←Recommendations of A First-Draft Second-Rate Love Story

This put a smile on my face-so incredibly relatable. I love a good reality spoof, and this did not disappoint! Any director or actor could easily pull this off and have loads of fun doing it!

Plays are expected to change (sometimes drastically) from draft to draft; but, when those changes come live and onstage during a script-in-hand reading of a new play, all hell can break loose. In this hilarious meta-theatrical piece, not only to the characters names change during the course of the play; but, so do their relationships, and even their physical bodies. The audience will have to be paying attention to keep up with all at the twists and turns; but, with a piece this tightly (yet ornately) crafted, keeping up with it is a big part of the fun.

John Busser’s A First-Draft Second-Rate Love Story is a deeply funny meta-theatrical comedy. Both playwrights and actors will recognize themselves in this script and grimace at the indignities the other have thrust upon them. I can't help but think of my own Johns and Vivians/Miriams and what I've put them through. This short play is sure to be a crowd pleaser as it's not only a fast-paced satire of "second-rate" writing but also a clever celebration of the theatrical collaborative spirit.

A clever and self-aware comedic play that satirizes the chaos of the creative process. By breaking the fourth wall and weaving in layers of meta-theatrical commentary, this piece critiques not only the stereotypical tropes of romantic melodrama, but also the disorganized, often contradictory nature of early drafts in playwriting. This script is a treasure for any theater looking to embrace comedy with intelligence and heart, though the International Whaling Commission may disagree.

Busser is definitely an “old hand” at what he might politely call (as I’ve heard him call it other things) “mindless mickey-ing” around! Don’t change a thing—even the stage directions: it’s the law and, thankfully, Busser’s are as hysterical as the dialogue.

What writer can’t relate to the chaos of multiple drafts? I got sucked in right away. Super clever and great laugh-out-loud fun.

I find myself becoming by jealous of people imaginations. To take a concept as well warn as the play-within-a-play motif and spin it into something wholly new and original, with such life and energy, that I am honored to even be in its presence. This is what we have here, a one-two (and three-four-five-six...) punch of jokes that i barely had time to catch my breath - WHILE READING IT. I cannot begin to imagine the joy and fun that this would be produced. Bravo, Sir, well done!

The play-within-a-play reminds me of my own melodramas that I wrote when I was young playwright of sixteen. This is a super fun, super funny 10-minute play that any theatre will have a blast producing.

JOHN BUSSER’s “A First-Draft Second-Rate Love Story” is a very witty and wonderful piece. Audiences will laugh out loud and thoroughly enjoy this 10-minute play. I hope to see it someday on stage.

John Busser is a joke machine operator, starting out slowly and simply, and then subtly cranking up the velocity and adding new elements until the audience is reeling from a bombardment of foolery coming at them from all sides. An energetic cast could kill with this one!