Andrew Shanks is a Seattle playwright, performer and theatre punk. His story began in Los Angeles where he escaped earthquakes, shark attacks, and latchkey summers for the greater pacific northwest. Graduating from Central Washington University with a BFA in Performance and Playwriting, Shanks has built his career on DIY theatre and ensemble community engagement.

As a young punk living in the San Fernando Valley, Shanks learned the value of building community in found family, positive mental attitude in the face of overwhelming existential dread, and how best to scale fences when being chased by the fuzz. As Shanks has matured into whatever you call an adult these days, his creative outlets turned to writing and curation. You’ll often find him in mom & pop record shops, scouring the bins for the soundtrack to his next late-night editing session.

Shanks’ written work runs the gamut from family trauma, ghost-hunting punks, reincarnated cockroaches, big-tech gone amok, and professional wrestling. His play, “ACME: A Company that Makes Everything” made it’s New York debut in 2019 and his plays have been performed across country at fringe theaters looking for something a little more outside the box.

Since 2020, his creative focus has been creating and producing the lo-fi late-night theatre anthology series, THE UGLY RADIO. which is available on all podcast streaming platforms, and has featured over +110 artists, writers, voice actors and musicians.

Shanks is quite sure that he is human, and not four aardvarks piloting a human suit… but how can anyone be sure these days?