{{short description|English-American playwright, actor, and songwriter}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{lead too short|date=December 2018}}
'''David Cale''' (born '''David Egleton''')<ref>{{cite news|url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/david-cale-were-only-alive-for-short-time-goodman-theatre-chicago-robert-falls-stage/|title=David Cale musical memoir 'We're Only Alive…' strikes a resounding chord|last=Huntsberger|first=Alex|date=September 25, 2018|work=Chicago Sun-Times|access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> is an English-American playwright, actor, and songwriter, best known for his solo performance works.
== Early life == Cale was born in England in 1958 or 1959<ref name="nytimes-monologue">{{cite news |last=Fricker |first=Karen |date=April 4, 1993 |title=The Challenge of a Monologue in the First Person |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/04/theater/theater-the-challenge-of-a-monologue-in-the-first-person.html |work=New York Times |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> and grew up in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire. He failed out of secondary school.<ref name="wp-bio">{{cite news |last=Richards |first=David |date=November 29, 1987 |title=The Offbeat Odyssey of David Cale |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1987/11/29/the-offbeat-odyssey-of-david-cale/1c71e3b5-0cd2-4af0-a2a0-5dfb67cbd95e/ |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> After an unsuccessful attempt to get by as a rock singer in London,<ref name="wp-bio"/> 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 motivated by violent and traumatic experiences in his youth.<ref>{{cite news |last=Morgan |first=Scott |date=September 26, 2018 |title=David Cale's shocking family history underscores affecting 'We're Only Alive' at Goodman |url=https://www.dailyherald.com/entlife/20180926/david-cales-shocking-family-history-underscores-affecting-were-only-alive-at-goodman |work=Daily Herald |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</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">{{cite news |last=Connors |first=Thomas |date=September 9, 2018 |title=David Cale Reaches New Heights in Autobiographical ''We're Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time'' |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/david-cale-reaches-new-heights-in-autobiographical-were-only-alive-for-a-short-amount-of-time |work=Playbill |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> Previously, his only experience in theater had been as a stagehand.<ref name="wp-bio"/>
== 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">{{cite web |url=https://bessies.org/archive/ |author=<!--Not stated--> |title=Award Archive |website=The Bessies |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> and was later featured in an HBO special.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lacher |first=Irene |date=October 1, 1989 |title=In Monology, to Play It Right Do It Yourself |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/01/theater/theater-in-monology-to-play-it-right-do-it-yourself.html |work=New York Times |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> After touring the play across the country, he brought it 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">{{cite web |url=http://www.onstage.goodmantheatre.org/2018/09/11/three-decades-of-david-cale/ |title=Three Decades of David Cale |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=September 11, 2018 |website=Goodman Theatre Onstage+ |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref>
He followed this the next year with ''Smooch Music'', opening at The Kitchen,<ref>{{cite news |last=Pareles |first=Jon |date=March 1, 1987 |title=David Cale's 'Smooch Music' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/01/theater/stage-david-cale-s-smooth-music.html |work=New York Times |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> featuring a live score by jazz musician Roy Nathanson.<ref name="goodman"/> 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"/> Cale premiered ''Deep in a Dream of You'' at the Goodman, where it was nominated for a 1991 Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jeffawards.org/archives |title=Joseph Jefferson Awards Archives |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Joseph Jefferson Awards |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> in New York he performed it at The Knitting Factory, 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>{{cite news |last=Holden |first=Stephen |date=December 12, 1992 |title=A Dream World Where Passion Rules |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/12/theater/review-performance-art-a-dream-world-where-passion-rules.html |work=New York Times |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> and at The Public Theater, with these two productions collectively winning another Bessie Award.<ref name="bessies"/>
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>{{cite news |last=Obejas |first=Achy |date=September 17, 1993 |title=Cale Happily Finds His Place in Dislocation |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-09-17-9309170046-story.html |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</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"/> ''Lillian'' was broadcast on ''This American Life'',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thisamericanlife.org/91/escape-the-box |title=Escape the Box |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=January 30, 1998 |website=This American Life |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> and the 1998 New York production at Playwrights Horizons<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/20/arts/theater-review-finding-the-mystery-in-the-mundane.html|title=THEATER REVIEW; Finding the Mystery in the Mundane|last=Brantley|first=Ben|date=1998-06-20|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-07-21|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> won an Obie Award Special Citation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.obieawards.com/events/1990s/year-99/ |title=Obie Awards 99 |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=www.obieawards.com |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' called Lillian "Cale's richest and most memorable character."<ref>{{cite news |last=Winn |first=Steven |date=February 12, 1999 |title=David Cale Spins a Luminous Tale of Lost Love in 'Lillian' |url=https://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/David-Cale-Spins-a-Luminous-Tale-of-Lost-Love-in-2947661.php |work=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref>
