Writer, performer, director, dramaturg, comedian, David Davila, is a third year M.F.A. playwriting candidate from the border of South Texas; where the wall has stood since George W’s administration. Winner of the 2022 National New Play Network Smith Prize for Political Theatre and the 2021 New American Voices National Playwriting Award, his work stands at the intersection of queer-culture and mestizaje ranging from plays and musicals, to poetry and stand-up comedy. An alumnus of The Second City Chicago and the Primary Stages Einhorn Playwriting School in Manhattan, he is a charter member of Musical Theatre Factory, the Latinx Playwrights Circle, the Latine Musical Theatre Lab, ThePlayGround Experiment, Lone Star Theatre Company, and the son of a preacher man.
His theatre works include MANUEL VERSUS THE STATUE OF LIBERTY (NYMF, O’Neill finalist, Princeton University, Gallery Players), AZTEC PIRATES, A LATINX FANTASIA ON NATIONAL THEMES, PART ONE: THE INSIGNIFICANCE OF LIFE ON MARS (Landing Theatre, San Diego Rep, Brooklyn Cultural Arts Center), PART TWO: THE INEQUITY OF SACRIFICE (Latinx Playwrights Circle, Brooklyn Cultural Arts Center), HOTEL PUERTO VALLARTA, A LEGITIMATE WORK OF DRAMATIC THEATRE (Variations Theatre, The Egg and Spoon, San Diego Rep, Stages Houston), PROMESA: A MARIACHI MUSICAL (Musical Theatre Factory), ANIMAL HUSBANDRY (New York Fringe Festival, Feast, BarnArts), VOX POP! A POST-DEMOCRATIC MUSICAL (Musical Theatre Factory, 54 Below), PYRAMID (Lincoln Center, AACR), #52SONGS (Beechman, West End, UnderGround), TALES FROM HWY 281 (Intar), ADAN Y JULIO Y LA FRONTERA 2003 (O’Neill semi-finalist, Lone Star Theatre, Viva Theatre), MEN OF GOD (O’Neill semi-finalist, Lone Star Theatre), THE MESQUITE TREE, AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY (Teatro Audaz, O’Neill semi-finalist), and more.
He is a Playwrights Horizons Artist Grant Recipient, a Roundabout Theatre Company SpaceJam Resident, a Primary Stages Rockwell Scholar, an Askins Playwright Fellow, and a 2022 Disney TV Fellowship Semi-Finalist. Most recently, his streaming series MOST LIKELY TO premiered at the Warner Bros New York Latino Film Festival, with subsequent screenings at festivals across the country and won a prestigious Silver Telly award for excellence in film. In 2022 his play THE PIÑATA premiered in the Studio Theatre directed by Lauren Diesch, and in 2023 his play 1970'S COLLEGE SEX COMEDY premiered on the mainstage directed by Daniel Sappington. In 2024 his MFA thesis production VOX POP! A POST-DEMOCRATIC MUSICAL will premiere in the Ruth N. Halls Theatre directed by Lauren Diesch.
As a director and dramaturg Davila specializes in new play development and has developed and directed dozens of plays through his New York City based indie-theatre company, Lone Star Theatre. Starting as a high school director in Texas he has gone on to work with San Diego Rep, Public Theatre San Antonio, The PlayGround Experiment, ExLibres Theatre, NYMadness, Dramatic Question Theatre, Teatro SEA, and many more. As a performer Davila has run the gamut from doing improv in dingy basements to Carnegie Hall soloist, playing dozens of leading roles in New York City and regionally. Some of his favorites include Bruce (Fun Home), Finch (How to Succeed...), Claude (Hair), Radames (Elton John's Aida), King Henry VIII (The King's Wife Musical), Blue Beard (Lucy and Bluebeard Musical) and countless more. In 2020 he founded the Voices of America Writers Workshop at the PlayGround Experiment in Manhattan, focused on centering the stories of historically marginalized communities. Follow him on social media at @davidodavila, or visit his website for more info: daviddavila.net.
The College of Arts