This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:18] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Hello and welcome to the Drama Book Show.

[0:20] Mark-Eugene Garcia: My name is Mark-Eugene Garcia. This week on the Drama Book Show, we're diving into a conversation that feels deeply personal while also asking some very universal questions.

[0:29] Mark-Eugene Garcia: What if your life had gone a different way? What if the roads you didn't take still had something to teach you? Playwright Julian Novak joins us to talk about Men in the Chorus, a work that blurs the line between autobiography and imagination.

[0:43] Mark-Eugene Garcia: The play is rooted in real emotions, real memories, real friendships, and real moments from his life while allowing space for the fictional question at its center.

[0:52] Mark-Eugene Garcia: What happens when you begin imagining the family relationships and possibilities that may have existed just beyond your reach? But while the play may begin with surprise family revelations, the conversation keeps returning to something else entirely.

[1:06] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Friendship. Chosen family, theater communities, and the people who stay in our lives become the emotional heartbeat of the story.

[1:12] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Julian talks about how the people around us shape who we become, and how for artists these people often become part of the work itself.

[1:20] Mark-Eugene Garcia: We also get into queer life in the 1970s, the freedom and the uncertainty of that era, his habit of turning real life conversations into characters and stories, and how music continues to shape the way he thinks as a storyteller.

[1:33] Mark-Eugene Garcia: At its core, the conversation is about paying attention to the people around you, to the memories that stay with you, and to the possibility that life itself is constantly giving us material.

[1:43] Mark-Eugene Garcia: So here is our conversation with Julian Novak.

[1:47] Julian Novak: Thank you.

[1:49] Julian Novak: Thank you. David, thank you so much. And thanks to the Drama Book Shop and Mark and all of you for being here in the audience.

[1:59] Julian Novak: Thank you so much. This means a great deal to me. Getting word out about your work is very important because sometimes you have to explain what you do and how you do it.

[2:11] Julian Novak: And this is a very, I hate to use this evil word, interesting work, and but journey to how it came to be.

[2:19] Mark-Eugene Garcia: So the first thing that I want to talk about about this play is that you, the author, are Julian Novak, and the main character of the play is named Julian Novak.

[2:30] Mark-Eugene Garcia: So you're right about what you know.

[2:32] Julian Novak: Yeah.

[2:33] Julian Novak: And I know this guy, and I know what he did, and I know where all the bones are buried.

[2:39] Julian Novak: So I eventually had to tell this story, but I had to fluff it up a little bit and make a little fantasy come true for myself.

[2:48] Julian Novak: And so I moved it to New York rather than Texas.

[2:53] Mark-Eugene Garcia: So how much, we'll get to what other changes were made from real life, but how much is the story real life? How much is the character of Julian Novak you? And how much of the other characters in the play people from your real life?

[3:12] Julian Novak: Really, I would say 90% accurate, real people, real happenings, real dialogue.

[3:20] Julian Novak: What I embellished on was the possibility of having had a son.

[3:27] Julian Novak: I haven't given up on that idea. I think that possibility still exists.

[3:32] Julian Novak: Every time I've been to a fortune teller in New Orleans, they told me I've got two kids out there somewhere.

[3:37] Julian Novak: So I find that very intriguing. Can't rely on it necessarily, but you never know.

[3:41] Mark-Eugene Garcia: No, but that's a very specific consistency.

[3:45] Julian Novak: Every time, I'm serious.

[3:47] Julian Novak: Yeah.

[3:47] Julian Novak: And so I don't know this life, past life, what, but it is consistent.

[3:52] Julian Novak: And I believe to just say, oh, a fortune teller told me one time, but to say every fortune teller says this, that's, and if I trust any fortune tellers, it's in New Orleans.

[4:03] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Absolutely, they're the best.

[4:05] Julian Novak: So the title of this play comes from The Boys in the Band.

[4:10] Julian Novak: Inspired by Boy Foundation, for sure.

[4:13] Julian Novak: Which is similarly about a bunch of gay men throwing a birthday party and the presence of someone unexpected that upsets the evening.

[4:25] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Absolutely, and that's the fun part. How does that play into this story of a bunch of gay men throwing a birthday party in someone unexpected?

