ANDREW BISS

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...

I’m pleased to report that an abridged version of my play “Carbon-Based Life Form Seeks Similar” has been selected for publication in the forthcoming anthology “105 Five-Minute Plays for Study and Performance.” The book will be published by theatrical trade publisher Smith & Kraus, Inc. and is edited by John Capecci and Irene Ziegler. The publication date is tentatively scheduled for August, 2016. The play in its original form was first produced by The Independent Theatre Collective in Wheeling, West Virginia, in 2010. The play was subsequently produced the following year by The Curan Repertory Company at the American Theatre of Actors in New York, as part of its Notes From The Underground Festival. The popularity of the ten-minute play has risen exponentially over the past 15 years and is now the dominant format in most short play festivals, so it will be interesting to see how this further reduced configuration fares. A sketch or a skit, of course, can be as shor...