David Drake (born June 27, 1963) is an American playwright, stage director, actor and author. He is best known as the author and original performer of '' The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me'', for which he received a ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

, a 1994

Drama-Logue Award The Drama-Logue Award was an American theater award established in 1977, given by the publishers of Drama-Logue newspaper, a weekly west-coast theater trade publication. Winners were selected by the publication's theater critics, and would recei ...

for "Outstanding Solo Performance," and a Robbie Stevens Frontiers Magazine Award for the same. Nominations include a 1994

LA Weekly Theater Award LA Weekly Theater Award was an annual critics' award system established in 1979, organized by the '' LA Weekly'' for outstanding achievements in small theatre productions in Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal ...

and a Lambda Literary Award nomination for "Best New Play of 1994" (published by

Anchor Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Hous ...

Biography

Born as David Drakula in

Edgewood, Maryland Edgewood is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Harford County, Maryland, Harford County, Maryland, United States. The population was 25,562 at the 2010 census, up from 23,378 in 2000. Geography E ...

, and raised in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, he later began going by the name David Drake. He has Romanian roots. Drake has contributed articles to the ''

Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

'', '' TheaterWeek'', and ''

Details Detail(s) or The Detail(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''Details'' (film), a 2003 Swedish film * ''The Details'' (film), a 2011 American film * ''The Detail'', a Canadian television series * "The Detail" (''The Wire''), a television epis ...

''. One of the longest one-actor plays in

Off Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

history, ''Larry Kramer'' has received over thirty productions in nearly a dozen countries, and the published version was nominated for a

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

. In 2000 Drake starred in a movie version of ''The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me''. The movie was directed by Tim Kirkman and was filmed at

Baltimore Theatre Project The Baltimore Theatre Project is a performing arts center located at 45 West Preston Street in Baltimore, Maryland. Early years The Baltimore Theatre Project was founded in 1971 by Philip Arnoult as an appendage to Antioch University. Such dive ...

. David Drake has appeared in the feature film ''

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

'' and on the stage in '' Vampire Lesbians of Sodom'', ''Pageant'', '' The Boys in the Band'', and ''A Language of Their Own''. He now lives in Provincetown, MA, where he is artistic director of The Provincetown Theater.

Credits

Print

*''The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me'', New York : Anchor Books, 1994, 112 pages,

Stage

*Pageant *'' Vampire Lesbians of Sodom'' *'' The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me'', Summer 199

*''Son of Drakula'' As a director, David has directed Eric Bernat's ''Starstruck'', ''That Woman: Rebecca West Remember'', starring Anne Bobby, and ''The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac'', written and performed by Taylor Mac, which won a Herald Angel Award, A Latest Award, and an Argus Angel Award. In May 2009, his production of James Edwin Parker's ''2 Boys in a Bed on a Cold Winter's Night'' played to sold-out houses and rave reviews as part of the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival. He is currently working on directing ''Songs My Mother Never Taught Me'', written and performed by Deborah Karpel, which premiered at the

Ruhrfestspiele Ruhrfestspiele (Ruhr Festival) in Recklinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, is one of the oldest theatre festivals in Europe. Founded after World War II, the festival is a major annual cultural event for the Ruhr area. It always starts on 1 ...

in Recklinghausen, Germany, in June 2009. In July 2009 he participated in the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, workshopping Taylor Mac's five-act musical ''Lily's Revenge''. This was his second trip to Sundance, having directed the workshop of Edmund White's ''Terre Haute'' in 2005. He is a frequent collaborator of New York producer Paul Lucas, for whom he has directed ''that Woman'', ''The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac'', ''Stand Up/Lie Down'', and ''Songs My Mother Never Taught Me''. He is currently the artistic director of the Provincetown Theater.

Film

References

External links

*
Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, David 1963 births Living people 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American theatre directors American gay writers American gay actors American LGBT screenwriters Male actors from Baltimore People from Edgewood, Maryland American LGBT dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights American people of Romanian descent 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American LGBT people