[4:35] Julian Novak: I think this is a little lighter in some respects, in that a lot of humor is done in a funny cutting way, but it isn't a serious cutting way.

[4:48] Julian Novak: But the deep-rooted meaning behind guess who's coming to dinner, your son, is real important, and it reflects what was going on in the 70s in basically unprotected sex in the gay world, but outside the gay world.

[5:27] Julian Novak: So the character of Julian Novak in the play finds out days before his birthday that he has not only a son that he didn't know about, but a granddaughter.

[5:41] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Exactly.

[5:42] Julian Novak: And he doesn't know why, but they have for the first time in their lives sought him out.

[5:49] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Now you said that that part is not queer real life. That's kind of the what if.

[5:57] Julian Novak: That's the what if of this book. Everything else is really pretty accurate.

[6:03] Julian Novak: The characters, even though I juggle their names a little bit, they're all real people and they're all involved in my life or have been in the past.

[6:12] Julian Novak: And so I mention a lot of people that I knew back in the day, but I have acted with all of these guys on a stage at one time or another, and I wanted to bring that out.

[6:24] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Uh-huh.

[6:25] Mark-Eugene Garcia: So when you are, and our wonderful audience, I would love for, yeah, I will be turning opening this up to questions.

[6:32] Mark-Eugene Garcia: If you have any questions on this kind of subject, when you are, because I do this in my writing a lot too.

[6:39] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Like I tell people, oh no, it's not my real life. I take what happened in my real life, and I said, What if something interesting happened there?

[6:45] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And then that the what if is the play. The real life, nothing interesting happened. Where the what if that becomes the play?

[6:51] Julian Novak: So, how do you balance how much of yourself or your real life you want to put out there and how much you want to mythologize?

[7:02] Julian Novak: I would say I put a lot of myself into this work.

[7:07] Julian Novak: I didn't really want to embarrass myself, and I know that back in the day I might have been viewed as quite a rounder as the Sun points out in chapter two or Act Two.

[7:20] Julian Novak: But I wanted to reveal enough to possibly look at maybe the mistakes I made back in the day and still come out with a little dignity at the end.

[7:34] Julian Novak: So I made this fantasy situation, and I have this beautiful son and granddaughter that I never knew.

[7:41] Julian Novak: They were always curious about me. And if that really did exist, and the possibility is strong in several different respects.

[7:52] Julian Novak: I wanted to play on that and bring it to life.

[7:56] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Uh-huh.

[7:57] Mark-Eugene Garcia: So it's putting a face to the thing in your life that is that's not just a what if for the play, it's a what if in your real life.

[8:06] Julian Novak: I think there's a hole in my heart somewhere for those people, if they did exist or do exist to come find me.

[8:18] Julian Novak: And I try to think of the reverse strong feelings that a son that never knew his dad would feel, and how desperate he was to have his father come find him.

[8:32] Julian Novak: And I bring that out in Act Two.

[8:35] Julian Novak: I love that part of it. To me, that was my favorite thing to write because I had to make up the dialogue, and it was two parts of my heart speaking to back to myself.

[8:48] Julian Novak: Whereas the other, a lot of those words came out of these people's mouths. They really did.

[8:56] Julian Novak: Oh yeah. I have several groups that are a lot of fun to hang out with, but I have to tell you, my theater group is by far the most colorful.

[9:05] Mark-Eugene Garcia: I think that's true for most of us.

[9:07] Julian Novak: Yes.

[9:08] Julian Novak: They're so animated, they're so full of life.

[9:11] Julian Novak: And if you buy into the same plays and love the same movies, you come up with this dialogue that everyone understands in the group.

[9:21] Julian Novak: And it's almost you have to know those parts to be able to participate in their conversation because they've got this private conversation.

[9:30] Mark-Eugene Garcia: I love when you can tell there's a shorthand going on, especially among a group of characters.

[9:36] Julian Novak: Yes.

[9:37] Julian Novak: Because you do get the feeling, even if you don't know the shorthand, that you're let you're being let in on something.

[9:43] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Exactly.

[9:44] Julian Novak: And I think in this, you are let in on some secrets, and it's almost like a secret language that they share.

