Mark Spencer
Mark Spencer, a Gary native, is a graduate of the first class of Emerson School for the Visual and Performing Arts. He began his career as a teacher of speech and drama, spending over 30 years in the classroom and as an administrator of Arts and Theatre. Since 1996, he has served dual roles in the classroom and as the director of the West Side Theatre Guild where he has produced a diverse and extensive collection of plays, concerts, albums and television specials, featuring international artists such as Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, Maya Angelou, Cicely Tyson, Shirley Caesar, Ramsey Lewis and Kirk Franklin.
In 2004, he put his love of films to good use by directing and producing his first feature, Posin’, which was screened before a live audience of 2,000 people and given glowing reviews by filmmaker, Spike Lee. Over the next four years, Spencer directed and produced The Gilded-Six-Bits, The Ballad of Sadie Hawkins, The Firing Squad, Swan Song, Steel Waters and Help Wanted in 2018. His most current film release is entitled, 1000 Negative Confessions. It was produced in 2024.
Mark has been awarded the NAACP Jeanette B. Strong Award, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Citizen of the Year (both regional chapters), Society of Innovators Fellow Award, Quality of Life Council Award, Edgewater Health Mental Advocate of the Year, Indiana University Northwest Diversity Champion Award, Student Exploratory Teacher of the Year Award, Delta Sigma Theta Men of Valor Award, Rembrandt Film Festival Best Short Film Narrative, African American Arts Alliance of Chicago Outstanding Film Award, TV-OP Festival Rising Writer/Director Award, Gary Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Community Tea Pot Award, The Gary Legends Award, Gary Frontiers Club MLK Marcher Award, Gary Frontiers Club MLK Drum Major Award and the Katie Hall Foundation Merit of Distinction Award and ISSMA Distinguished Service Award African Repertory Theatre IUPUI Distinguished Fellow Award, Art E Gras Theatre Icon Award 2023, Gary International Black Film Festival Vanguard Award.
In 2011, he earned a Stellar Award nomination for Best Video for directing and producing Gospel Icon Shirley Caesar’s video, Playground in Heaven.
Working with and directing members of his talented repertory at Gary, Indiana’s West Side Theatre Guild, Spencer has been lauded for his creative use of location settings in and around the Gary area. He also has the distinction of grooming many students and community members for careers onstage, onscreen, and in the music business. Under Mark’s tutelage alumni have gone on to work with Grammy-winning artists like The Jacksons, Frankie Beverly & Maze and Mary J. Blige, as well as performing on Broadway, in the NBC production of The Wiz, and with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Over the years, Mark has built the West Side Theater into the preeminent entertainment venue in Northwest Indiana. Under his direction the theater underwent a multi-million dollar renovation adding state-of-the-art lighting and sound, rigging, curtains, recording studios, and most recently a massive mural depicting diverse students practicing the arts. Mark has leveraged his vast knowledge and experience as a talent buyer, producer and promoter to bring an impressive array of concerts, theater, dance and performance art to the West Side stage ranging from award-winning plays by August Wilson and Chinese Acrobats, African Dancers and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theater of Harlem and Drumline “The Musical”. He’s also boosted cultural awareness and civic pride by bringing in luminaries, cultural icons and thought leaders like Coretta Scott-King, Maya Angelou, Ossie Davis, Michael Eric Dyson, and Dr. Cornell West.
Spencer is the host of Lakeshore Classic Movies on Lakeshore PBS.
Mark earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre from Indiana University Northwest, a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Calumet College of St. Joseph, a Master of Education degree from Indiana Wesleyan University, an Indiana Teacher License and an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities Degree presented to him from GMOR Theological Institute.
Spencer has served as an adjunct professor at Indiana University Northwest in the department of Performing Arts.
He served as a Commissioner on the Social Status of Black Males Commission and was a board member for the ECIER foundation.
Spencer was a Councilman At Large for the City of Gary, Indiana.
He is currently the Director of Performing Arts for the Gary Community School Corporation, with over 32 years of service.
Mark A. Spencer, M.Ed., is currently an Indiana State Senator, serving District 3.
In 2004, he put his love of films to good use by directing and producing his first feature, Posin’, which was screened before a live audience of 2,000 people and given glowing reviews by filmmaker, Spike Lee. Over the next four years, Spencer directed and produced The Gilded-Six-Bits, The Ballad of Sadie Hawkins, The Firing Squad, Swan Song, Steel Waters and Help Wanted in 2018. His most current film release is entitled, 1000 Negative Confessions. It was produced in 2024.
Mark has been awarded the NAACP Jeanette B. Strong Award, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Citizen of the Year (both regional chapters), Society of Innovators Fellow Award, Quality of Life Council Award, Edgewater Health Mental Advocate of the Year, Indiana University Northwest Diversity Champion Award, Student Exploratory Teacher of the Year Award, Delta Sigma Theta Men of Valor Award, Rembrandt Film Festival Best Short Film Narrative, African American Arts Alliance of Chicago Outstanding Film Award, TV-OP Festival Rising Writer/Director Award, Gary Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Community Tea Pot Award, The Gary Legends Award, Gary Frontiers Club MLK Marcher Award, Gary Frontiers Club MLK Drum Major Award and the Katie Hall Foundation Merit of Distinction Award and ISSMA Distinguished Service Award African Repertory Theatre IUPUI Distinguished Fellow Award, Art E Gras Theatre Icon Award 2023, Gary International Black Film Festival Vanguard Award.
In 2011, he earned a Stellar Award nomination for Best Video for directing and producing Gospel Icon Shirley Caesar’s video, Playground in Heaven.
Working with and directing members of his talented repertory at Gary, Indiana’s West Side Theatre Guild, Spencer has been lauded for his creative use of location settings in and around the Gary area. He also has the distinction of grooming many students and community members for careers onstage, onscreen, and in the music business. Under Mark’s tutelage alumni have gone on to work with Grammy-winning artists like The Jacksons, Frankie Beverly & Maze and Mary J. Blige, as well as performing on Broadway, in the NBC production of The Wiz, and with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Over the years, Mark has built the West Side Theater into the preeminent entertainment venue in Northwest Indiana. Under his direction the theater underwent a multi-million dollar renovation adding state-of-the-art lighting and sound, rigging, curtains, recording studios, and most recently a massive mural depicting diverse students practicing the arts. Mark has leveraged his vast knowledge and experience as a talent buyer, producer and promoter to bring an impressive array of concerts, theater, dance and performance art to the West Side stage ranging from award-winning plays by August Wilson and Chinese Acrobats, African Dancers and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theater of Harlem and Drumline “The Musical”. He’s also boosted cultural awareness and civic pride by bringing in luminaries, cultural icons and thought leaders like Coretta Scott-King, Maya Angelou, Ossie Davis, Michael Eric Dyson, and Dr. Cornell West.
Spencer is the host of Lakeshore Classic Movies on Lakeshore PBS.
Mark earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre from Indiana University Northwest, a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Calumet College of St. Joseph, a Master of Education degree from Indiana Wesleyan University, an Indiana Teacher License and an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities Degree presented to him from GMOR Theological Institute.
Spencer has served as an adjunct professor at Indiana University Northwest in the department of Performing Arts.
He served as a Commissioner on the Social Status of Black Males Commission and was a board member for the ECIER foundation.
Spencer was a Councilman At Large for the City of Gary, Indiana.
He is currently the Director of Performing Arts for the Gary Community School Corporation, with over 32 years of service.
Mark A. Spencer, M.Ed., is currently an Indiana State Senator, serving District 3.
