David Robson (playwright)

Robson attended the William Penn Charter School before earning a B.A. in Communications from Temple University, an M.S. in English Education from Saint Joseph's University, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont.

Some of Robson's earliest works were produced by InterAct Theatre Company.{{cite web |title=World Premiere Productions |url=http://www.interacttheatre.org/world-premieres |website=InterAct Theatre Company |access-date=27 June 2023}} Since then, his plays have been produced and presented by TheaterWorks (Hartford), Penguin Rep, Delaware Theatre Company, the Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Act II Playhouse, The Lark, Theatre Exile, Passage Theatre, City Theater Company, Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, Bated Breath Theatre, Great Plains Theatre Conference, and New Theatre, among others. Robson credits his mother for his initial interest in theater, along with the work of Albert Camus, Edward Albee, Samuel Beckett, Sam Shepard, and Ted Tally.{{cite web |last1=Szymkowicz |first1=Adam |title=I Interview Playwrights Part 451: David Robson |url=http://aszym.blogspot.com/2012/05/i-interview-playwrights-part-451-david.html |website=1100 Playwright Interviews |date=14 May 2012 |access-date=27 June 2023}}

Robson began his teaching career at Delaware County Community College in the fall of 2002.{{cite web |title=Faculty |url=https://www.dccc.edu/about/faculty-staff/meet-our-faculty/david-robson |website=Delaware County Community College |access-date=27 June 2023}} There he teaches courses in composition, creative writing, and film. He received the Gould Award for Teaching Excellence in 2010.{{cite web |title=Gould Award |url=https://www.dccc.edu/center-excellence/awards-recognition-and-internal-grants/gould-award |website=Delaware County Community College |access-date=6 May 2023}} At the 2014 Association of Writers & Writing Programs in Seattle, Washington, Robson and co-presenters Lloyd Noonan, Nancy McCurry, and Paul Pat presented "New Approach to Teaching Creative Writing to Senior Citizens".{{cite web |title=Schedule of Events |url=https://cdn.awpwriter.org/pdf/conference/2014/2014SeattleSchedule_Web.pdf |website=AWP |access-date=5 November 2023}}

{{Lacking ISBN|section|date=June 2023}}

• Man Measures Man, first produced by InterAct Theatre Company and The Lark
• Out of Place, developed at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference
• Killing Neil Labute, developed at the Great Plains Theatre Conference
• A Few Small Repairs
• After Denmark
• Playing Leni (with John Stanton), developed and produced by Madhouse Theater Company
• Playing the Assassin, first produced by InterAct Theatre Company as "Assassin" and by Penguin Rep as "Playing the Assassin"
• Priceless, first developed and produced by Penguin Rep
• Blues in My Soul: The Legend and Legacy of Lonnie Johnson, first developed and produced by City Theater Company and Passage Theatre Company
• After Birth of a Nation, first developed and produced by City Theater Company
• Muleheaded: Zora and Langston Write a Play, first developed and produced by Passage Theatre Company
• Clay Warrior
• Birthright, published in Polish by Dialog magazine in Warsaw
• The Passion of M., developed by Blank Theatre Company
• Without Consent, developed by Penguin Rep, Delaware Theatre Company, and Theatre Exile
• Ball N’ Chain: Big Mama Thornton Plays Monterey
• Comfort and Joy
• Russian Roulette
• The Stronger (Adaptation), first produced by Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium
• Hammer of God
• The Maids (Adaptation), commissioned by Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium
• Drummer: The Darkness and Genius of Jim Gordon
• Freud und Freud, developed by Delaware Theatre Company

• The Black Arts Movement, Lucent Books. {{ISBN|9781420500530}}. (2008)
• The Kennedy Assassination, Reference Point Press. {{ISBN|9781601520364}}. (2008)
• Auschwitz, Lucent Books. {{ISBN|9781420501315}}. (2009)
• Racism, Lucent Books. {{ISBN|978-1420502282}}. (2010)
• The Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, Lucent Books. {{ISBN|978-1420502398}}. (2010)
• The Murder of Emmett Till, Lucent Books. {{ISBN|978-1420502138}}. (2010)
• Encounters with Vampires, Reference Point Press. {{ISBN|978-1601521330}}. (2010){{cite web |last1=Engberg |first1=Gillian |title=Encounters with Vampires |url=https://www.booklistonline.com/Encounters-with-Vampires-David-Robson/pid=4376254 |website=Booklist |publisher=American Library Association |access-date=6 May 2023}}
• The Decade of the 2000s, Reference Point Press. {{ISBN|978-1601522467}}. (2011)
• Colonial America, Reference Point Press. {{ISBN|978-1601522467}}. (2012)
• The Internment of Japanese Americans, Reference Point Press. {{ISBN|978-1601525925}}. (2013)
• Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, Reference Point Press. {{ISBN|978-1601525420}}. (2013){{cite web |last1=Anderson |first1=Erin |title=Shakespeare's Globe Theater |url=https://www.booklistonline.com/Shakespeare-s-Globe-Theater-David-Robson/pid=6328742 |website=Booklist |publisher=American Library Association |access-date=6 May 2023}}

