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ABOUT ME

David W. Christner was born in Sweetwater, TN and raised in a small farming community situated between the Washita River and the Wichita Mountains in southwestern Oklahoma; in his youth he attended church, picked cotton, plowed fields, harvested wheat, hauled hay and moved irrigation pipe. After a stint with the U.S. Navy in Vietnam and Norfolk, VA, he settled permanently in South County, RI, just across the bay from Newport where he had attended Officer Candidate School five years earlier. His stage plays The Wall, Bui-Doi: The Dust of Life, The Walk, Red Hot Mamas, The Babe, The Bard and the Baron, The Bitch of Baily’s Beach, Ezra and Evil, What About Mimi?, and This Blood's For You have been finalists or winners in national/international playwriting competitions. Speculations on the cosmos, sex, war, religion, injustice, environmental exploitation, aging, women’s issues, the homeless and capital punishment have formed the thematic content of the plays and novels he has written so far. Christner is an award-winning playwright. In addition to the U.S., his plays have been produced in Australia, Japan, Belgium, India and Canada. “Red Hot Mamas” was recently translated into Russian and Italian for pending productions.  Christner is theater critic for the Newport Mercury in Newport, RI. 

 

Below is a partial  list of my productions, readings and awards:

 

  • This Blood's For You—Detroit Repertory Theatre, Winner—Key West Theatre Festival, Kobe University, Kobe Japan, and

  • Red Hot Mamas—Detroit Repertory Theatre, also produced in Australia, Canada, India, and translated Russian and Italian in 2014 for pending productions  

  • Red Hot Mamas—Equity reading Queens Theatre in the Park

  • The Walk—Hudson River Classics, Hudson, NY (equity reading)

  • The Walk—Andrew Keegan Theatre, Arlington, VA (workshop production)

  • The Wall—Stage 3, Sonora, CA (staged reading)

  • A Day in the Wife of Avery Mann—Christian Brothers University, Memphis, TN & University of Judaism, Los Angeles, Serendipity Productions, Hayward, WI, Indianapolis University & numerous community theater productions in U.S. & Canada

  • The Babe, The Bard and the Baron—Playwrights' Circle, Palm Springs, CA (Winner International Playwriting Competition)

  • Ezra and Evil—Midland Community Theatre, Midland, TX Finalist in comedy competition 2003

  • The Bitch of Baily’s Beach—Honorable Mention Writer’s Digest Competition

  • What About Mimi?—Finalist Ashland New Plays Festival 2003, Ashland, OR

  • Magnificent Obsession and Room With a View—Brussels and Ghent, Belgium 2003

  • Four of a Kind—Playwrights Place Productions (Tiverton, RI 2003)

  • One Last Dance—Playwrights Place Productions (Tiverton, RI 20060

  • The Oldest Trick in the Book, Boston Playwright’s Theater (staged reading)

  • Floor Burns (Free Shot)—Finalist, Siena University and University of Oregon new play competitions, Honorable Mention Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition

  • Bui-Doi: The Dust of Life—Silver Medalists Pinter Review Prize for Drama 2004; Honorable Mention Writer’s Digest Competition 2003

  • A Little Lower than the Angels—NewGate Theatre, Providence, RI 2004 & Newport Historical Society 2005

  • Let it Rain—Published by Dramatic Publishing Company

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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