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David Greenspan

DAVID GREENSPAN

  (1956 - )
Nationality:    USA
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Judy Boals, Inc  

David Greenspan is a New York-based playwright and actor. He has directed and/or performed in his plays Jack, the Home Show Pieces, 2 Samuel 11, etc. at Home, Dead Mother, or Shirley Not All in Vain at the Public, She Stoops to Comedy (Obie, published by Samuel French) and Go Back to Where You Are (published by Samuel French) at Playwrights Horizons, the Argument (Obie) with Target Margin, the Myopia with the Foundry, Jonas with Transport Group, and with songwriter Stephin Merritt Coraline with Manhattan Class Company. He has received two performance Obies: one for Terrence McNally's Some Men and Goethes Faust, one for Mart Crowleys the Boys in the Band. Other credits include premieres or New York premieres of works by David Adjmi, Sarah Ruhl, Todd Almond, Adam Rapp, Michi Barall, William Hoffman, Linda Chapman and Kate Moira Ryan, David Grimm, Kathleen Tolan, Harry Kondoleon, Paul Zimet and Ellen Maddow, Jose Rivera, Kirk Lynn, Lee MacDougall, Mac Wellman, Richard Foreman, Elizabeth egloff, Jefferey M. Jones, and solo renditions of Barry Conners the Patsy and Gertrude Steins lecture, Plays. Alumnus New Dramatists, Guggenheim, and Lortel fellowships, Alpert Award and an Obie for Sustained Achievement.

Research:    Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)

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below is a list of David Greenspan's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         2 Samuel 11, Etc         Argument, The         Closet Piece, The         Coraline         Dead Mother, Or Shirley Not All In Vain         Dig A Hole And Bury Your Father         Dog In A Dancing School         Five Frozen Embryos         Four Dialogues Of A Monologue         Go Back To Where You Are         Home Show Pieces, The         Horizontal, The And the Vertical         Jack         Jonas         Jump         Myopia, The         Old Comedy From Aristophanes' Frogs         Pneumonia         Principia         She Stoops to Comedy         Something's Gotta Give         Son Of An Engineer         Start From Scratch         Them         Trains Passing

2 Samuel 11, Etc

Synopsis:
inspired by the story of David and Bathsheba, examines issues of sexual compulsion and artistic creation

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    1989

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Plays in Process", New York, 1990   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama. - - Gay, full length

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Argument, The

Argument, The
the argument, based on both aristotle's Poetics (c. 350 B.C.) and the essays of Gerald F. else, is a passionate student's love-letter and farewell to his teacher-reminding us of the personal pathos that binds us to the Greeks, and firing us up to capture that chimera, art.
- nytheatre.com

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Kitchen, New York    2007

Organisations:
Target Margin Theater

1st Published:
Contained in: "The Myopia and Other Plays" published by University of Michigan Press 2012   978-0472051731

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
adaptation One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Closet Piece, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    1989

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Coraline

Synopsis:
Poor bored Coraline. She's left to rattle 'round her perpetually distracted, workaholic parents' house all by her lonesome. But late one night, her dreams of a better reality come true as she opens a big, carved, wooden door at the far end of the drawing room and passes into a perfect replica of her own world. When she's greeted there by a vastly loving Other Mother and a kindly Other Father, she's thrilled! But as the rats start to creep from the floorboards, and the way home becomes increasingly unclear, Coraline begins to suspect that, perhaps, all is not as perfect as it seems. . .
- press release

Notes:
book by David Greenspan; music And lyrics by Stephen Merritt

1st Produced:
Lucille Lortel Theatre, NY    2009

Organisations:
MCC Theatre

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dead Mother, Or Shirley Not All In Vain

Synopsis:
the matrix of the play is a contretemps in which a man accedes to his brother's request to assume the character of their dead mother

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    1991

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Grove New American Theatre anthology", Grove Weidenfeld, New York, 1992   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dig A Hole And Bury Your Father

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    1987

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dog In A Dancing School

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    1993

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Five Frozen Embryos

Synopsis:
an ex-husband challenges his ex-wife in court when she wants to use sperm he had frozen when they were married

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Kraine Theater, New York    10 Aug 2002

Organisations:
New York International Fringe Festival

1st Published:
Contained in: "Play - a Journal Of Plays" issue one   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Four Dialogues Of A Monologue

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Go Back To Where You Are

Go Back To Where You Are
In Go Back to Where You Are God offers Passalus, a failed actor from ancient Athens festering in hell, the opportunity of redemption by returning to earth to free a young woman from her domineering mother, Claire, a distinguished stage actress. Passalus accepts the proposal with the understanding that on completing his mission his soul be annihilated. God agrees  with the caveat that Passalus not become entangled in the lives of others. Granted the ability to shape-shift, Passalus assumes the role of a British matron and former actress, arriving at Claires summer home during a week-end in which she is hosting friends and family. But Passalus is also equipped to hear the inner thoughts of the characters he encounters  and armed with knowledge of their suffering is unable to remain aloof. He also finds himself falling in love with Claires brother, Bernard, the underappreciated author of eccentric comedies. the play Dramatizes second chances in love  and love that facilitates the souls release from hell into life again.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Playwrights Horizons Peter J Sharp
416 West 42nd Street, 4th floor, New York, NY 10036    12 Apr 2011

