Artists on the Cape Series #3: The Call to Serve with Playwright David Drake
“Make your own change. It’s all out there and once you start putting the pieces together, you can create the future.”
In the third episode of our Artists on the Cape Series, Susan talks with actor, director, and playwright David Drake about his trajectory as an artist and activist, how he came to understand his part in the larger picture by witnessing the events unfolding around him during the AIDS crisis, how that inspired him to write his acclaimed play The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, and how he uses his art and the theatre to hold up a mirror to the audience with the deep intention to teach us and bring us together.
He also talks about his vision for a better world and the work that needs to happen now as we continue to move forward and create the future we want to see.
Meet This Episode's Guest
David Drake
David Drake has been putting on shows since he was a kid. Directorial credits at the Provincetown Theater include It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Sweeney Todd, August: Osage County, Always…Patsy Cline, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Our Town, and his gender-swapped production of The Importance of Being Earnest.
In New York City, David has directed works at Rattlestick, The Flea, Soho Playhouse, and Joe’s Pub. Collaborating with Taylor Mac, he directed and developed The Lily’s Revenge at the Sundance Theater Lab prior to staging its world premiere at HERE in New York (Obie Award). Also with Taylor, David directed the world tour of The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac.
As an actor, David got his Equity card off-Broadway replacing Charles Busch in Vampire Lesbians of Sodom at the Provincetown Playhouse. He appeared in the original New York casts of A Language of Their Own (Public), End of the World Party (46th Street Theater), Pretty Boy (Performing Garage), and The Boys in the Band (1996 revival at Lucille Lortel). Television: The Good Wife, NY Undercover, HBO’s Vinyl, and as a repeat offender on Law & Order. Film: Longtime Companion, It’s Pat, David Searching, We Pedal Uphill, Philadelphia, and opposite Alan Cumming in After Louie. Regionally, David has appeared at A.R.T., Huntington, Barrington Stage, Arena Stage, San Diego’s Old Globe, and numerous others.
David is the Obie Award-winning playwright and performer of The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, in which he performed a year off-Broadway (Perry Street) before touring worldwide, and then shooting as a feature film. David has taught at New York’s Abrons Art Center, Baltimore’s MICA, and received artist residencies in New York at The BRICLab, DTW, Clemente Soto, Dixon Place.
