Canton Playwright Continues His Creative Streak with New Novels

When Canton resident Bernard Mendillo was in college, he studied medicine.

That is, until he happened into a creative course halfway through his four years, and discovered his true calling.  The Canton resident has been writing ever since. 

He is a prolific novelist, journalist and playwright, with two independently published novels, Dancing Naked with the Devil and Marvin Piersoll.  His next two books, due out this year, are Football, a Memoir and Bella in America.  The content is 90% comedy and generally touches on a small group of people and their interactions.

Mendillo has had 11 full-length plays produced—two of them off-off-Broadway.

His wildly dark comedy Mates won the Wykeham Rise National Playwrighting Contest. Over time, he developed this into the Mates Trilogy, with all three plays presented at the Little Theater in Binghamton, N.Y.

Mendillo also has extensive journalism experience, having written more than 600 feature articles and humor columns for the Providence Journal, Canton Journal, and Warwick Beacon.

With two young children at home, it might be difficult to find a hideaway and time to write.

 “I can write anywhere,” he said, “even for 15 minutes,” he sadi. “I could write in South Station!” 

Mendillo is a firm believer in making some progress every day and will grab moments to write while his children are in school.

“I also like to write at the in Canton,” Mendillo said, “It’s a great place."

His advice for aspiring writers is simple. “Keep writing. I have never had experience with writers’ block. I try to get something down every day, and the process keeps moving.”

Mendillo and his wife, Robin, live in Canton, with their son Benjamin, a student at the and daughter, Bella, who is at the Rodman preschool. Mendillo also has two older children, Hollie and Christopher.