David's Twisted Path

AUTOBIOGRAPHY I was born 1942 in Brooklyn, NY. My family moved to the San Fernando Valley in 1946. One of my first ambitions was to be like my aunt and her husband, who were artists. I drew pictures and made up fantastic stories to go with them. I see the antecedents of my later work in these early sagas. I gained notoriety in elementary school by acting out my plays. My public performances came to an abrupt end in junior high when I had to choose between algebra and acting. Regretably I chose algebra. I continued to entertain myself with tales that I tried to write down. The first play I actually completed was as a junior in college. I took a playwrighting class for fun. That play was later discovered by a drama major who was required to use original material for a directing class he was taking from Howard Richardson co-author of Dark of the Moon. That class project was the start of my long collaboration and friendship with Michel Levesque. We wrote the book for a rock musical in collaboration with some other college friends: Robb Royer, who became a founding member of the hit group Bread, and Timothy Hallinan, who went on to write the Simeon Grist mystery novels. I would go on to write several other projects with both Robb and Timothy. I graduated from Cal State Northridge in 1966 as a history major with a teaching credential that I used sparingly. My major interest had become writing. I began writing screenplays with Michel to take advantage of contacts he was making as an art director on films. That led to a few years of commercial success writing screenplays and treatments, co-writing screenplays, re-writing other people's screenplays, and assorted script doctor assignments. The pay was sporadic and usually meager. I supported myself for the next twenty years with a job at the phone company which still gave me time to write. In 1990 I became a member of FirstStage Hollywood, a non-profit group of writers, directors, actors and dramaturgs dedicated to developing new material for the stage and screen. We specialize in presenting staged readings of original material followed by dramaturg led discussions. Several of my plays have been staged and discussed at FirstStage which motivated me to rewrite most of my work. FirstStage has also helped me grow as a writer by encouraging me to produce and direct other writers' work. I also took on administrative responsibilities as a member of the board of directors and facilitated the FirstStage directors / actors workshop for several years. Recently I've had to relinquish these positions at FirstStage to work on Digital Video Theatre.

RESUME Plays Produced "The Icon" Cal State Northridge 1964. Director Michel Levesque. "The Fox" Cal State Northridge 1964. Director Michel Levesque. "John Adams" Fernwood Theatre Hollywood 1968. Director Michel Levesque. The only reviewer that saw it was from the Hollywood Reporter. He didn't like the play but praised the acting and direction. "The Tent" Fernwood Theatre Hollywood 1968. Director Michel Levesque. L.A. Free Press: one of the, "Most Interesting New Plays of 1968." Harvey Perr. "Wicked sense of humor. Delightful way with language."   Films Produced "Werewolves on Wheels" Fanfare 1971. Co-Writer and Director Michel Levesque. Producer, Paul Lewis. Variety 10-7-71: Murf. "Unusually sturdy script (for low-budgeters)." Hollywood Reporter 10-21-71: Craig Fisher. "The script is very clever." L.A. Times 12-17-71: Kevin Thomas. "One of the best Bikers of the year, with style to burn." "Hot Summer Week" Fanfare 1972. Co-Writer with several others. Also released as "Girls on the Road" Starred Michael Ontkean and Ralph Waite. "My Nights with Susan, Olga, Greta... Etc." Scorpio Films Holland 1975. Co-Writer with several others. Director Pim del la Parra. Scorpio Films produced "Blue Movie" one of Holland's most successful films at that time. "The Gravitational Bed" 1999. Produced by David M. Kaufman and Michel Levesque. Director Michel Levesque. Release pending. "Significant Others" 1999. Produced by David M Kaufman and Michel Levesque. Director Michel Levesque. Release pending.   Projects Bought or Optioned (Not Produced) "The Black Angel" American International Pictures 1972. Co-Writers Robb Royer and Timothy Hallinan. Working title "Othello on Wheels." "The Plastic Sibling" Elektra Records 1973. Libretto, Co-Writer Michel Levesque. Music Robb Royer and James Griffin. A rock musical for small theatre. "Cosmo and Robetta" Robb Royer 1973. Co-Writer Robb Royer. A more ambitious version of "The Plastic Sibling." Developed as a spectacular animated film project which garnered interest for several years but was never made. "The Big Game" Paul Lewis 1974. Co-Writer Timothy Hallinan. See below. "Born Again High" Paul Lewis 1987. These properties were optioned by Paul Lewis who produced "Werewolves on Wheels" and more notably several Dennis Hopper films including: "The Last Movie," "Out of the Blue" and "Colors." Readings at FirstStage Hollywood "The Plastic Sibling" 1991. Workshop reading of libretto. "Significant Others" 1991. Director Deborah Pietruska, 1996. Director Herman Poppe. "The Gravitational Bed" 1992. Director Deborah Pietruska. "Past Lives / Deadly Lovers" 1993. Workshop reading of screenplay. "No Rules, No New Rules" 1994. Director Jolene Adams. "Slow Ped-X-ing" 1996. Director Herman Poppe. "John Adams" 1997. Director Jack Kandel. "The Tent" 1998. Director Herman Poppe. Director, Staged readings at FirstStage Hollywood "The Cure" 1992. One Act by Jack Zafran. "Suzanna, Don't You Cry" 1992. Screenplay by Sherri Warren Sanders. "The March" 1992. One Act by Zia Mojabi. "The Quartet" 1992. One Act by Zia Mojabi. "Perspectives in Blue and White" 1992. One Act by Neva Friedenn. "Hi Mom" 1993. One Act by Jack Zafran. "Hit the Penny" 1993. One Act by Jack Zafran. "Detachments" 1993. Two Act by Grant Neumann. "Tattoed Souls" 1994. Long One Act by Goran Stefanovski. "Scotch Rocks" 1994. Two Act by Dan Roth. "True Essence" 1994. Two Act by Nat Coley. "A Leg of Raw Gazelle" 1995. Two Act by Richard Martin. "Wild Iris" 1995. Two Act by Richard Martin. "Eclipse" 1996. Two Act by Elizabeth Deganhardt. "Strindberg's Oedipus" 1997. One Act by Ira Hauptman. "The Missing Scene From Cyranno" 1997. One Act by Russell Lees. "Together Tulane" 1997. Two Act by Stuart Warmflash. "Monument Valley" 1998. Two Act by Ira Hauptman. "Walkman" 1998. Monologue (off book) by Ira Hauptman.   Producer, FirstStage Hollywood Workshop Productions "Theatre Hell" 1997. Two Act by Craig Alpaugh. Director Jack Kandel. "Heroic Measures" 1999. Two Act by Jacob Edelman. Director Jack Kandel.