Biography
David Cale is a celebrated performance artist, playwright, songwriter, and actor based in New York City. His solo play "Harry Clarke," featuring Billy Crudup, debuted at the Vineyard Theatre and later moved to Audible at Minetta Lane Theatre, where it won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show. The production then played at Berkeley Rep before enjoying a sold-out nine-week run at London's Ambassadors Theatre in the West End. His next solo play, "Sandra," starring Marjan Neshat, also premiered at the Vineyard Theatre. As both writer and performer, his works include "We're Only Alive for A Short Amount of Time," for which he wrote the book, lyrics, and co-composed the music with Matthew Dean Marsh, earning an Obie Award, Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Show, a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance, and a Jeff Award for New Musical shared with Marsh; "The History of Kisses"; "Palomino"; "A Likely Story"; "Lillian" (Obie Award); and "Deep in a Dream of You" (Bessie Award). He wrote the book, lyrics, co-composed the music, and starred in the musical "Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky" (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination), inspired by his role as Floyd Duffner in Alex and Andrew Smith's film "The Slaughter Rule." His songwriting credits also include composing songs for 600 Highwaymen's "Employee of the Year" (Bessie Award nomination). His latest self-performed solo piece, "Blue Cowboy," recently premiered at The Bushwick Starr, and his upcoming solo play "The Unknown," starring Sean Hayes, is set to premiere at Studio Seaview in January 2026.
