Welcome to Chicago theater—where the egos are huge, the budgets are tiny, and everything that can go wrong, does. In this “rollicking ride through the underbelly of the acting world” ( Midwest Book Review ) director Dwayne Finnegan is just one brilliant production away from Broadway. His plan? A radical reimaging of Shakespeare’s least-favorite play with bold choreography, Jimi Hendrix guitars, and the hottest cast in the city of Chicago. But when the show’s producer cuts out with the cash, Dwayne decides to produce it himself. Putting his marriage, his career, and his sanity on the line, Dwayne oversees a cascade of backstage disasters and hilariously bad decisions. Give My Regards to Nowhere is a sharp, funny, and heartfelt novel about ambition, creativity, and the beautiful chaos of making live theatre. Perfect for fans of: Backstage comedies and satire - Smart, character-driven humor - Chicago-set fiction - Authors like Carl Hiaasen and Christopher Moore - TV and movies like Slings and Arrows , Mozart in the Jungle , and Waiting for Guffman “absurd comic hi-jinx” – Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune “lively, fun, and welcoming…a pleasure to read” – The BookLife Prize “a delightful satirical journey through the trials and tribulations of producing a play…hilarious” – Chicago OnStage Book One of the Dwayne Finnegan Series "This fast-paced novel, set against the backdrop of the glimmering theater world, offers a refreshing change of pace with a show stopping plot and plenty of drama, both on stage and off. Readers will relish following Engling's characters in their amusing spin through the highs and lows of show business. The writing is lively, fun, and welcoming, allowing fans to get lost in the quirky world of theater. Engling—a gifted storyteller—steeps readers in the story's light and entertaining setting, making this novel a pleasure to read." --The BookLife Prize "If you can't get to a live production, your best bet is to pick up Richard Engling's sparkling new comic novel about Chicago storefront theater...In classic comic fashion, everything that can go wrong does, keeping the reader continuously laughing, entertained and in suspense...The chaotic shenanigans conceal a tightly constructed plot full of vivid dialogue that hones to comedy's fundamental principles: pleasure, surprise, folly, luck both good and bad, and a celebration of human ingenuity and resilience." -- Evanston RoundTable Give My Regards to Nowhere: A Director's Tale sounds like a memoir, but it's a comic tale of love, backstage operations, and the challenges faced by Chicago theatre director Dwayne Finnegan when his big ideas to raise a small production to lofty fame result in the venture's purse strings being cut. The rollicking ride through the underbelly of the acting world...will attract anyone interested in drama, theater, Chicago backdrops, or a drive to succeed against all odds. However stacked against him they may be. — Midwest Book Review As Carl Hiaasen does with his Florida-based satirical crime novels, Engling's gloriously silly narrative allows his readers to witness how the sausage gets made, which isn't always pretty but is often eye-opening. Of course, like all satirists, Engling freely exaggerates and invents for the sake of humor, but the characters and events in this book illuminate both the deep love theatre artists have for their chosen profession and the personal and professional problems that all too often gunk up the works. —ChicagoOnStage This is a sprightly and entertaining tale about the beleaguered director of a small Chicago acting troupe who hopes an avant-garde production of Shakespeare's 'Titus Andronicus' will lead to his big break ... if it doesn't break him first. Engling - whose theatrical background gives him a sure hand as he builds the underpinning here - manages to keep it all fast-paced and funny. It feels very much like a performance piece, and most readers will probably be casting it in their heads as they read along. Dwayne is essentially a good guy who has gotten in way over his head, and much of the fun here comes from seeing him carom wildly from one disaster to another. —Library Thing A comic novel of love, lust, and life-threatening electrical shocks. "Richard Engling knows Chicago's famously chaotic and glorious storefront theater scene like the back of his hand." - Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune , author of Rise Up! "A scrappy, big-hearted backstage comedy layered with mordant wit..." - Adam Langer, author of Cyclorama "...very funny, briskly written, and often touching..." - Mark Larson, author of Ensemble "...thoroughly entertaining from start to finish." - Karen Topham, Chicago OnStage "An immensely readable tale..." - Vicki Quade, author of Late Nite Catechism "Hilarious, witty, touching, intelligent, and spot-on. Entire chapters are laugh-out-loud funny." - Nadeem Zaman, author of The Inheritors "No doubt, the best e