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Born in the "Show Me State" of St. Louis Missouri, Mark Fauser was blessed to understand the value of team and "show" what those teams were capable of.
Mark received his equity card in 1987 as an actor in the musical Annie directed by Charles Nelson Reilly, one of his mentors and teachers. While in Los Angeles, Fauser appeared in shows like Quantum Leap, Coach, Models Inc, Jag, The New WKRP in Cincinnati, Evening Shade, and was a regular on The Hit Squad. He then was cast in the Steven Spielberg series Seaquest as Weapons Officer Dalton Phillips on NBC.
At the same time, Fauser was writing for his other mentor, boss, teacher, and friend, Burt Reynolds on the popular series Evening Shade. After having his second child (of three), experiencing the Northridge earthquake, and losing both series, his family's world was rocked. The Fausers decided to move to Marion, Indiana, hometown of his wife, Julie (Harris) Fauser. The night before he left Los Angeles, Fauser sold his first movie, The Right To Remain Silent, to Showtime (co-written by college roommate and friend Brent Briscoe). The movie had an All-Star cast starring Lea Thompson, Robert Loggia, Patrick Dempsey, LL Cool J, Carl Reiner, Laura San Giacomo, Judge Rienhold, Amanda Plummer, and Fisher Stevens. It was nominated for two Cable Ace Awards, and Amanda Plummer won a Best Supporting Actress award for her performance in it.
While in Marion, Mark actually worked more in Hollywood. He and Brent sold the movie Waking Up In Reno to Miramax, starring their friend Billy Bob Thornton who also produced it. It also starred Charlize Theron, Patrick Swayze, Natasha Richardson, Penelope Cruz and Mark and Brent also acted in the movie. They sold and wrote another movie to Miramax called Hillbilly Heist, which was later named Masterminds starring Kristen Wiig & Zach Galifianakis. Mark & Brent were often hired as script doctors for Universal Studios, Paramount, Sony, and even had the pleasure of rewriting a Joe Eszterhaus movie. Mark has had four other movies optioned multiple times and continues to write. He also continued to act, commuting from Marion and appearing in movies including Madison, Journey of Redemption, Freeze Frame, and Between the Sheets.
His greatest thrill was to write, direct, and star in a movie he developed from a play he wrote. It's All About You won Best Comedy at the Beverly Hills Film Festival in its very first year of existence.
While living in Marion, Mark saw tremendous talent in his community. After all, Marion is the birthplace of iconic Hollywood actor James Dean and Garfield creator Jim Davis. Young creators needed a local place to express themselves, he believed.
So Mark and a massive support team of artists and community members and donors helped build the Community School of the Arts! It started in a basement of a church, and after 12 years with Mark as the Executive Director, they had two 18,000-square-foot buildings debt-free, endowments for scholarships, and a full-scale arts school for performing arts, visual arts (including an art gallery), culinary arts, martial arts, and a stellar dance program.
A big thrill for Mark was when Burt Reynolds came to town and saw that the investment he made in Mark as a young artist was being passed on to others.
Four of his board members were so proactive they all won Athena Awards, and Mark was also honored with the Chamber Award and then the prestigious Indiana Governor's Arts Award in 2011.
While leading CSA, Mark also helped promote the City of Marion as Marketing Director. Mark was then asked to join Marion Community Schools as a Creative Development Director. Because of a wonderful team, they changed the brand, enrollment increased, they showcased and marketed success and pride, made videos, created shows, built displays, and donors came in masses to help our kids. This support helped transform programs and provide Giant opportunities. It also helped build an Athletics Hall of Fame, an Arts Hall of Fame, and a revamped Hall of Distinction. These awards and displays honor the past and inspire the future. Working closely with the Marion High School Alumni Association, Mark led the way in creating an Arts, Athletics, and Academics Endowment, providing funding for Marion students and programs in perpetuity. In addition, there are now endowments for the MHS Black History Club and the MHS JROTC, along with various scholarships and other funds to help those in need.
Mark has been honored to work alongside wonderful teammates throughout his career, starting with the teachers who nurtured his acting career; to Academy Award-winning actors, Golden Globe, Tony, Emmy, or Grammy winners who performed in the productions he wrote; to a Giant community of talented artists, teachers, families, donors, and staff who worked together to build an arts school; to City Hall, police officers, firefighters, parks department and other civil servants working to better the city; to the teachers, staffers, administrators, school board members, students, and incredible alumni and donors bringing back the spirit and richness of a historic school. None of this would have been possible without a great team!
