Plays
David
has written dozens of plays, both full-length and short
pieces. A number of them have been produced by theater
companies around the world, and many have been published, as
well, including these highlighted pieces:
Colene Byrd and Ray Baker in the brown couch
production of Resurrection, directed by Allison QuetelArnold Nawrocki is Dead, a short piece in which two men ruminate over the obituary of the man who perfected the process of individually wrapping cheese slices, premiered at the 2004 Boston Theater Marathon. Resurrection (2005) Eugene O'Neill once suggested that man should experience a resurrection a week. How do you suppose mankind would react? Resurrection is a short play that presents one possibility. The piece premiered simultaneously in 2005 at both the brown couch theatre in Chicago and Studio Rep of Rhode Island, was presented as part of the 2006 Boston Theater Marathon, and the Curan Theater of New York City's Notes from the Underground one-act festival. It's my favorite piece and I hope you'll take a few minutes to read it here. The Riverbank Code, a drama for the stage which is based on the true story of the people who in 1916 proved in court that Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare. Published by the Eldridge Publishing Company in 2003.
- GUILTY! (best described as a warped love story), Arnold Nawrocki is Dead, and The End (about how a father's impending death affects differently his three sons.) have all been published by JAC Publishing & Promotions in 2005.
- Top of the World, Ma! A spoof of "Outward-Bound" type of programs for executives, Top of the World, MA! is a comedy (black, no sugar) about two office workers who find they are the only ones to have survived the day's challenge. This piece was presented July 2001 as part of Waltham's Hovey Players Summer Shorts Festival and was published in 2003 by Brooklyn Publishing.
- Good for Nothing (a wild take on the current crop of reality-based TV shows) was produced by several companies before being published by Brooklyn Publishing in 2004.
David, director Carmel O'Reilly,
and the cast of Sugan Theater's
production of "Arnold Nawrocki
is dead, performed at the 2004
Boston Theater Marathon.
David's most recently completed work for the stage is a full-length comedy titled I.P.O. I.P.O. takes place on the last full day of the 1990s, as we follow Gil Bates, who has quit his Harvard scholarship to grab his share of the Internet boom and start a new company. Over the course of this one day, Gil battles with his investor-father, his competitors, his girlfriend, and a myriad of temptations of the 1990s, while his company rises from nothing (we start with an empty stage in the morning) to the height of a media-driven frenzy (mid-day the office is crowded with furniture, reporters, and lawyers) to the inevitable collapse of the company (as the last lines of the play are spoken, a worker is removing the desks and chairs.) A staged reading was performed at the Quannapowitt Playhouse in February, 2011. Click HERE to view the PDF of the script.
If your theater group, school, or organziation is looking for a play or musical, I hope you will consider one of the following, to which i have linked either the publisher or PDF:
TITLE Basics Synopsis Production history Publisher or PDF link The Curse is Reversed* (formerly The Curse of the Bambino) Musical 8M, 1F
Rewritten with a new, happier ending after the 2004 season, this is the tale of the Red Sox struggle for a World Championship after the 1920 sale of Babe Ruth (The Bambino) Premiered at Boston's Lyric Stage in 2001. Subsequent productions at Stoneham's Theater To Go and Waltham's Hovey Players Go here to visit the official web site of the musical, or click here to view the PDf of the script Resurrection Short form 1M, 1F
Eugene O'Neill once suggested that man should experience a resurrection a week. How do you suppose mankind would react? Resurrection is a short play that presents one possibility. The piece premiered simultaneously in 2005 at both the brown couch theatre in Chicago and Studio Rep of Rhode Island, was presented as part of the 2006 Boston Theater Marathon and the Curan Theater of New York City's Notes from the Underground one-act festival Click HERE to view the PDF Good for Nothing Short Form 2M, 1F
A wild take on reality-based TV shows Produced by several companies , including The Barn Players of Waltham. Brooklyn Publishing in 2004 Arnold Nawrocki is Dead Short Form 2M
Two men ruminate over the obituary of the man who perfected the process of individually wrapping cheese slices Premiered at the 2004 Boston Theater Marathon JAC Publishing & Promotions in 2005 The Riverbank Code Full length 6M, 2F
Based on the true story of the people who in 1916 proved in court that Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare Stage read at Boston's Union Club in June 2008
Eldridge Publishing Company in 2003 GUILTY! Short form 2M, 2F
The idea for this play came after Robert Mattson mentioned that one of Patrick Brennan's plays would be produced at ACME the same year as Good for Nothing. I joked "knowing Patrick it will probably be another syrupy love story," to which Robert replied "yes, but in his story the couple will be forced to fall in love." I immediately replied "Robert, that's a great idea for a play." Premiered at the ACME short play festival in 2006
JAC Publishing & Promotions in 2005 The End Short Form 3M, 2F
A father's impending death affects his three sons in very different - and life-changing ways Premiered at the ACME short play festival in 2006 JAC Publishing & Promotions in 2005 Top of the World, Ma! Short Form 2M
