ANDREW BISS

Talk about a fast turnaround. I'd completed a new short play entitled ‘The Butcher’ on March 20th and somehow managed to secure agreement for its debut production on March 31st – an astounding 11 days later! This, quite simply, never happens. No matter how good or how well-received a newly written play might be, it can take months or even years for it to make it from page to stage (see aptly named production title below). Of course, there were extenuating circumstances that led to this remarkable occurrence. I’d been contacted by a theatre group in Hong Kong ( The Hong Kong Players ) a few days earlier, inquiring about the production rights for a number of my short plays from The Meta Plays collection. When they informed me of the theme of their production, I happened to mention that I’d just completed a new play that seemed tailor-made for just such a theme and would make it available for them to read if they so desired. They did, and a couple of days later they contacted me to a

‘The Craft’ was announced the ‘Best of the Decade’ winner on September 6th, 2018 at the Minnesota Shorts Play Festival in Mankato, Minnesota, which restaged their best reviewed shows from the last nine years of producing the festival. The play also garnered best actress and best actor awards for its talented cast of Callie Sonnek and Zach Bolland. Hearty congratulations to all! Director Chad Brancamp, with Callie Sonnek and Zach Bolland.

A Practical Guide to Becoming a Playwright is officially released! It’s been a real labor of love sharing what I’ve learned over the past two decades or so and I truly hope it proves to be a valuable tool for any aspiring or early-stage playwrights who pick up a copy. Inside you’ll find straightforward, practical guidance on honing your craft and steering your plays toward successful productions. While many playwriting books focus solely on stagecraft, this one also examines the nuts and bolts of getting your plays produced. After all, writing a play is one thing, but it won't have fulfilled its purpose until it's been brought to life on a stage. Examining everything from structure, dialogue, and creating well-rounded characters, to formatting, writing synopses and preparing your plays for submission, A Practical Guide to Becoming a Playwright offers a comprehensive explanation of the often challenging process of writing plays and getting them into the hands of producer

I was very excited and more than a little proud to see that “ Monologues They’llRemember You By ” had become the number one bestselling book in Theater Acting & Auditioning in the Amazon.com.au Kindle Store today. In truth, I’ve been astonished, overjoyed and rather humbled by the tremendous reception the book has enjoyed since its release. It’s been selling extremely well in the US  and has also proven to be a popular seller in the UK , Canada , Australia , and Continental Europe. So a great big, heartfelt thank you to everyone who’s purchased a copy so far, and more than that, I hope it helps land you all of the roles you’re chasing after – for me to know that my words have helped you achieve your goals would be the ultimate reward. And to my friends Down Under, all I can say is…good on you, mates!

It suddenly struck me as I was writing the last blog post that I had neglected to make any announcement on here of the recent publication of my short play anthology, “ Ten-Minute Plays: The Comedy Collection .” It seems rather astounding in a way, but I can only put it down to the fact that almost immediately upon its release I embarked upon a stretch of foreign travel, and upon my return I was dealing with a rather nasty case of dengue fever (a souvenir from the aforementioned foreign travel). So allow me to attempt a little rectification. As the title suggests (or more accurately, makes patently clear), this is a collection of ten-minute plays, all of which fall into the comedy genre in one way or another. It seemed to be a good idea to put together a collection comprised solely of comedies, as these are often the favored genre in ten-minute play festivals and so would provide a great resource for any theatre practitioners looking for just that. The volume contains 15

Firstly, I’d like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! 2017 was a very important year for me, as it saw the publication of my monologue book “ Monologues They’ll Remember You By ,” which I’m happy to report has so far been a great success, finding its way into the hands of actors across the US , the UK , Canada , Australia and Continental Europe. It also saw the publication of my anthology of comedic short plays, “ Ten-Minute Plays: The Comedy Collection ,” which is also proving to be very popular, hitting the #1 spot for hot new releases on Amazon upon its release. And 2018 promises to be another big year, as I’m currently working on a brand new book which I hope to finish in the coming months. This one’s a little different for me, as it will not be a book of my playwriting work but a book about playwriting itself. It’s still in its formative stage, but essentially I will be sharing insights and experience from my journey as a playwright, offering advice, tips, and all

I was delighted to see today that "Monologues They'll Remember You By" got off to a roaring start on Amazon, hitting the #1 spot on Hot New Releases for Acting and Auditioning! It's a very gratifying result, especially after all of the effort that went into putting together a book that I could truly feel confident in and stand behind 100%. But of course, writing a book and marketing a book go hand in hand, and no matter how good the product you're offering is, if your target audience don't know about it, it isn't going to sell many copies.  So even though the hard work put into creating the book is over, the hard - and in some ways harder - work that goes into promoting it has only just begun. But with an auspicious start like this, I'm more than motivated to roll up my sleeves and start spreading the word!