David Greenspan (born 1956) is an American
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
and
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
. He is the recipient of six
Obies
Obies () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.
Heraldry
See also
*Communes of the Nord department
The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic.
The communes cooperate in the ...
, including an award in 2010 for Sustained Achievement.
Life
Greenspan was born in 1956 in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. He holds a B.A. in Drama from the
University of California at Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...
. He lives in New York City with his long-time partner, painter William Kennon.
Career
"A classicist in experimental clothing, David Greenspan is a playwright who is also passionately involved in the theatre as an actor and director. From his early more autobiographical plays (one of which, Principia, took inspiration from the shifting modalities of Joyce’s Ulysses) to more recent works inspired by (and at times adapted from the work of) Hawthorne, Stein, Molnar, and Thorton Wilder, Greenspan’s theatre is a place where anything can happen. Deliciously complicated, incredibly funny, the work, whether tragic, tender, mysterious or cruel, betrays a profoundly empathic imagination. Both wildly conjured and deeply attentive to diverse literary and theatrical traditionsfrom vaudeville and Greek mythology to the Bible and boulevard comedyGreenspan’s plays ask big questions about history, creation, sexual behavior, the complications of family and the very act of performing a play."
In 2009 he collaborated with
Stephin Merritt of
The Magnetic Fields
The Magnetic Fields (named after the André Breton/Philippe Soupault novel ''Les Champs Magnétiques'') are an American Band (rock and pop), band founded and led by Stephin Merritt. Merritt is the group's primary songwriter, producer, and vocali ...
in a musical adaptation of
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...
's ''
Coraline'', under the direction of
Leigh Silverman
Leigh Silverman is an American director for the stage, both off-Broadway and on Broadway theatre, Broadway. She was nominated for the 2014 Tony Award, Best Direction of a Musical for the musical ''Violet (musical), Violet'' and the 2008 Drama Desk ...
. In an interview with Lizzie Olesker in ''
The Brooklyn Rail'', Greenspan describes the musical: "We suggest things. Not like a large animated musical. There’s no amplification of our voices. We wanted something that was more direct and immediate as opposed to something coming out of a wall of sound."
List of works
Theater
*''The Horizontal And The Vertical'', world premiere HOME for Contemporary Theatre and Art, NYC, 1986
*''Dig A Hole And Bury You Father'', world premiere HOME for Contemporary Theatre and Art, NYC, 1987
*''Jack'', world premiere HOME for Contemporary Theatre and Art, NYC, 1987
*''Principa'', world premiere HOME for Contemporary Theatre and Art, NYC, 1988
*''The Home Show Pieces'', world premiere HOME for Contemporary Theatre and Art, NYC, 1988
*''2 Samuel 11, Etc.'', world premiere HOME for Contemporary Theatre and Art, NYC, 1989
*''Dead Mother, Or Shirley Not All In Vain'', world premiere NYSF/Public Theater, 1991
*''Dog In A Dancing School'', world premiere Dance Theater Workshop, NYC, 1993
*''Son Of An Engineer'', world premiere HERE Arts Center, NYC, 1993
*''Start From Scratch'', world premiere New Renaissance @ Greenwich House, NYC, 1993
*''Them'', world premiere Actors Theater of Louisville, 1993
*''Only Beauty'', reading NYSF/The Public Theater, NYC, 1997
*''Five Frozen Embryos'', world premiere New York Fringe Festival, 2002
*''She Stoops To Comedy'', world premiere Playwrights Horizons, NYC, 2003
*''The Argument'', world premiere Target Margin Theater, NYC, 2007
*''Old Comedy From Aristophanes' Frogs'', world premiere Target Margin Theater, NYC, 2008
*''Coraline'', world premiere Manhattan Class Company, NYC, 2009
*''The Myopia, an epic burlesque of tragic proportion'', world premiere The Foundry Theatre, NYC, 2010
*''Go Back To Where You Are'', world premiere Playwrights Horizons, NYC, 2011
*''Jump'', world premiere Under The Radar Festival - NYSF/Public Theater, NYC, 2011
*''Jonas'', world premiere Transport Group, NYC, 2011
*''I'm Looking For Helen Twelvetrees'', world premiere Abrons Arts Center, NYC 2015
*''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'', world premiere Two River Theater, Red Bank, NJ, 2018
Performance Credits
Theater
* ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' (2019),
Miami New Drama at the
Colony Theatre as "Uncle Pio" (also Director)
* ''Cute Activist'' (2018), Bushwick Starr as "Landlorde"
* ''
Strange Interlude'',
Transport Group Transport Group Theatre Company is a non-profit, off-Broadway theatre company in New York City that stages new works and revivals of plays and musicals, with a focus on American stories told in visually progressive way.
History
Transport Group was ...
