Andy Evans playwright
Andy Evans moved to Humberside as a young teacher to set up the Law Department at a sixth form college.
Andy joined the Caxton Theatre in Grimsby, where he was a member for over 20 years.He ran the Caxton Youth Theatre successfully for ten years and gained an international reputation for his work with young people. He wrote and produced some extremely challenging work such as the European premiere of of "Bang Bang You're Dead" by Tony Award winner, William Mastrosimone, dealing with school shooters in the USA.
During that period Andy began writing plays for his group to perform and he honed his skills sufficiently to find publishers willing to publish his work in both the UK and the USA.
His play "Moonlight Marionettes" continues to be produced across the USA and won awards for best new play and provided best actor awards for performers too.
From there, Andy linked up with Hull Truck Theatre and Nick Lane. He was commissioned to write a one-man show entitled "Taking a Bullet" which was performed as part of the company's first "Play, A Pie and A Pint" season with Eamon Fleming in the main role. This commission allowed Andy to gain full membership of the Writers Guild of Great Britain.
Andy also linked up with the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff as a member of their writers' group. His short play "Dafydd" was written for and performed by the National Theatre of Wales as a part of the Made in Roath Festival and was followed by another shirt play written for and produced by Dirty Protest in Cardiff.
His work with Fusion Youth Theatre saw productions of three musicals written in conjunction with musician Jack Pudsey. "Chomp!" toured the North of England and the Edinburgh Festival and "Cheerleader Apocalypse" was funded by the BBC Performing Arts Fund.
As a sideline, Andy also wrote spoof sketches for the cast of BBC TVs "Torchwood", including John Barrowman, to perform at fan conventions.
In 2012, Andy formed Breakwater Theatre Company with performer Sara Beasley and they became the only new writing company on the South Bank of the Humber, offering opportunities to writers or would-be writers to stage their work at scratch nights.He was also commissioned to write a play for Slung Low Theatre from Leeds.
In 2013, Andy wrote for Daniel Bye and Conor McKee, both pieces were performed at Hull Truck Theatre
In 2014, Andy;s play "Pro Patria Mori" about the Grimsby Chums in WW1 was staged to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the battalion's formation. This was a subject revisited in a 2016 radio play simply entitled "The Grimsby Chums" produced and broadcast by Compass FM.
2016 also saw Andy's new play "FIT" commissioned by Lincs Inspire. A one-woman show dealing with the war in Afghanistan met with great critical acclaim and was also performed in a sell-out performance at the London Theatre in February 2017.
Breakwater Theatre produced a night of new writing in April 2017 and inn October, two of Andy's plays "Legend" and "Ingrid" were produced for Breakwater Theatre and "Moonlight marionettes received two more productions in the USA.
Andy has also written three musicals for primary school pupils in "Spy School Musical", "Amelie and the Detectives" and "Sherlock Holmes and the Doomed Professor".
Contact Andy today at andy.evans@ntlworld.com