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From the Hamptons to Bollywood

From The Hamptons To Bollywood

Chicago playwright, novelist, and publishing executive Jon Malysiak cast a wide net in his creative endeavors. When he’s not acquiring authors to write books on the legal profession for ABA Flagship, an imprint of ABA Publishing, the publishing division of the American Bar Association, or perfecting his acting technique at the Acting Studio Chicago, he is working with his cast on the world premiere of his first play “Children of Privilege” and ramping up his fan base in India, of all places, for his first novel “Birds of Dreams,” a novel set in his hometown of Chicago that has a strong Bollywood theme. To date, Jon has attracted more than 20,000 followers to the novel’s Facebook page, the majority of which reside in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

The play “Children of Privilege” tells the story of the wealthy Tolliver family who gathers for a dysfunctional weekend at the family compound in the Hamptons for a family photograph to be published in a Hampton’s society rag. Constance, the matriarch, will stop at nothing to preserve her family’s reputation at the expense of her marriage and her two adult children: Max—an aspiring writer—and Jennifer—a self-proclaimed ‘life-caster’ who uses social media to validate her own existence. Also in the mix is Henry, Constance’s husband, a successful lawyer whose earlier affair with his secretary resulted in the birth of an illegitimate son; Samuel, Jennifer’s mysterious boyfriend whose agenda is anyone’s guess; and Ben, Max’s boyfriend-in-name-only, an aspiring documentary filmmaker for CNN. What happens over the play’s two acts is a heady concoction of snobbery, wit, and upheaval that has been favorably compared to the best of Tracy Letts, Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O’Neill.

Jon has just launched a campaign on the crowd-sourcing site Pub Slush to raise funds for a full production of “Children of Privilege” in Summer 2013. The novel, “Birds of Paradise,” is available for purchase on Amazon Kindle with a print edition publishing later in 2013. Check it out! Support it.

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