David Greenspan


David Greenspan is an American actor and playwright. He is the recipient of six Obies, including an award in 2010 for Sustained Achievement.

Life

Greenspan was born in 1956 in Los Angeles, California. He holds a B.A. in Drama from the University of California at Irvine. He lives in New York City with his long-time partner, painter William Kennon.

Career

When Greenspan was awarded the Herb Alpert Award by the California Institute of the Arts in 2002, the citation called him "A classicist in experimental clothing" whose "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 in a musical adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Coraline, under the direction of Leigh Silverman. 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."
In 2022, Greenspan was included in the book 50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre, profiled in a chapter written by performance scholar Nick Salvato.

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, Miami New Drama at the Colony Theatre as "Uncle Pio"
  • Cute Activist, Bushwick Starr as "Landlorde"
  • Strange Interlude, Transport Group, NYC 2017
  • Punk Rock MCC Theater as "Dr. Richard Harvey"
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream Classic Stage Company as "Francis Flute"
  • Go Back to Where You Are Playwrights Horizons as "Passalus"
  • The Patsy Transport Group NYC
  • On Set with Theda Bara, world premiere The Brick, Brooklyn, NY, 2023
  • I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan, world premiere The Atlantic Theater, New York, NY 2025

    Awards and nominations

; Awards
; Nominations
  • 2012 Off Broadway Alliance Award Nomination - Best Special Event, The Patsy
  • 2012 Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination - Outstanding Solo Performance - "The Patsy"
  • 2008 Drama League Award Nomination - Distinguished Performance Award - Beebo Brinker Chronicles
  • 2007 Lucille Lortel Award Nomination - Outstanding Featured Actor - Beebo Brinker Chronicles
  • 2007 Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination - Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play - Beebo Brinker Chronicles
; Fellowships
  • An alumnus of New Dramatists, he has received playwriting fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, 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 Foundation Fellowship.

    Interviews

  • Borinsky, Alexander. "" "The Brooklyn Rail"
  • CFR Staff. " The Clyde Fitch Report"
  • Charles McNulty. "" Los Angeles Times
  • Raymond, Gerard. "" "Slant Magazine"
  • Olesker, Lizzie. "" "The Brooklyn Rail"