Press release, KCRW 1990 April
Joe Frank, radio and performing artist, has been compared by the reviewing press to Orson Welles, Frederico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Franz Kafka, Jorge Luis Borges and Raymond Chandler for his widely acclaimed weekly radio program, "Joe Frank: Work in Progress." Produced by KCRW, the Santa Monica based National Public Radio station, "Work in Progress" is broadcast Sunday mornings at 11 a.m.
Aired on NPR in 30 cities nationwide, "Work in Progress" has won numerous awards since its 1986 debut. Lauded as "creative mind theatre," "radio noir," and "a chronicle of the American psyche," the shows are thought-provoking entertainment, bizarre and darkly comic. One of Frank's most acclaimed programs is the three-part "Rent a Family," which won Columbia University's prestigious Major Armstrong Award and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Program Award, both in 1988.
This fictionalized story focuses on a single mother with two young daughters who decides to rent her family to lonely professional men yearning for family life. After viewing a number of videotapes, she selects a man and the stage is set for a chilling tale. The man disappears with her children and the woman turns, in desperation, to her ex-husband and his new wife.
The story breaks for surreal panel discussions on the sociological, psychological and spiritual implications of surrogate families. This year Frank expanded his range as a performer to include the stage, a direction he intends to continue exploring.
In February, "Rent a Family" was adapted and directed by Paul Verdier, well-known for his productions of Ionesco's work, in a series of performances at Los Angeles' Stages Trilingual Theatre. In March, Frank's one man show, "Joe Frank: In Performance," played a twice extended, sold-out run at the Museum of Contemporary Art's Ahmanson Auditorium.
Next winter a collection of fiction by Frank will be published by William Morrow & Co. (New York). David Carpenter, in the September issue of "Spin" magazine, wrote: "Joe Frank is an invaluable warrior who stands in defense of our fears, our vanities and our forever-eroding sense of ourselves. He transforms the everyday banality of the human comedy into an inspired weirdness that feeds on pathos and irony, and feels a lot like revelation. Sartre would have called it nausea; Frank makes it art."
KCRW-FM o 1900 PICO BOULEVARD, SANTA MONICA, CA 90405 o 213-450-5183
BIOGRAPHY
Joe Frank was born in Strasbourg, France of a Viennese mother and
Polish father. His family immigrated to New York City where Frank was
raised and educated. Frank, who received a B.A. from Hofstra
University, attended the Iowa Writers Workshop and subsequently taught
at The Dalton School in Manhattan.
In the mid-'70s Frank joined WBAI, the New York Pacifica station, as a volunteer. By 1977 he was the host of "In The Dark," a late-night entertainment program that featured Frank's monologues, improvised sketches, and live music.
In 1978 Frank moved to Washington D.C., to anchor the Weekend Edition of "All Things Considered" on National Public Radio (NPR). From 1979 to 1985 he wrote, performed in, and produced 18 dramas for NPR Playhouse, garnering many broadcasting honors, including the 1982 Broadcast Media Award, the 1983 Radio Program Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, two consecutive Gold Awards at the International Radio Festival of New York (1983 and 1984), the American Nomination to the 1984 Prix Italia and a Special Commendation from the Berlin Prix Futura (1985).
In 1986, at the invitation of Ruth Hirschman, general manager of KCRW, Frank moved to Los Angeles where he created his own weekly one-hour program, "Joe Frank: Work in Progress," at the Santa Monica-based NPR station.
In 1988 Frank won both the prestigious Major Armstrong Award and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Program Award for his three-part series "Rent a Family."
In February 1989 "Rent a Family" was adapted and directed by Paul Verdier at Stages Trilingual Theatre.
In March of 1989 Frank gave his first one man show ("Joe Frank: In Performance") at the Museum of Contemporary Art's Ahmanson Theater. Frank has published two plays, "The Decline of Spengler" (New Directions 48, New York) and "A Tour of the City" (Tanam Press, New York).
A volume of fiction, "The Queen of Puerto Rico and Other Stories," will be published by William Morrow (New York) next winter. Montreal's Theatre Anima will present Frank's award-winning "A Tour of the City" at Hangar Number 9 of the Old Port of Montreal in June, 1990. This drama, featuring a cast including performers from Cirque du Soleil, will be under the direction of Jordan Deitcher.
Michael Mann, creator of the television series' "Miami Vice" and "Crime Story," has purchased the rights to Frank's radio monologue, "Night," and plans to adapt it for a feature film.
April 1990
KCRW-FM o 1900 PICO BOULEVARD, SANTA MONICA, CA 90405 o 213-450-5183
