have I say to you, "So I'm tellin' ya -- ya gotta buy his books. Ya gonna love 'um."
There is a glowing introduction to Marc Acito's reading at Wordstock Sunday, by a man whose name I did not catch, isn't noticeably in the program, but who has apparently been a dinner guest of Marc's many times. The man says he wishes he were Marc, whose plate is filling up with glorious movie offers, adventures, new books to write.
Hey, I wish I was Marc!
Marc reads an outrageously funny chapter from his newer book ATTACK OF THE THEATRE PEOPLE. Edward Zanni, his main character is stoned, and gay, and madly infatuated with a Bruce Springstein knock-off who has great pecs and abs.
I feel the longing. And, the laughter.
This is the sequel to Acito's first book, HOW I PAID FOR COLLEGE: A NOVEL OF SEX, THEFT, FRIENDSHIP AND MUSICAL THEATRE, which I totally fell in love with.
Which is not surprising since Marc and I both grew up -- about a decade apart -- in the Jersey suburbs of Manhattan. I interviewed Marc when HOW I PAID FOR COLLEGE was first published. In that book, Edward and his high school friends are pulling every trick in the book to pay for his tuition to Julliard. It is sweet and naughty and funny....and somehow familiar.
After our interview -- which took place in Portland, Oregon -- I say to Marc that the high school in his book reminds me of my high school, and the kids remind me of the drama queens I used to know, and they were as much outsiders as I was, as a journalist, A-student, and class historian. Marc says the book was based on his own experiences -- at his New Jersey high school.
Remember, we're in Portland, thousands of miles -- and a couple dozen years -- away.
"Which New Jersey high school?" I ask cautiously.
"There were actually two high schools represented in my book," Marc says, and when he names each one off, I can't help screaming, "that's my high school!"
Instantly -- and probably forever -- Marc Acito and I are friends -- bound by New Jersey, that high school, and lots of hugs.
So, in the nasal New Jersey accent I used to have I say to you, "So I'm tellin' ya -- ya gotta buy his books. Ya gonna love 'um."
Labels: ATTACK OF THE THEATRE PEOPLE, gay, high school., HOW I PAID FOR COLLEGE, Marc Acito, Wordstock. book review
posted by Diana Page Jordan @ 10:41 PM
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