DAVID STALLINGS (he/him/they) is a playwright, actor, and acting coach. The author of 12 full length plays and numerous shorts, David's stories and performances have reached audiences across the US as well as internationally. As an actor, David has appeared in over 100 productions from musical theater to Shakespeare and contemporary drama. Most recently David has played Lord Goring (An Ideal Husband), Lord Henry (The Picture of Dorian Grey), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth) as well as having originated numerous roles in original works in New York City.
As a writer, David is influenced by the collision of his Southern roots and progressive politics. Their play, Dark Water (2014 New York Innovative Award winner for Best Full Length Script), deals explicitly with the BP oil spill off the coast of Louisiana, told from the point of view of the animals. As well as bringing an informed Southern voice to theater, David also focuses on marginalized protagonists and relationships within family dynamics--always with a unique blend of poetic dialogue within realism. In 2019, their play The Baby Monitor transferred from NYC to Dublin, Ireland as part of their International Gay Theater festival and went on to play in Belgrade, Serbia in their National Theater as part of their first ever Pride Series.
In 2006, they co-founded Maieutic Theatre Works (later Manhattan Theatre Works) with his play, Folie a Deux: Insanity in Pairs as their inaugural production. Brandon Voss of HX Magazine called the play, “Riveting” and named Stallings as a “playwright and actor to watch”. Other plays include Anaϊs Nin Goes to Hell (1st Prize Winner Boston Theatre Works Unbound Festival 2007, Winner of the Arthur W. Stone New Play Award Louisiana Tech University 2009, Semi Finalist for the Princess Grace Award 2008), The Stranger to Kindness (Winner Short Form and Best Production of a One Act Play), and The Baby Monitor (New York 2018, Dubin 2019, Belgrade 2019). On MTWorks’ 2008 NYC Fringe production of Anaïs Nin Goes to Hell, the Village Voice said, “Thank the gods for David Stallings’ ‘Anaïs Nin Goes to Hell’… a uniquely polished presence at the Fringe”, and The New York Press said, “For a play about women but written by a man, it captured the greater female psyche.” David has a BFA in Theater from the College of Santa Fe, NM. Until recently, David served as the Director of Arts + Culture at the 14th Street Y in Manhattan, curating their Theater Season and other cultural experiences, and is also a creative partner at Different Translation. Since Covid-19, David has been focussing on writing more than ever (including an adaptation of their play Barrier Island into a TV series, their new protest-play They Shoot Unicorn Mermaids Don't They?, and their Brechtian inspired play about Magda Goebbels, The First Lady of the Third Reich), as well as their acting coaching business, preparing for the day when theaters will open again--and yes they shall!
As a writer, David is influenced by the collision of his Southern roots and progressive politics. Their play, Dark Water (2014 New York Innovative Award winner for Best Full Length Script), deals explicitly with the BP oil spill off the coast of Louisiana, told from the point of view of the animals. As well as bringing an informed Southern voice to theater, David also focuses on marginalized protagonists and relationships within family dynamics--always with a unique blend of poetic dialogue within realism. In 2019, their play The Baby Monitor transferred from NYC to Dublin, Ireland as part of their International Gay Theater festival and went on to play in Belgrade, Serbia in their National Theater as part of their first ever Pride Series.
In 2006, they co-founded Maieutic Theatre Works (later Manhattan Theatre Works) with his play, Folie a Deux: Insanity in Pairs as their inaugural production. Brandon Voss of HX Magazine called the play, “Riveting” and named Stallings as a “playwright and actor to watch”. Other plays include Anaϊs Nin Goes to Hell (1st Prize Winner Boston Theatre Works Unbound Festival 2007, Winner of the Arthur W. Stone New Play Award Louisiana Tech University 2009, Semi Finalist for the Princess Grace Award 2008), The Stranger to Kindness (Winner Short Form and Best Production of a One Act Play), and The Baby Monitor (New York 2018, Dubin 2019, Belgrade 2019). On MTWorks’ 2008 NYC Fringe production of Anaïs Nin Goes to Hell, the Village Voice said, “Thank the gods for David Stallings’ ‘Anaïs Nin Goes to Hell’… a uniquely polished presence at the Fringe”, and The New York Press said, “For a play about women but written by a man, it captured the greater female psyche.” David has a BFA in Theater from the College of Santa Fe, NM. Until recently, David served as the Director of Arts + Culture at the 14th Street Y in Manhattan, curating their Theater Season and other cultural experiences, and is also a creative partner at Different Translation. Since Covid-19, David has been focussing on writing more than ever (including an adaptation of their play Barrier Island into a TV series, their new protest-play They Shoot Unicorn Mermaids Don't They?, and their Brechtian inspired play about Magda Goebbels, The First Lady of the Third Reich), as well as their acting coaching business, preparing for the day when theaters will open again--and yes they shall!
