David Ives
Encyclopedia
David Ives is a contemporary American playwright. A native of South Chicago, Ives attended a minor Catholic seminary and Northwestern University
and, after some years' interval, Yale School of Drama
, where he received an MFA in playwriting. In the interval between studies at Northwestern and Yale he worked for three years as an editor at Foreign Affairs magazine.
In the mid-1990s, after having been a contributor to Spy Magazine, Ives wrote occasional humor pieces for the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker
, and other publications. In that same period, New York
magazine named him one of the "100 Smartest New Yorkers".
, which originated as an evening of one-act comedies that premiered at Primary Stages in 1993, moved to the larger John Houseman Theatre, and ran for 606 performances. The production won him the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award for Playwriting.
Most of his short pieces can be found in the anthologies All in the Timing and Time Flies. His full-length plays up to 2005 are collected in Polish Joke And Other Plays. The title play, Polish Joke, provides a glimpse into Ives's Polish-American background. He is also the author of the one-act play Ancient History
, which documents a break-up between a Jew and a Catholic in a comic, yet poignant manner.
In 2006 he did a new translation of Georges Feydeau
's classic farce, A Flea in Her Ear
, which premiered in Chicago. It won a Joseph Jefferson ("Jeff") Award for adaptation. In 2008, he had two plays in New York. One adapted a Mark Twain
property, Is He Dead?
. The other, New Jerusalem, concerned the excommunication of Baruch Spinoza. "New Jerusalem" won a Hull-Warriner Award.
Venus in Fur opened at the Classic Stage Company
in New York in 2010 starring Nina Arianda and Wes Bentley. Also in 2010, he adapted Pierre Corneille's comedy "The Liar" for The Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. It won the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play at the Helen Hayes Awards in Washington the following year. In 2011 his version of Moliere's "The Misanthrope" premiered at Classic Stage Company in New York under the title, "The School For Lies." Also in 2011 his adaptation of Jean-Francois Regnard's "Le Legataire universel" premiered at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. under the title, "The Heir Apparent."
In fall 2011, Venus in Fur will have it's Broadway premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club
with Nina Arianda returning to the role she created at Classic Stage Company
and Hugh Dancy playing the role originated by Bentley. Walter Bobbie will once again direct the production.
's The Secret Garden
(music by Greg Pliska). It premiered in Philadelphia in 1991 at the Pennsylvania Opera Theatre.
He then became a regular adapter in New York's celebrated "Encores!" series of classic American musicals in concert, working on two or three a year for the next fifteen or more years. He continues working in the series to this day. His "Encores!" adaptation of Wonderful Town
moved to Broadway's Al Hirschfeld Theatre
in 2003, directed by Kathleen Marshall
.
In the late 1990s, he adapted David Copperfield
's magic show, Dreams and Nightmares, for Broadway, also at the Beck. He also adapted Cole Porter
's Jubilee and Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific
(with Reba McEntire
) for concert performances at Carnegie Hall
, as well as "My Fair Lady" for Avery Fisher Hall in New York. In 2002, he did brush-up work on the German transfer, Dance of the Vampires, with book, music and lyrics by Jim Steinman
and original German book and lyrics by Michael Kunze. It flopped, closing in early 2003. He co-wrote the book for Irving Berlin's White Christmas
, which premiered in San Francisco in 2004 and then went on to tour across the country and was seen on Broadway in the winter of 2008 and 2009.
In 2001 Ives ventured into children's literature with the novel Monsieur Eek
, which he followed in 2005 with Scrib
. His most current book is Voss
, which was printed in 2008. Ives lives in New York City with his wife, Martha.
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
and, after some years' interval, Yale School of Drama
Yale School of Drama
The Yale School of Drama is a graduate professional school of Yale University providing training in every discipline of the theatre: acting, design , directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management, sound design, technical design and production, and theater...
, where he received an MFA in playwriting. In the interval between studies at Northwestern and Yale he worked for three years as an editor at Foreign Affairs magazine.
In the mid-1990s, after having been a contributor to Spy Magazine, Ives wrote occasional humor pieces for the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, and other publications. In that same period, New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine named him one of the "100 Smartest New Yorkers".
Works
Ives' first play in New York was Canvas, staged at the Circle Repertory Company in 1972, followed at the same theatre by Saint Freud in 1975. In the late 1980s, his one-act comedies began to appear annually in the Manhattan Punch Line's yearly one-act play festival, among them: Sure Thing, Words, Words, Words, Variations on the Death of Trotsky, Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread, and The Universal Language. Ives' most popular book of plays is All in the TimingAll in the Timing
All in the Timing is a collection of one-act plays by the American playwright David Ives written between 1987 and 1993. It was first published by Dramatists Play Service in 1994, with a collection of six plays; however, the updated collection contains fourteen. The short plays are almost all...
, which originated as an evening of one-act comedies that premiered at Primary Stages in 1993, moved to the larger John Houseman Theatre, and ran for 606 performances. The production won him the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award for Playwriting.
Most of his short pieces can be found in the anthologies All in the Timing and Time Flies. His full-length plays up to 2005 are collected in Polish Joke And Other Plays. The title play, Polish Joke, provides a glimpse into Ives's Polish-American background. He is also the author of the one-act play Ancient History
Ancient History (play)
Ancient History is a one-act play written by American playwright David Ives in 1990, and then revised in 1996.-Plot:The Village Voice described Ancient History as consisting almost “entirely of digression”. The play opens with the ominous ringing of an off-stage telephone. As the lights come up...
, which documents a break-up between a Jew and a Catholic in a comic, yet poignant manner.
