In a perfect world, all college graduates would have their dream job immediately after graduation.
In reality, playwright Josh Lefkowitz knows differently.
Sitting behind a desk without props, Lefkowitz chats with the audience about life and doubt after college.
Mimicking the style of famed monologist Spalding Gray, Lefkowitz discusses everything from waiting tables and video game obsessions to wearing an astronaut suit for NASA as a temp worker.
“There?s the sort of freak-out period, very high-anxiety, like, ?What am I going to do with my life?? ” he said.
“I wanted to make something that I thought all of my friends would relate to.”
Lefkowitz will be performing his play-length monologue “Help Wanted: A Personal Search for Meaningful Employment at the Start of the 21st Century” at Centerstage Theater in Baltimore City through Feb. 18.
After graduating with a bachelor?s degree in fine arts, his first job was working as a parking attendant.
“It was a terribly depressing time, but it?s funny now,” Lefkowitz said. “I was sort of going crazy inside of this parking booth.”
Although most of the monologue is about hilarious situations, such as a strange confrontation with a man in a sauna, he also touches on more serious issues, such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, racism, sexuality and suicide.
“He has a wonderful story to tell, and he tells it very wittily and creatively,” said Aaron Heinsman, a spokesman for Centerstage.
The show, which premiered Jan. 25, has an obvious appeal to 20-somethings, but also attracts anyone who can remember the early stages of their career, Heinsman said.
“My parents? generation seems to really dig the piece,” he said.
“A lot of my friends? mothers will come up to me after and say, ?You really remind me of my daughter.? ”
Lefkowitz said he hopes people have “a really good time” at the theater. He seems to be succeeding.
“There was one part last Friday where everyone became 100 percent silent and every eye was just on him,” Heinsman said.
“Those are pretty electric moments.”
Lefkowitz is an actor, writer and solo performer. His stories have been published in various journals and he has recorded personal essays for NPR?s “All Things Considered.”
Lefkowitz received a Young Artist grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, and this past summer he was selected as one of New York?s Best Emerging Jewish Performers.
IF YOU GO
Josh Lefkowitz?s “Help Wanted: A Personal Search for Meaningful Employment at the Start of the 21st Century”
» Venue: Centerstage, 700 N. Calvert St., Baltimore
» Times: 8:15 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 7 and 10 p.m. Saturdays through Feb. 18
» Cost: $15
» More info: 410-332-0033