• Pushcart Prize, Nomination (1995)
• Individual Artist Fellowship, Delaware Division of the Arts (1999)
• Barrymore Award, Nomination (2001){{cite web |title=The Barrymore Awards, 2001 |url=https://theatrephiladelphia.org/barrymore-awards?year=2001 |website=Theatre Philadelphia |access-date=6 May 2023}}
• Julie Harris Playwriting Award, Finalist (2006)
• Individual Artist Fellowship, Delaware Division of the Arts (2006)
• Harriett Lake Festival of New Plays, Finalist (2007)
• Short and Sweet Festival, Featured Play (2007)
• Lincoln Boyhood Drama Association, Finalist (2007)
• Artist Opportunity Grant, Delaware Division of the Arts (2007)
• Harriett Lake Festival of New Plays, Finalist (2010)
• Hotel Obligado Audience Choice Award for New Work (2010)
• Artist Opportunity Grant, Delaware Division of the Arts (2010)
• Philadelphia Theater Critics’ Awards, Best Play Nomination (2013)
• Pulitzer Prize in Drama, Nomination (2014){{cite web |title=Who we are: Penguin Rep Theatre in Stony Point |url=https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/community-service/2015/06/03/penguin-rep-theatre-stony-point/28407917/ |website=Lohud |publisher=USA TODAY Network}}
• Philadelphia Geek Award, White Mountains Project, Winner: Someone Else’s Life" (2015){{cite web |title=The White Mountains |url=https://www.phillygeekawards.com/nominees/the-white-mountains/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922094519/http://www.phillygeekawards.com/nominees/the-white-mountains/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=September 22, 2015 |website=Philly Geek Awards }}
• Best Delaware Playwright, Broadway World Awards (2017)
• Artist Opportunity Grant, Delaware Division of the Arts (2022)
• Artist Opportunity Grant, Delaware Division of the Arts (2025)

“Football executives, fans, coaches and players at all levels would be well-advised to see — and ponder — David Robson’s Playing the Assassin...compelling dialogue and forceful characters provide so much theatrical energy...takes a good, solid shot at professional football while telling a gripping story. Touchdown.”—The New York Times on Playing the Assassin.{{cite news |last1=Gold |first1=Sylviane |title=Violence on the Field Reflected on the Stage |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/nyregion/a-review-of-playing-the-assassin-in-stony-point.html |newspaper=The New York Times|date=27 September 2014 |access-date=27 June 2023}}

“A brutal gridiron drama...a thrilling production...will appeal to theatergoers who never watch football as much as die-hard fans who can now glimpse their game treated with understanding and depth.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer on Playing the Assassin.{{cite web |last1=Rutter |first1=Jim |title='Playing the Assassin' Shows Football's Power |url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/entertainment/arts/20151027_Review___Playing_the_Assassin__shows_football_s_power.html |website=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=27 October 2015 |access-date=27 June 2023}}

"A quasi-historical farce loaded with sight gags, cross-dressing, snappy dialog and larger-than-life characters. The plot amusingly weaves from policy talk to social issues to religion to the arts...The wacky first act sets up a screwball second...After Birth of a Nation is a funny look at what might have happened in 1915, but many of the jokes and comical references are topical. Robson has crafted his historical farce for today’s audiences."—Delaware Arts Info on After Birth of a Nation.{{cite web |last1=Logothetis |first1=Mike |title=Quasi-History, Laughs Combine in a World Premiere at CTC |url=http://www.deartsinfo.com/2017/02/quasi-history-laughs-combine-in-world.html |website=Delaware Arts Info |publisher=Arts in Media |access-date=27 June 2023}}

"There is a scene in which Lonnie and Chris both play guitar. Before launching into a song, they try to get their instruments in tune with each other. It is a beautiful segment because it encapsulates the spirit of Blues in My Soul. Before they can collaborate to make music happen, they must — literally and metaphorically — find a way to get in tune with each other. The result is a riveting piece of theater."—Town Topics on Blues in My Soul.{{cite web |last1=Sanborn |first1=Donald H. |title=A DJ Urges His Reluctant Idol to Perform Again in "Blues in My Soul"; Passage Succeeds with Lively Drama that Lets its Actors Make Music |url=https://www.towntopics.com/wordpress/2022/10/19/a-dj-urges-his-reluctant-idol-to-perform-again-in-blues-in-my-soul-passage-succeeds-with-lively-drama-that-lets-its-actors-make-music/ |website=Town Topics |publisher=Witherspoon Media Group |access-date=27 June 2023}}

“Tightly written, sometimes tense, and generally commanding work...It sure is good theater.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer on Playing Leni.{{cite web |last1=Shapiro |first1=Howard |title='Playing Leni': A Captive and Her Captor in Post-Nazi Germany |url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/entertainment/20110603__Playing_Leni___A_captive_and_her_captor_in_post-Nazi_Germany.html?query=playing%20leni |website=Philadelphia Inquirer |date=3 June 2011 |access-date=27 June 2023}}

“A Few Small Repairs creates, in tiny increments, both admiration and pathos for Little Alice, this peculiar, hairless, middle-aged daughter who, with her `low threshold for guilt' finds her life has vanished in devotion to her demented mother. A charming and moving play. It lingers vividly in the mind because it created characters of subtlety and humanness, each of whom was a real individual. "—The Philadelphia Inquirer on A Few Small Repairs.{{cite web |last1=Zinman |first1=Toby |title=If All Falls Could Be So Sweetly Depicted |url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/entertainment/20070405_If_all_falls_could_be_so_sweetly_depicted.html?query=a%20few%20small%20repairs%20david%20robson |website=Philadelphia Inquirer |date=5 April 2007 |access-date=27 June 2023}}

{{Reflist|30em}}.

• [https://www.davidrobsonplay.org/ Playwright's Website]
• [https://newplayexchange.org/user/ New Play Exchange]
• [https://guides.lib.de.us/browseauthors/david_robson/ Delaware Authors]
• [https://pwcenter.org/profile/david-robson/ Playwrights' Center]

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Category:1966 births

Category:Living people