[9:51] Julian Novak: And some of them speak at the same time because they're gonna have the same response to what Tony did.

[9:57] Julian Novak: And in many different cases, there are some humorous little anecdotes, and people have to explain themselves to one another.

[10:17] Julian Novak: And this is so true of Nelson and Tracy.

[10:21] Julian Novak: And I it popped into my oh my god.

[10:24] Julian Novak: They send a three-page dossier and they want details.

[10:28] Julian Novak: So you have to tell us the details.

[10:30] Julian Novak: This is like a game, and of course, Julian is just really taken aback that Nelson shared all of this stuff that happened that the two of them knew about, and every thing in there happened, and some of it's pretty colorful.

[10:46] Julian Novak: I love the way that you establish in that opening scene with them finishing each other's jokes.

[10:52] Julian Novak: They know these jokes forever.

[10:54] Julian Novak: My particular favorite being he's older than the Matterhorn, so his horns don't matter.

[11:01] Julian Novak: That was something I that is I have to really give Cecil Cooper credit.

[11:05] Julian Novak: He was a friend of Nelson's way back in the day.

[11:08] Julian Novak: And so I had a 50th birthday party, and Nelson made this cake, and he made it like the Matterhorn, and he had the candles marching up and falling over, and the icing was spot on.

[11:20] Julian Novak: It looked like a rock out of Europe.

[11:23] Julian Novak: And Cecil had this radio announcer voice and booming deep voice.

[11:28] Julian Novak: And Nelson said, Well, he's older than the Matterhorn, and Cecil's cranked up and said, He's so old his horn doesn't matter.

[11:36] Julian Novak: And just I never forgot it. I thought it was hilarious.

[11:39] Julian Novak: And I was not a huge fan of Cecil starting out, but as the years went on, I grew to like him more and more.

[11:48] Julian Novak: I realized how clever he was and how sharp, and I love that in anyone.

[11:53] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Don't we all love Cecil and Nelson already?

[11:55] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And you don't even know I want to open it up.

[11:59] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Does anyone have any questions about writing a play like this?

[12:03] Audience Member: Yes.

[12:04] Audience Member: Have any of the uh the inspired voices or the voices that inspired these characters? Have they seen this?

[12:11] Julian Novak: They have definitely read it.

[12:14] Julian Novak: And I think Nelson probably and Tracy were the most pleased.

[12:18] Julian Novak: But I have a wine group that I belong to.

[12:21] Julian Novak: I've got a coffee group. I have pushed it under everyone's nose.

[12:25] Julian Novak: And probably one of my biggest fans is Kay here.

[12:29] Julian Novak: And she helped ask a few questions like the abbreviations for TCHS is Texas City High School.

[12:37] Julian Novak: AJC was Alvin Junior College.

[12:40] Julian Novak: So the history that you're hearing about took place in and around Houston, Texas, and before, all the way back to high school in Texas City, and you've got two characters, Rita, that was uh in Texas City High School the same year, and then Ronnie Klein.

[12:58] Julian Novak: Now I put Ronnie Klein in everything, only because he was my first crush. And I have to tell you, it was all unrequited love. Nothing ever happened, except this guy started following me home in this vintage Buick every day from school, and I would say, no, I'd rather walk. And I wouldn't take a ride, and so finally he just wore me down. Okay, I'll get in, I'll get in. We ride together. I had to wait for him in the parking lot after school so he could give me a ride home. It was out of his way. So then he disappears midterm. He graduated. And so come the next September in Alvin Junior College, there is Ronnie Klein. And he is without a doubt the best artist other than myself, I might say, in that art class.

And we sat next to each other and we started riding together from Texas City to Alvin on a daily basis. And about second year in, he gets his girlfriend, and then I drop him like a lead balloon. But I was so hurt, I was crushed. But I never said anything. I was a late bloomer, didn't come out till Houston in the 70s. I was 22, so I didn't know where to go with that information. I wish I could go back and ask myself and say the right things. That sounds like a monologue from The Boys in the Band. I love getting to know these characters. Speaking of getting to know these characters, did you want to show everyone a picture of the character of Julian Novak?

