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David Cale
Hob: /* Early life */ link
'''David Cale''' is an [[English-American]] [[playwright]], [[actor]], and [[songwriter]].
== Early life ==
Cale was born in [[England]] in 1958 or 1959<ref name="nytimes-monologue"></ref> and grew up in the town of [[Luton]], [[Bedfordshire]]. He was expelled from secondary school.<ref name="wp-bio"></ref> After an unsuccessful attempt to get by as a rock singer in [[London]],<ref name="wp-bio"></ref> he changed his name and moved to [[New York City]] in 1979—a decision that, as he later described in his play ''We're Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time'', was also due to violent and traumatic experiences in his youth.<ref></ref>
His early writing began as song lyrics, which he then began to read at poetry readings, until they developed into monologues.<ref name="playbill-alive"></ref> Previously, his only experience in theater had been as a stagehand.<ref name="wp-bio"></ref>
== Playwright and solo performer ==
In 1986 Cale made his solo stage debut at New York's [[PS 122]] with ''The Redthroats'', playing a semi-autobiographical character named Stephen Weird; the play won a [[Bessie Award]]<ref name="bessies"></ref> and was featured on an HBO special in 1988.<ref></ref> He then brought the play to Chicago's [[Goodman Theatre]], beginning a long association with the Goodman, which has presented many of his stage works and commissioned several of them.<ref name="goodman"></ref>
He followed this the next year with ''Smooch Music'', also at the Goodman, featuring a live score by jazz musician [[Roy Nathanson]].<ref name="goodman"></ref> Nathanson also composed and performed music for Cale's next play, ''Deep in a Dream of You'', a series of character monologues that Cale described as "the first time I've looked outside myself for material and consciously adopted a point of view other than my own onstage."<ref name="nytimes-monologue"></ref> Cale also performed ''Deep in a Dream of You'' in [[San Diego]]<ref></ref>; at [[The Knitting Factory]] in [[New York City]], where the [[New York Times]] called it "a significant breakthrough for Mr. Cale," with "surreal imagery that evokes the connection between passion and dreams with a brilliant clarity"<ref></ref>; and at [[The Public Theater]]. The Chicago production was nominated for a 1991 [[Joseph Jefferson Award]] for New Work,<ref></ref> and the New York productions won another [[Bessie Award]].<ref name="bessies"></ref>
His next collection of character sketches, ''Somebody Else's House'', included pieces that focused on [[homosexuality]] more directly than Cale had done before, which he said came from personal experience and an interest in "showing people who don't quite fit in with the mainstream gay and lesbian community," as well as a larger theme of "people who get overlooked, who are isolated, who might fall between the cracks."<ref></ref> One sketch, about a London woman who begins an affair with a younger man, became the basis for Cale's play ''Lillian'', premiering at the Goodman in 1997.<ref name="goodman"></ref> ''Lillian'' was broadcast on ''[[This American Life]]'',<ref></ref> and the New York production won an [[Obie Award]] Special Citation.<ref></ref> The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' called Lillian "Cale's richest and most memorable character."<ref></ref>
Cale's next two monologue collections, ''Betwixt'' (the first time he performed his own work alongside another actor: [[Cara Seymour]])<ref></ref> and ''A Likely Story'',<ref></ref> premiered in New York in the 2000s. He then returned to the Goodman in 2005 for his first non-monologue production, the [[musical theatre|musical]] ''Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky'', for which he wrote the book and lyrics.<ref name="goodman"></ref> Cale acted the lead role, based on a character he had played in the film ''[[The Slaughter Rule]]''.<ref></ref> ''Floyd and Clea'' was negatively reviewed in Chicago,<ref></ref> but in New York it was nominated for an [[Outer Critics Circle]] Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical.<ref></ref>
''Palomino'', about an Irish immigrant working as a [[coachman|carriage driver]] in [[Central Park]] who becomes a [[gigolo]], opened in 2010 at the [[Kansas City Repertory Theatre]].<ref></ref> Cale had worked as a carriage driver to research a film role.<ref name="palomino-eastbay">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (2 for 1)</ref> The play also toured the West Coast, to positive reviews.<ref></ref><ref name="palomino-eastbay">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (2 for 1)</ref> This was followed by ''The History of Kisses'', which premiered at [[Studio Theatre (Washington, D.C.)]] in 2011.<ref></ref>
His solo show ''Fluffing for Beginners'' appeared at [[Dixon Place]] in 2017.<ref></ref> In the same year, he created ''Harry Clarke'' as a co-production between New York's [[Vineyard Theatre]] and [[Audible (store)|Audible]], with Audible also releasing an audiobook of the play; both the stage production and the audiobook were performed by [[Billy Crudup]], a rare case of Cale writing monologue work for another actor. The audiobook also features Cale performing ''Lillian''.<ref></ref> ''Harry Clarke'' won a [[Lucille Lortel Award]] for Outstanding Solo Show.<ref></ref>
Cale premiered ''We're Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time'' at the Goodman in 2018. He described it as his most directly autobiographical work, depicting his childhood in Luton, and said that he had avoided writing about these experiences earlier because "I didn't want people to feel sorry for me."<ref name="playbill-alive"></ref> The ''Chicago Tribune'' wrote that Cale "has been working his whole life toward this one show" and called it "deeply personal, indisputably courageous, frequently shocking and deeply moving".<ref></ref>
Also in 2018, Cale and musician Matthew Dean Marsh began performing sketches and songs together at New York's Pangea Restaurant under the title ''More Songs for Charming Strangers'', intending to continue this as a "monthly concert residency."<ref></ref>
== Other acting work ==
As a stage actor, when not performing in his own plays, Cale has mostly worked in [[New York City]]. He appeared in ''Curtains'',<ref></ref> which received a 1996 Obie Award for the entire acting ensemble.<ref></ref>
Cale's first screen role was in [[Woody Allen]]'s ''[[Radio Days]]'' in 1987.<ref name="wp-bio"></ref> He has since appeared in more than 20 films, as well as TV roles.
== Songwriter ==
Cale's original songs have been recorded by several musicians including [[The Jazz Passengers]], [[Debbie Harry]], and [[Syd Straw]].<ref></ref>
== References ==
== External links ==
*
* [https://ift.tt/2CItmPp David Cale on MySpace]
[[Category:English male stage actors]]
[[Category:English male songwriters]]
[[Category:English male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:LGBT dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:English expatriates in the United States]]
October 15, 2018 at 07:59AM
