Neil Marcus (January 3, 1954November 17, 2021) was an actor and playwright active in the development of

disability culture Disability culture is a widely used concept developed in the late 1980s to capture differences in lifestyle that are caused or promoted by disability. Disability cultures exist as communities of people around topics of disability. The cultures inc ...

, who has reshaped ways of thinking about

disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, s ...

Early life

Marcus was born on January 3, 1954, in

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. He developed generalised dystonia when he was eight years old. According to Carrie Sandhal's entry in the ''Encyclopedia of American Disability History'', "Marcus was born on January 3, 1954, in White Plains, New York, but spent his childhood in Ojai, California. He was the youngest of five children. His mother was an actress, the first person on television and a storyteller on radio, and his father handled public relations for CBS and Polaroid, and was an avid photographer. Marcus was an active child who loved the outdoors and physical activity, qualities that would continue even after the age of eight, when his dystonia manifested itself. His onset of dystonia was painful and disorienting, as diagnosis was elusive and a cure impossible. Marcus struggled with depression throughout his adolescence and began writing in his journal, chronicling his frustrations and joys as a disabled person. He credited his experiences in co-counseling, which he began at age 14, with pulling him out of his depression and spawning his performance aesthetic. Co-counseling involves peer-to-peer, confidential counseling that helps the participants discover themselves and deal with their emotions. Marcus had discussed his relationship with audiences as a form of co-counseling in which he and they share experiences on a journey of discovering self and other."

Career

His early career began when Marcus left for college in Washington State, he began to write. Later moving to Berkeley to continue his studies, he became active in the Disability Rights Movement.Human Being. Vol. 1. Chicago: The City of Chicago Cultural Affairs, 2006. He started a street zine in the early 1980s, Special Effects, as a form to express what he experienced and learned through his participation in the disabled and independent living movement. Special Effects was distributed in a street zine fashion, as well as by mailing list. Marcus curated interventions with a cut, copy and paste methodology which encompassed the art, culture, and humor into the political discourse of disability. '' Storm Reading'', his play in collaboration with Rod Lathim, Roger Marcus and Access Theater, has been shown on television and performed at the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

, as well as being featured on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

and NBC's ''Today Show.'' Storm Reading challenged audiences to reevaluate conventional ideas about disability and set a standard for performing artists with disabilities, and for performance access technologies."Bodies in Commotion: Disability and Performance." In The University of Michigan press, edited by Carrie Sandahl and Philip Auslander, 2005. Voted ''Best Ensemble and Leading Actor'' in 1992 by DramaLogue Magazine and ''Critic's Choice'' 1992, ''Storm Reading'' had a nearly decade-long run. Marcus received the 1994 Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound/Score/Text for his work, ''Art of Human Being'' Brenda Jo Brueggemann shares in an anthology about disability and performance, how she introduces to students to her class: " I show a recorded performance of Storm Reading, especially the opening clip. I have used it to open courses on representations of disability in language, language in literature and culture. I use it first because Marcus begins with the central issue for disabled people: Their position in relation to being 'human.'" Marcus participated in a range of diverse projects. Since 2008, he had been collaborating with Petra Kuppers in

The Olimpias Disability Culture Research Projects ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speak ...

, and since 2010, Marcus had also worked on a number of projects with Stephen Lichty, a New York-based sculptor. Marcus's poem ''Disabled Country'' introduces the Smithsonian's permanent web exhibitio
EveryBody: An Artifact History of Disability in America
In 2011, Marcus choreographed a videodance with Richard Chen See, a Paul Taylor dancer. In a 2014 video with sculptor Shane Brodie, Marcus embodies the "abstract" i
abstract art
Marcus lived in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. His papers have been archived by the Bancroft library of the University of California at Berkeley as part of th
Artists with Disabilities Oral History Project
He died on November 17, 2021, in

Work

* Oral history interview transcript
Neil Marcus, "Performance Artist"
conducted by Esther Ehrlich in 2004, Regional Oral History Office,

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, 2006. * Marcus, Neil. ''Special Effects: Advances in Neurology.'' Publication Studio, 2011. Full text available for free here
Neil Marcus Special Effects
* Marcus, Neil, Petra Kuppers, and Lisa Steichmann
''Cripple Poetics: A Love Story.''
Ypsilanti: Homofactus Press, 2008. Full text available for free access. * Marcus, Neil, and Petra Kuppers
"Disability/Performance. A Collaborative Essay."
''Journal for Applied Theatre and Performance'' (2009) 14: 1, 141 - 155. * Marcus, Neil. ''Disabled Country''. This poem introduces the Smithsonian's permanent web exhibitio
EveryBody: An Artifact History of Disability in America

Theater, Dance, Performance Art, and Television

* Marcus, Neil
Storm Reading
* Ongoing collaboration with Petra Kuppers fo
The Olimpias: Performance Research Projects
*
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Videos

* dir. Petra Kuppers. The Olimpias, 2013. * dir. Neil Marcus. Editor.JaiJai Noire.2013

The Olimpias Project

Disability is an Art , Neil Marcus
dir. Unknown.
Critical Discourse: Art, Disability, Images, Bodies
dir. Grand Rapids Cable Access, 2014
Salamander: Compilation
dir. Neil Marcus. 2014

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcus, Neil American disability rights activists 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Disability theatre 1954 births Living people