[14:39] Julian Novak: Absolutely. I'm so glad you asked. Other than the newspaper article, did we already you showed that, and we talked about that? I have to tell you, back in the day, this was me. And when I say in the play, I'm trying to explain to my son that when somebody tells you you're the best thing since sliced bread, you give them a slice. And so I did, and I was never a person to say no, and many times I should have. And I guess this is one of the things that I'm addressing for not only you but for myself in this book is that caution sometimes would be really smart. And the operetta of Pirates of Penzance features heavily in the play as well. And the reason for that is Kevin Klein reminded me of me when I saw that in his hair and everything, and I thought I could have done that, and now I would be more apt to do oh, Don Quixote or somebody. But I love acting, I've switched gears, I really want to write lyrics and tunes, and I love my little melodies, and I love writing lyrics. So both of the plays that we have here do feature songs.

[15:56] Julian Novak: Oh, yes. And how many of them, because obviously, some of there's a lot of a character in Men in the Chorus, just like throwing off goofy parody lyrics as they pop into his head. How much of the musical aspect of both this and Tina Lake is alive and doing very well? How much of that did you write?

[16:21] Julian Novak: I wrote all of the lyrics. I stole one tune, and I'll apologize for the rest of my life for doing that. But it seemed to work, and I wrote that song so early that it really needed something very upbeat. I got with my pianist, and we changed it, and it dumbed it down too much, and it needs that tune to sell those words. Men and or Tina Lake is alive and doing well in the Vukare. I stole many of those songs from Lafitte the Musical that I'm now working on, and it worked because it was New Orleans. So I could borrow those without feeling guilty. So let's we're gonna come back to Men of the Chorus, but I want to talk about where Tina Lake comes from, because this is a different side of your history.

[17:19] Julian Novak: It really is, and I have to tell you, it really started with one night when I should have said no and didn't with Tiffany Jones, a performer that was probably the top female illusionist in not only the Gulf Coast, but on the cruise ships in P Town, and played all over. And there's some video of was it Tim Whitehead? Anyway, Tina Tiffany Jones out there to review, and he was brilliant, and he was gorgeous. And he was as pretty a man as he was a woman. He was absolutely beautiful. But the mob tried to take over his career, and he told me about that on this given night, besides doing other fun things. But the other thing is. Yeah, we're focusing on the play. We were yeah, we were not. I just know I just stored it into my little mental thing.

I study characters and study people, and if your voice or something you said winds up in my play, I forgive me. But and I can't, I've got so many more that I've written that are not out yet. And but they are gonna make it to book form eventually, and a lot of them will be stage plays because I like that format. Having done theater, I love it. When we did regional theater, we would do three weeks of every play for the summer for the outdoor Galveston outdoor musicals, and we had some principals that came in from New York. We had great music direction and everything, and so while you were performing Hello Dolly, you were studying 42nd Street, and so it really became two of the most fabulous summers I've ever spent in my life.

[19:06] Julian Novak: It all started with Little Mary Sunshine, and I was cast as the second male lead. I had a solo and a duet, and I was noticed by the people that did the outdoor musicals, and so it was because I had a booming voice, and I know you can't imagine that, but it was so much fun, and I did a lot of the set design. I used to do the set design for Galveston Ballet even. And so I'm real creative and I just needed a new outlet. And I discovered myself the year I turned 50, I did five musicals. And I did the next season at the outdoor musicals. And it just hasn't stopped since. Going back to, and you will come back to Tina Lake a little bit, but going back to Men in the Chorus, you've touched on this a little bit, but I'd like to talk a little bit deeper. What's the deepest lesson that you think an audience or a reader can learn from this play?

[20:02] Julian Novak: First of all, friends. You got to have friends. And Bette Midler really is responsible for starting that book. That was the one night with the girl that I couldn't remember her name, but her lover or her friend was Steve Sanderson. He was my lover at the time. And they were smoking pot. I'd never smoked pot. I'd never heard Bette Midler. I had never slept with a woman. So I really got introduced that night to a different side of the world. And I have to tell you, it's the one possibility that there is a kid out there with my blood pool. And maybe this little girl that comes from him is the next merman. So I wanted to pursue that. That's one of the deep lessons, but it really is more about friendships. They're so important. That's what drives us, it's what pulls us together. It's how we reconcile the mistakes or the rest of the life. When you take a dear friend and you spend a couple of days with them and you work things out mentally, it's cheaper than a therapist.