(solo performance), NYC 2017
*
''Punk Rock'' (2014)
MCC Theater
MCC Theater (Manhattan Class Company) is an off-Broadway theater company located in New York City, founded in 1986 by artistic directors Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey and William Cantler. Blake West joined the company in 2006 as executive direc ...
as "Dr. Richard Harvey"
* ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...
'' (2012)
Classic Stage Company as "
Francis Flute"
* ''Go Back to Where You Are'' (2011)
Playwrights Horizons as "Passalus"
* ''The Patsy'' (2011)
Transport Group Transport Group Theatre Company is a non-profit, off-Broadway theatre company in New York City that stages new works and revivals of plays and musicals, with a focus on American stories told in visually progressive way.
History
Transport Group was ...
(solo performance) NYC
Awards and nominations
; Awards
* 2013
Lambda Literary Award for Drama - ''The Myopia and Other Plays'', a collection of five of his plays published by
University of Michigan Press
The University of Michigan Press is part of Michigan Publishing at the University of Michigan Library. It publishes 170 new titles each year in the humanities and social sciences. Titles from the press have earned numerous awards, including L ...
in 2012, won a
Lambda Literary Award in 2013 in the Drama category.
* 2010
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 ...
for Sustained Achievement
* 2008
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 ...
Special Citation - ''The Argument''
* 2007
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 ...
for Performance - ''Some Men''
* 2007
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 ...
for Performance - "Faust"
* 2003
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 ...
Special Citation - ''She Stoops to Comedy''
* 2002
CalArts//
Alpert Awards in the Arts
* 1996
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 ...
for Performance - ''
Some Men
''Some Men'' is a play by Terrence McNally that consists of an interwoven series of stories which chronicle and contrast the lives and attitudes of gay men in the United States over the past 80 years. The play begins and ends with a contemporary g ...
'' by
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter.
Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," ...
; Nominations
* 2012 Off Broadway Alliance Award Nomination - Best Special Event, ''The Patsy''
* 2012
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newspa ...
Nomination - Outstanding Solo Performance - "The Patsy"
* 2008
Drama League Award Nomination - Distinguished Performance Award - ''Beebo Brinker Chronicles''
* 2007
Lucille Lortel Award
The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatre ...
Nomination - Outstanding Featured Actor - ''Beebo Brinker Chronicles''
* 2007
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newspa ...
Nomination - Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play - ''Beebo Brinker Chronicles''
; Fellowships
* An alumnus of
New Dramatists
New Dramatists is an organization of playwrights founded in 1949 and located at 424 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in the Hell's Kitchen (Clinton) neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.
The members of New Dramatists parti ...
, he has received playwriting fellowships from the
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been ...
, Jerome Foundation, Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation and Charles Revson Foundation. He received the 1993 McKnight Fellowship from the Playwrights Center and a 2006
Lucille Lortel
Lucille Lortel (née Wadler, December 16, 1900 – April 4, 1999) was an American actress, artistic director, and theatrical producer. In the course of her career Lortel produced or co-produced nearly 500 plays, five of which were nominated for ...
Foundation Fellowship.
Bibliography
''She Stoops to Comedy'' by David Greenspan Samuel French, Inc.
Samuel French, Inc. is an American company, founded by Samuel French and Thomas Hailes Lacy, who formed a partnership to combine their existing interests in London and New York City. It publishes plays, represents authors, and sells scripts fro ...
, October 2013
* ''The Myopia and Other Plays'', University of Michigan Press, 2012
* ''Four Plays and a Monologue'', No Passport Press, 2012
''Go Back to Where You Are'' by David Greeenspan Playwrights Horizons, 2011
* ''She Stoops To Comedy'' in Plays From Playwrights Horizons, Vol 2,
Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
Broadway Play Publishing Inc (BPPI) was established in New York City in 1982 to publish and license the stage performance rights of contemporary American plays. The Broadway Play Publishing Inc catalog consists of over 1,000 plays and nearly 400 ...
, 2010
* "Play: A Journal of Plays, Vol. 3", 2007
* ''Son of an Engineer'', Sun and Moon Press, 2000
Interviews
* Borinsky, Alexander.
David Greenspan. And his Little Dog, Too "
The Brooklyn Rail" (March 2015)
* CFR Staff
David Greenspan on David Greenspan The Clyde Fitch Report" (May 22, 2013)
* Charles McNulty.
Theatricalizing Theory: A Conversation with the Inimitable David Greenspan ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' (November 9, 2011)
* Raymond, Gerard.
Staging Solos: An Interview with David Greenspan "
Slant Magazine
''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...
" (July 2011)
* Olesker, Lizzie.
The Power of Suggestion: David Greenspan "
The Brooklyn Rail" (May 2009)
References
External links
*
*
David Greenspan profileat the ''New York Times''
Bomb Magazine Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenspan, David
1956 births
Living people
Obie Award recipients
American male stage actors
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
Lambda Literary Award for Drama winners
American gay writers
American LGBT dramatists and playwrights
American male dramatists and playwrights
21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
21st-century LGBT people