Photo of David by Charles Chessler
DAVID SIMPATICO is a playwright, librettist and performance artist whose work has been presented at major theatres around the globe, including London’s Hammersmith Apollo, Lincoln Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the New York Shakespeare Festival. Career highlights include: the stage adaptation of High School Musical (Disney Theatricals); The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing (full-length opera; Justine Chen, composer; commissioned by American Lyric Theatre); The Screams of Kitty Genovese ( music drama, Will Todd, composer); and the libretto for Pulitzer Prize-winner Aaron J. Kernis’ Garden Of Light (NY Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, conducted by Kurt Masur).
My latest play, EX-GAY BAR, received Honorable Mention in the 2021 Carlo Annoni International Playwriting Prize.
I live deep in the woods of Rhinebeck NY with my husband, Robert C. Strickstein.
Featured Projects
That Hellbound Train
A New American Opera, with Music by Lisa DeSpain
Genre: Blues opera / Faustian fable
Adapted from Robert Bloch’s Hugo Award-winning story, this blues-soaked opera follows Martin, a drifter who makes a bargain with the Devil for the power to stop time at his happiest moment. With a driving score rooted in American blues and gospel traditions, the piece hurtles through temptation, desire, and the ultimate price of a deal too good to refuse.
Status: University of North Texas, student production, April, 2025; seeking professional engagement
Event: Developmental jazz-opera—workshopped most recently at University of North Texas, with a full choral/piano staging under Dr. Stephanie Rhodes Russell; now heading into a full student production with orchestra, planned April 2026.
Representation:
Elaine Devlin Literary, Inc.
411 Lafayette St.,6th floor, New York, New York 10003, United States
(212) 842-9030 – elaine@edevlinlit.com
https://edevlinlit.com
David Simpatico, Dramatist 