[21:13] Julian Novak: Yes, certainly. Yeah. Awesome. I mean, so we've talked a little bit about Tina Lake. We've talked about, I mean, in the chorus, so Lafitte.

[21:23] Julian Novak: Oh. Co-founder of the Lafitte Society. And you are the writer of Lafitte the Musical.

[21:31] Julian Novak: Yes. So what happened when I was a child, I started having nightmares, and I have this wonderful picture of me in a striped shirt, and I look like a little pirate. And I probably was between three and four, and I kept having the same nightmare over and over again. These pirates came and got me out of my bed and took me on a pirate ship. So I have written a great story, I think, about that, and we're going to try and put it, it'll be a children's book in five languages because I want to use it as a tool to introduce language to young people so there'll be a workbook at the back of it where they can write that five times. So that went on, and my mother introduced me to the stories about Jean Lafitte, the pirate, who came to Galveston, and he really was a privateer, not a pirate, but that's close enough.

He was the hero, Battle of New Orleans, and he was forced out of Barataria and came in 1817 through 1820 to Galvez Town and started a commune called Campeachy. And so I do talks, historical talks on him, but Lafitte the musical, I want to sell an idea about the fact that he was lonely and lost. He had a young wife many years before in the Caribbean that died, and he never got over that. And he became this really strong privateer that would raid ships based on his letter of mark from Cartagena or some other country. And he would bring the ships in and he would sell the goods illegally because he didn't pay customs. But he was doing it out of Barataria below New Orleans, so he knew all the back roads and the bayous.

So when he gets run out of there, he comes to Galveston. So I want to correct for everybody what a hero he was. And the final song of that to me is very strong. It's got two crescendos. And I love a good song with a crescendo. So that one probably is my most beloved work from that. But I had to steal some of the others for the New Orleans story with Tina Lake.

[23:50] Julian Novak: I bet you got more tunes in here. Don't you know? I want to open it up again. We've heard now about three pieces from Julian that are all very different from each other and all have a theme that runs through all of them. Does anyone else have any questions about the process of creating this kind of work or staging this kind of work?

[24:19] Julian Novak: Always as a writer. I started doing that when I was a teenager. And I had a few little songs that never really developed, but so it was something that was like a recessive gene that I hid for a while. And then I tried my hand. I had a real job in Houston for many years with a major engineering firm, but then later I got back to retail and moved back to Galveston, my first love, I'm fifth generation. I needed to be there. And that's where I needed the sand between my toes. I needed the pirate influence, and that's where all that came from. So I started in 2006 or earlier. I had developed a fair amount of tunes that I put together. And then I would go to a favorite piano player and say, Could you play this for me?

And I would sing it, and they say, Oh, sure. And then and I had two fabulous Bonnie Carter, unbelievable. She developed a lot of these, and we took him to a recording studio that used to record Mickey Gilly. And so I did this one song, and he pulls me aside afterwards. He said, Jim, that's really a good song. I said, he said, No, that really is a good song. And so what was funny, I entered about four of them into the international songwriting contest, and I got an honorary mention, and they asked to see the lyric, I like kids. And unfortunately, it was a time when things were happening with children that no one wanted to discuss.

[25:56] Julian Novak: And so when you sing, I like kids, I like kids, I like them fried, I like them bold, I like them dipped in olive oil, I like kids. Their fingers are neat, their toes are sweet, their ankles are just above their feet. And see, I love that. I love the boom boom. And when I sang it, I know it's making you giggle, but you should have seen it at a kid's birthday party. They loved it. And oh short. Oh, and but here's my favorite story. So Jeff the coffee man, I walk in and there's this little short kid, and so I just saw him and I just started belting out. I like kids, and so I got my coffee. I was leaving. He had the deepest voice. Hey, mister, I really like your kids' song. I don't know how old he was.