A spoof of "Outward-Bound" type of programs for executives in which two office workers find they are the only ones to have survived the day's challenge Presented July 2001 as part of Waltham's Hovey Players Summer Shorts Festival and was also produced at Maynard's ACME Theater in 2005 Brooklyn Publishing in 2003 I.P.O. Full length 6M, 3F
On the last full day of the 1990s we follow a Harvard drop-out who has started a company, to grab his share of the Internet boom. He battles with his investor-father, his competitors, his girlfriend, and a myriad of temptations of the 1990s, while his company rises from nothing (we start with an empty stage in the morning) to the height of a media-driven frenzy (mid-day the office is crowded with furniture, reporters, and lawyers) to the inevitable collapse of the company (as the last lines of the play are spoken, a worker is removing the desks and chairs.) Stage read at the Quannopowitt Theater in Reading in January 2010
Click HERE to view the PDF Immaculate Deception Short Form 3M
Pittsburgh natives Harry and Frank return to their boyhood homes after their father's funeral. There, they learn that the secret their deceased mother had been hiding from their father - and them. Published in 2009
Click HERE to view the PDF Secret Love Super Short Form 1M
The harrowing tale of the the perhaps inevitable result of man's love for computers Click HERE to view the PDF Seven Stages Short Form 3M, 2F
A collaborative piece, in which one page at a time was written by eight different playwrights whose only task was to add to the previous page and set up the next playwright. The writers were, in order: David, Jerry Bisantz, Robert Mattson, Steven Bergman, Glen Doyle, Melinda Lopez, Norman Lasca, and Michael Bettoncourt. Click HERE to view the PDF What Would A.R. Do? Short Form 2M, 1F
Also titled, "Maintaining Appearances," it is a spoof on the life styles of the rich and self-centered Produced for the 2003 ACME Theater New Winter Works Festival in Maynard, MA Click HERE to view the PDF Ice Age Short Form 1M, 1F
When baseball fans learned that Ted Williams, the Splendid Splinter, was, after death, a frozen popsicle, it begged the question "what will happened to the greatest hitter that ever lived?" This short play takes a stab at one scenario Produced by the Barn Players of Waltham, MA in 2006 Published in September 2005 as part of the anthology "Fenway Fiction: Short Stories from Red Sox Nation," by Rounder Books Cinema Verite Short Form 3M, 3F
It's a hot summer day in Boston and four college students ponder the choices at their local multi-plex, as well as the state of their lives Presented in February 2002 as part of ACME Theater New Winter Works Festival in Maynard, MA. Click HERE to view the PDF The Man Who Saved the World Short Form
2M, 1F
An astronaut returns to earth after deflecting an asteroid that would have killed all life on the planet. But his reward is a celebrity that for him is a fate worse than death Presented at the Annual Arlington Center for the Arts New Works Festival in November, 2002 Click HERE to view the PDF Upon Seeing God in Dearborn Short Form 2, M or F
Percy is a birthday present on his way to a little girl's party. Life couldn't be better. But into the mailbox falls Raymond, a PAYMENT OVERDUE notice, who doesn't share Percy's rosy view of the world and the mail The Barn Players of Waltham produced this piece in 2004 Click HERE to view the PDF Marooned Monologue 1F
An astronaut, marooned on an alien world, makes a desperate call to mission control, while fighting off the abductors who are trying to control her mind
Movie Scripts
- PONZI! A collaboration with Arnie Reisman, this script is about the infamous Boston swindler who, coincidentally, operated at the exact same time that Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees.
- Placed in the quarter finals of the 2001 Scriptapalooza Screen Writers competition
- Honorable mention in the Writer's Network FADE IN contest in 2003.
- PONZI is being shopped by Two Rams Entertainment.
- Be Careful What You Wish For..., both a novel and screenplay, which tell the story about how the Red Sox finally winning the World Series affects the lives of several Bostonians. The novel is now available for purchase on Kindle.
- Screenplay was a finalist in Screenplay Festival's 2003 competition
- Placed in the quarter finals of Fade-In Magazine's annual screenwriting competition in 2004
Acting & StandupAlthough they can be a fun way to earn a buck, both are harder than they look. Aside from extra work in several movies and TV shows shot here in the Boston area, David has also performed in stage shows such as Late Night Catechism and Curley: The Musical and was also a cast member of the traveling troupe of Joey & Maria's Italian Wedding (he played a priest and his wife Mauzy played a nun. Yes, they still have their costumes. No, they don't wear them.) David also spent three plus years writing and performing standup comedy, and likes to say that he saw the back of every Chinese restaurant between Narragansett, Rhode Island to York Beach, Maine.
In the mid-1990s David did some extra work on several movies and TV shows that were filmed here in Boston. Here is David in his big scene with Dylan McDermott (in the pilot episode of "The Practice") which shows David and McDermott together on screen. (By watching the whole scene here you can appreciate the Zapruder-like capture of this one fleeting moment...)
Finally, David takes strange pride in noting that thanks to his 7.4 seconds on the HBO special "The Curse of the Bambino" (yes, he timed it) he has his very own page on the Internet Movie Database website. (Click on the IMBD logo above to see it)