In 2006 he did a new translation of Georges Feydeau
Georges Feydeau
Georges Feydeau was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his many lively farces.-Biography:Georges Feydeau was born in Paris, the son of novelist Ernest-Aimé Feydeau and Léocadie Bogaslawa Zalewska. At the age of twenty, Feydeau wrote his first comic...
's classic farce, A Flea in Her Ear
A Flea in Her Ear
A Flea in Her Ear is a play by Georges Feydeau written in 1907, at the height of the Belle Époque.-Plot:...
, which premiered in Chicago. It won a Joseph Jefferson ("Jeff") Award for adaptation. In 2008, he had two plays in New York. One adapted a Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
property, Is He Dead?
Is He Dead?
Is He Dead? is a play by Mark Twain. It was first published in print in 2003, after Mark Twain scholar Shelley Fisher Fishkin read the manuscript in the archives of the Mark Twain Papers at the University of California at Berkeley. The play was long known to scholars but never attracted much...
. The other, New Jerusalem, concerned the excommunication of Baruch Spinoza. "New Jerusalem" won a Hull-Warriner Award.
Venus in Fur opened at the Classic Stage Company
Classic Stage Company
Classic Stage Company, or CSC, is a classical Off-Broadway theater dedicated to reimagining the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience, presenting plays from the past that speak directly to today's issues. Founded in 1967, Classic Stage Company is one of Off-Broadway's...
in New York in 2010 starring Nina Arianda and Wes Bentley. Also in 2010, he adapted Pierre Corneille's comedy "The Liar" for The Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. It won the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play at the Helen Hayes Awards in Washington the following year. In 2011 his version of Moliere's "The Misanthrope" premiered at Classic Stage Company in New York under the title, "The School For Lies." Also in 2011 his adaptation of Jean-Francois Regnard's "Le Legataire universel" premiered at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. under the title, "The Heir Apparent."
In fall 2011, Venus in Fur will have it's Broadway premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
with Nina Arianda returning to the role she created at Classic Stage Company
Classic Stage Company
Classic Stage Company, or CSC, is a classical Off-Broadway theater dedicated to reimagining the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience, presenting plays from the past that speak directly to today's issues. Founded in 1967, Classic Stage Company is one of Off-Broadway's...
and Hugh Dancy playing the role originated by Bentley. Walter Bobbie will once again direct the production.
Musical theatre
In the early 1990s Ives started working in musical theatre with the libretto for an opera based on Frances Hodgson BurnettFrances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett was an English playwright and author. She is best known for her children's stories, in particular The Secret Garden , A Little Princess, and Little Lord Fauntleroy.Born Frances Eliza Hodgson, she lived in Cheetham Hill, Manchester...
's The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial format starting in the autumn of 1910, and was first published in its entirety in 1911. It is now one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is considered to be a classic of English children's...
(music by Greg Pliska). It premiered in Philadelphia in 1991 at the Pennsylvania Opera Theatre.
He then became a regular adapter in New York's celebrated "Encores!" series of classic American musicals in concert, working on two or three a year for the next fifteen or more years. He continues working in the series to this day. His "Encores!" adaptation of Wonderful Town
Wonderful Town
Wonderful Town is a musical with a book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Leonard Bernstein...
moved to Broadway's Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Al Hirschfeld Theatre
The Al Hirschfeld Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 302 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by architect G. Albert Lansburgh for vaudeville promoter Martin Beck, the theatre opened as the Martin Beck Theatre with a production of Madame Pompadour on November 11, 1924. It...
in 2003, directed by Kathleen Marshall
Kathleen Marshall
Kathleen Marshall is an American choreographer, director, and creative consultant.-Life and career:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Marshall graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School and Smith College. She worked in the Pittsburgh theatre scene when she was younger, performing with such...
.
In the late 1990s, he adapted David Copperfield
David Copperfield (illusionist)
David Copperfield is an Emmy Award-winning American illusionist, and was described by Forbes as the most commercially successful magician in history. Copperfield's network specials have been nominated for 38 Emmy Awards and won a total of 21 Emmys...
's magic show, Dreams and Nightmares, for Broadway, also at the Beck. He also adapted Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
's Jubilee and Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific
South Pacific (musical)
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
(with Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...
) for concert performances at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, as well as "My Fair Lady" for Avery Fisher Hall in New York. In 2002, he did brush-up work on the German transfer, Dance of the Vampires, with book, music and lyrics by Jim Steinman
Jim Steinman
James Richard "Jim" Steinman is an American composer, lyricist, and Grammy Award-winning record producer responsible for several hit songs. He has also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer...
and original German book and lyrics by Michael Kunze. It flopped, closing in early 2003. He co-wrote the book for Irving Berlin's White Christmas
White Christmas (musical)
White Christmas is a musical based on the Paramount Pictures 1954 film of the same name. The libretto is by David Ives and Paul Blake, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin...
, which premiered in San Francisco in 2004 and then went on to tour across the country and was seen on Broadway in the winter of 2008 and 2009.
In 2001 Ives ventured into children's literature with the novel Monsieur Eek
Monsieur Eek
Monsieur Eek is a short novel by respected playwright David Ives, intended for ages 9–12. It was first published September 1, 2001 by HarperCollins. The book is set in MacOongsafooden, in 1609. It is about a monkey who gets arrested for being a French spy...
, which he followed in 2005 with Scrib
SCRIB
Scribbled homolog , also known as SCRIB, is a protein which in humans is encoded by the SCRIB gene.- Function :Deficiency in Scrib impairs many aspects of cell polarity and cell movement...
. His most current book is Voss
Voss
is a municipality in Hordaland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Voss. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen....
, which was printed in 2008. Ives lives in New York City with his wife, Martha.