It's the biggest compliment I will ever receive on a song. I think that kids like things with a hint of danger. Yes. And a little naughty. It doesn't seem real enough. Yeah. Just enough danger to make them feel good about themselves for dealing with that. But adults look at things with an eye towards what the real world dangers are, and they hear that and go, oh no, I think kids don't have the context to know. Yeah. They just know that's a little silly, but also a little dangerous. And it's gonna be fun in the play. I've worked it into act two when Lafitte moves the Baritarians to Galveston, Galvez Town at that time. And on board ship, there is a woman with a young child, and she's telling Lafitte, Billy doesn't think you like him at all.

And I said, Oh, but I like kids. And he starts the bum bum bum bum very Mickey Mouse club. And I like kids. So what he does, he lines them, the few kids that came with him, he lines them up to walk the plank, but they turn the plank inward to a net on the boat, and in a row, they have to walk the plank and jump into the net. And then of course they can't wait to run back around to that same bump on Mickey Mouse tune and just go nuts. So I love that song. And it has to be in act two.

[28:04] Julian Novak: So what's what stage of development is Lafitte at right now? I am it is I need to finish the outline to hand to a gentleman that has worked all over Broadway. And I'm not gonna give his name away right now, but he has been with some of the Broadway greats in the past. But no, and he's just gonna help me develop it, but I really am looking for someone a lot more knowledgeable about production than myself. And I have to tell you, all of the tunes are very lyrical. I went to see Napoleon, which is another big theme going on in my life. I've got Napoleon bronzes and tapestries and whatever. But I went to see Napoleon, a $10 million production in London, and I had to go back the next night because I couldn't walk away with one song.

I went home and I sketched every stage setting that I could remember. And I thought, you didn't hear the music. You can't sing one song. I go back the next night, I still cannot sing one song. It lasted 10 months. 10 million dollars. Costumes are fabulous. But I want mine, I can tell you right now, you'll walk out of here tonight, you'll remember how I kids. And so the others I feel are as equally as memorable. Uh-huh. And then what because Tina Lake is not a musical, but it has songs in it. It really is more of a movie script, I think, starter wannabe. And I've got some really great friends in the movie industry, but no one has fallen in love with it yet, but they will. I'm confident. So yellow.

You're out there somewhere. Hey, Mr. Producer, I'm talking to you, sir. So I when I get with these people, I just I try to do an elevator pitch for anything I've written, and I've written a lot. My whole living room is filled with binders. I've got Greenville girls, I've got, oh my God, just you name it, I've written it. My favorite thing is based on whatever happened to Baby James. So I've written Baby James. And instead of Baby Jane. And so I did the same thing. I did a comedy sketch that I tried to send to Jimmy Fallon, if you're out there, and I know I'm not on your circuit. But it was Jimmy Rose Lee. And I have to tell you, I think it's one of the funniest things I've ever written. And it's a just a short skit with his mother Rose pushing him to go out there on stage and wear a wig.

And he says, Mother, I don't wear a wig, that's a girl thing. She said, Jimmy, for crying for crying out loud. I don't use a lot of cuss words. Even George Washington wore a wig. Sure, you can do this. But the dress was a little bit much. So anyway, I think it takes a comedian like that to bring it to life. And what it takes for anything I've written are actors to bring my work to life. And that is so important to me. I would love to help direct, but not get in the way. I would love to introduce them to the tunes that make these lyrics come to life. Uh-huh. Yeah. Awesome.

[31:28] Julian Novak: So we know a little bit about these two published works. We know a little bit about Lafitte. And now we know about whatever happened to Baby James. I need to hear more about. What else? Do you have anything directly in the pipeline? The red flag has really been written. It needs really good edit to bring it back into sync. And I usually write in emails to myself. And so it's not always that easy to find the right two emails and match them up. But it takes place in Mercer House in Savannah, Georgia, with everyone that I know extremely well. And so I was telling someone about it. He said, Oh, I want to be in your play. And so I wrote him in. But what's beautiful about people saying put me in a play.