Organisations:
Playwrights Horizons

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Gay, full length

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Home Show Pieces, The

Synopsis:
portrait of the artist as a compulsive young man, struggling to separate from his family. each play is set in a different area of 'the house'

Notes:
includes Doing the Beast, Too Much in the Sun, Portrait of the Artist, the Big Tent

1st Produced:
New York    1988

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Plays in Process", New York, 1990   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Horizontal, The And the Vertical

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Jack

Jack
a female trio recalls the disoriented history of Jack and his death from an unnamed illness

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    1987

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Way We Live Now", Theatre Communications Group, New York, 1990   978-1559360050

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act. - - AIDS, full length

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Jonas

Synopsis:
a darkly funny and mercurial exploration of doppelgangers past and present and lives real and imagined. Join us in this thrilling and haunting journey of identity.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Duke on 42nd Street
229 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036    15 Jul 2011

Organisations:
Transport Group

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short play

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Jump

Synopsis:
This is part of the Under the Radar Festival. In 1905, while performing in Victorien Sardou's meloDrama La Tosca, the renowned French actress Sarah Bernhardt jumped from a balcony in the final scene, sustaining an injury that some believe contributed to the loss of her right leg. In this kaleidoscopic music-theatre exploration of the life of Sarah Bernhardt and the story of Tosca, acclaimed stage director Joanne akalaitis joins forces with musician Nora York and playwright David Greenspan to examine the making of art and the passion that inspires it. Jump interweaves Bernhardt's autobiographical writings, scenes from Sardou's play, and arias from Puccini's Tosca with York's original song inventions.
- nytheatre.com

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Public theater
425 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10003    11 Jan 2011

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
60 min Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Myopia, The

Myopia, The
the show consists of Greenspan sitting in a chair and describing the show, which is otherwise unstageable. Or rather, three shows, each of which enjoys a symbiotic relationship with the others. One of these is a musical (without music or lyrics) about Warren G. Harding's failure to avoid being elected president. another concerns the turbulent marriage between a fellow named Febis (who happens to be writing a musical about Warren G. Harding) and Koreen, a giantess with long Rapunzel hair. the third throughline (which self-consciously explodes after intermission) follows Barclay, a glowing orb, as he tries to write a play about Febis and Koreen. (there's actually a fourth show, of course, and that's the show we're watching, the Myopia.)
nytheatre.com

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Ice Factory, NY    2003

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "The Myopia and Other Plays" published by University of Michigan Press 2012   978-0472051731

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Solo Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Old Comedy From Aristophanes' Frogs

Synopsis:
Old Comedy from aristophanes' Frogs, a new adaptation by David Greenspan and commissioned by Target Margin theater, begins in aristophanes's athens, which is mired in a horrible and losing war, bereft of political and artistic leadership. It explores a cultural crisis: are the theater's great creators gone? and, if so, how are we to find or create new ones? aristophanes's heroes search for a poet because the state itself needs guidance. Only the poets know what can be done to save it, and what kind of leadership speaks to us meaningfully today. these questions extend to the larger cultural and political life of our country. In the end, Old Comedy from aristophanes' Frogs gives us the opportunity to reflect on our own culture's loss of an apparent center
- press release

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Target Margin Theater

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Pneumonia

Synopsis:
a gruesome farce in which a man is visited by his sexual

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Principia

Synopsis:
a man in a cage fashioned from memories, observes his remembered past, participates in it

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    1988

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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She Stoops to Comedy

She Stoops to Comedy
In She Stoops to Comedy, Alexandra Page, a self-involved actress, known for her portrayals of tragic heroines, disguises herself as a man in order to play Orlando opposite her girlfriend, Alison Rose, who has been cast as Rosalind in an out-of-town production of As You Like It. Because the role of Alexandra is played by a man, her transformation does not require the use of drag. And because the other actors in the As You Like It cast are friends of Alexandra and Alison  and the disguise so effective  Alexandra has an opportunity to not only hear what people really think of her, but to be made privy to the inner lives of her friends and colleagues. The play examines the friendships and love relationships of its seven characters, and plays with the nature of authenticity  both on and off the stage.

Notes:
An actress (played by a man) schemes to woo back her estranged female lover by playing Orlando opposite her lovers Rosalind in this gender-bending romp by one of New York's most innovative writer/performers.

1st Produced:
Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, 416 West 42nd Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10036    03 Apr 2003

Organisations:
Playwrights Horizons

1st Published:
in Plays From Playwrights Horizons, Volume 2, Broadway Play Pub; first edition (October 1, 2010)   978-0881453713

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Something's Gotta Give

Synopsis:
about a male couple and the obstacles they encounter establishing a relationship

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    1993

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama. - - Gay, full length

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Son Of An Engineer

Synopsis:
recalls television sitcoms of the 1950s and 60s, boy returns home to find his family has gone, second act takes place on Mars

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    1993

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Start From Scratch

Synopsis:
Dramatises the inability of characters to separate the past.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    1993

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
music play

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Them

Synopsis:
audience members enter one of several phone booths, pick up the receiver and listen to a three-minute play unfold in conversation

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Humana Festival 1999: the Complete Plays, ed Michael Bigelow Dixon & amy Wegener, Smith & Kraus, 1999   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Phone Play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Trains Passing

Synopsis:
four characters meet and develop relationships on the platform on an underground station

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    1993

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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