Playwriting

  • "A rollicking good story… Another spunky, funny work by Josh Tobiessen"

    The New York Times

  • "Ridiculously entertaining…cute and cutting."

    Variety

  • "An abundance of humor, warmth and wisdom… Josh Tobiessen knows how to spin a surprise like a master."

    The Huffington Post

  • "Laugh-out-loud."

    Backstage

  • “Virtually irresistible. It is off-the-wall wacky and irreverent, yet still manages to touch the heart.”

    Atlanta InTown

Josh Tobiessen

Using an undergraduate degree in philosophy along with training from the Improv Olympic in Chicago, Josh started writing plays in Ireland with Catastrophe Theatre Co.  After having several plays – many of them site-specific productions – performed at such venues as the Galway Arts Festival and the Dublin Fringe Festival he returned to the States to get a playwriting MFA at the University of California, San Diego. Since then his plays have been produced or developed at such places as The Alliance Theatre, Atlanta; Crowded Outlet, New York City; The Jungle Theater, Minneapolis; Mixed Blood Theatre, Minneapolis; The O’Neill New Play Conference, Connecticut; Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland; Pioneer Theatre Company, Salt Lake City; Second Stage Theatre, New York; Slant Theatre Project, New York; and AiShangChu Theatre, Hong Kong. Election Day is published by Samuel French and in the Smith and Kraus anthology, New Playwrights, Best Plays of 2008.  Lone Star Spirits and Spoon Lake Blues are both published by Dramatic Publishing Co.  Josh received a 2023 Finalist award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Selected Plays

  • Election Day

    It’s Election Day, and Adam knows his over-zealous girlfriend will never forgive him if he fails to vote. But when his sex starved sister, an eco-terrorist, and a mayoral candidate willing to do anything for a vote all show up, Adam finds that making that quick trip to the polls might be harder than he thought.

    (Photo, Manuel Rotenberg)

  • Crashing the Party

    A surprise birthday party spins comically out of control as a series of unexpected guests force the Martin family to reassess their place in the American Dream.

    (Photo, Rich Ryan)

  • Spoon Lake Blues

    In an attempt to save their family home from the bank, two brothers, Denis and Brady, decide to start robbing their wealthy neighbors in the mountain town of Spoon Lake.  But after one such felony, Brady falls in love with the daughter of the family they’ve just robbed and a whole new plot is hatched.

  • Lone Star Spirits

    Hoping for a quick trip home to introduce her fiancé to her estranged father, Marley finds herself stranded in a liquor store haunted by her football hero ex-boyfriend, a single mom insistent on a girls night out and the ghost of the bear-wrestling pioneer who founded their town.

    (Photo, Dan Norman)

  • Stinkers

    Stay-at-home dad, Brad, is doing fine dealing with his two toddlers and pushy neighbor, but when his ex-con mom show's up, she has more ambitions plans for her son and herself.

    (Photo, Dan Norman)