Exactly. Rather than saying, I'm gonna be careful what I open my mouth. Oh no, they really want to be grilled by me. Can you be in the play? Absolutely. Oh, Kendall, you're in. So this let me tell you how fabulous this the red flag is. Talk about having a deep seated meaning at the end of the play, which involves China. But I start with this guess who's coming to dinner. They all come to meet Tom Carva's new lover. And his new lover is an art dealer in New York, and he sells paintings, very expensive art to the Chinese. And I'm really engrossed in the artwork. I used to go to London for Simpson Galleries out of Houston, oldest auction house in Houston. So I learned a lot while I was there, and I've been to the British Museum, to the drawing department with my one Michelangelo that's now missing.

And so if you ever read Message to Michael, it's all about that. But this is so strong, the ending is about the red flag in America, but he introduces it somewhat like in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil when Jim Williams produced a Nazi flag on the balcony. He has struck a deal with his sister to take over Mercer House with a covenant that you have to open on certain holidays. You have to keep it all the same downstairs, and you have to show it like we showed it in the past. And so he comes up with that, and he puts a contract in while they're there, sitting there with these very wealthy friends. The only poor friend in it is Julian Novak. He comes to visit too, because he sent him a ticket.

And so it's what's really funny is not only guess who's coming to dinner, sells each one of them a phone that has not been produced in America yet, and they sell for a hundred thousand each. But what it has is an ounce of silver, gold, and platinum with one karat diamonds for the headlights, ruby tail lights, that if you pay extra, you can turn that into a laser. So I came up with this brilliant idea, and I give the Chinese credit for it because I think they should have a little credit. But I also take a lot of credit away when there's a boat in the Savannah River that's 1,600 feet long that has so many containers on it that have never really been inspected. This is a red flag. During this event, they go through the red flags appearing on the balcony, and you've got this Dowager Prince, who is a real character recently passed from Shreveport, Louisiana, that was richer than Crease's. And every word in this came out of his mouth. And some of them are a little raunchy, but not bad. I like people that are just borderline. Anyway, so anyway, you're gonna you're gonna want to read the red flag.

[35:18] Julian Novak: You've really got the Julian Novak cinematic universe here. All I need is a producer. Yeah. And so the red flag is in the editing stages now, and you expect that to have that published? It will happen this year, and I tell you why. It's so close, it would be dumb not to. So this year you will see Little Jimmy and the Pirate because that is going to go. It's a children's book, but it's a workbook to introduce language, and it's gonna go to some free to some schools to get a test run and what their opinion. But I the translations have to be totally correct. And my dear friend is correcting the English version because I'm not so good at all that. But it's a loving story, and it teaches lessons too, and obedience and a lot of other things to young people, and they walk away with so much more if they listen to the adult.

And seriously. So that's gonna be fun. But the other, the red flag, it's just around the corner. And it has no music. It's the only one I've done without a song. Okay. And so now I may have to write a theme song for the red flag. If it goes to a movie, and I've written some theme songs for some potential movies that haven't happened yet. And that's a real challenge to do something that's totally out of your genre musically. And I discovered that all the black keys on the piano are more gospel oriented, and you can create a very strong theme song for a Western. And that's what I've done with the Shiffer Robe Kid. That's a whole nother story.

[37:02] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Some very exciting things for us to keep our eyes out for. I just want to ask really quickly, is there does anyone I think we've got time for one more question?

[37:10] Audience Member: Thank you.

[37:12] Mark-Eugene Garcia: But I feel like we've gotten the full resume tonight. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming here. Thank you for specifically celebrating this story, Men in the Chorus, this really fun but very moving story about fatherhood and friendship. And for bringing all of these other characters along with you in tow. So once again, if everyone could help me in thanking Julian Novak.

[37:45] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And we are back. Julian's work feels like memory mixed with fantasy, using real friendships, queer history, humor, and unresolved what-ifs to turn his own life into stories about connection and belonging. Next episode of the Drama Book Shop, we're gonna delve into a conversation with Megdalia Cruz. She brought a panel of playwrights to talk about her work and the work she loves. And it was a really, really fun night. So remember, follow us on Instagram at Drama Book Show Podcasts, follow our eventbrite at Drama Book Shop, and remember that all of the books we talked about can be found here at the bookshop, and so can we, and we will see you at the bookshop.