Cale's next two monologue collections, ''Betwixt'' (the first time he performed his own work alongside another actor: Cara Seymour)<ref>{{cite news |last=Ehren |first=Christine |date=March 30, 2000 |title=Cale's Duet ''Betwixt'' Opens Off-Broadway, March 30 |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/cales-duet-betwixt-opens-off-broadway-march-30-com-88168 |work=Playbill |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> and ''A Likely Story'',<ref>{{cite news |last=Hernandez |first=Ernio |date=December 1, 2004 |title=The New Group (naked) Launches with David Cale's ''A Likely Story'', Dec. 1 |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/the-new-group-naked-launches-with-david-cales-a-likely-story-dec-1-com-122839 |work=Playbill |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> premiered in New York in the 2000s. He then returned to the Goodman in 2005 for his first non-monologue production, the musical ''Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky'', for which he wrote the book and lyrics.<ref name="goodman" /> Cale acted the lead role, based on a character he had played in the film ''The Slaughter Rule''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rizzo |first=Frank |date=October 23, 2005 |title=Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky |url=https://variety.com/2005/legit/reviews/floyd-and-clea-under-the-western-sky-2-1200520784/ |work=Variety |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> ''Floyd and Clea'' was negatively reviewed in Chicago,<ref>{{cite news |last=Hayford |first=Justin |date=April 28, 2005 |title=Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky |url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/floyd-and-clea-under-the-western-sky/Content?oid=918655 |work=Chicago Reader |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> but in New York it was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://outercritics.org/award-results/awards-for-2006-2007/|title=Outer Critics Circle|website=outercritics.org|access-date=14 October 2018|archive-date=14 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214181647/http://outercritics.org/award-results/awards-for-2006-2007/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut commissioned ''The Blue Album'' for its 2006–2007 season as a collaboration between Cale and New York playwright Dael Orlandersmith, with both of them playing a variety of characters that they each wrote for themselves and Cale also contributing songs.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hicks |first=Shannon |date=April 13, 2007 |title=90 Minutes Isn't Long Enough For Excellent 'Blue Album' |url=https://www.newtownbee.com/theater-review-90-minutes-isnt-long-enough-for-excellent-blue-album |work=Newtown Bee |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref>
''Palomino'', about an Irish immigrant working as a carriage driver in Central Park who becomes a gigolo, opened in 2010 at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre.<ref>{{cite news |last=Scherstuhl |first=Alan |date=October 22, 2009 |title=With David Cale's ''Palomino'', the KC Rep Scores Again |url=https://www.thepitchkc.com/arts-entertainment/article/20597933/with-david-cales-palomino-the-kc-rep-scores-again |work=The Pitch |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> Cale had worked as a carriage driver to research a film role.<ref name="palomino-eastbay">{{cite news |last=Swan |first=Rachel |date=November 17, 2010 |title=David Cale's Palomino Workhorse |url=https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/david-cales-palomino-workhorse/Content?oid=2203554 |work=East Bay Express |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> The play also toured the West Coast, to positive reviews.<ref>{{cite news |last=Vittes |first=Laurence |date=October 14, 2010 |title=Palomino - Theater Review |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/palomino-theater-review-29626 |work=Hollywood Reporter |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref><ref name="palomino-eastbay" /> This was followed by ''The History of Kisses'', which premiered at Studio Theatre (Washington, D.C.) in 2011.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wren |first=Celia |date=June 20, 2011 |title=Review of David Cale's 'The History of Kisses' at Studio Theatre |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/review-of-david-cales-the-history-of-kisses-at-studio-theatre/2011/06/20/AGZuXNdH_story.html |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref>
His solo show ''Fluffing for Beginners'' appeared at Dixon Place in 2017.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-off-broadway/regional/FULL-DISCLOSUREDAVID-CALE-IN-FLUFFING-FOR-BEGINNERS-179951 |title=Full Disclosure: David Cale in Fluffing for Beginners |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Broadway World |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> In the same year, he created ''Harry Clarke''—the story of a Midwesterner reinventing himself as a British libertine—as a co-production between New York's Vineyard Theatre and 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>{{cite web |url=http://www.clydefitchreport.com/2018/08/audible-david-cale-harry-clarke/ |title=Audible and 'Harry Clarke' Remade David Cale's Career |last=Garvey |first=Martha |date=August 28, 2018 |website=The Clyde Fitch Report |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> ''Harry Clarke'' won a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lortel.org/Archives/CreditableEntity/811 |title=Lortel Archives |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</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"/> 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>{{cite news |last=Jones |first=Chris |date=September 25, 2018 |title='We're Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time' is the show of David Cale's life and how he's learned to live with it |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/reviews/ct-ent-alive-cale-goodman-review-0926-story.html |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</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>{{cite web |url=http://www.onstage.goodmantheatre.org/2018/09/11/swelling-sounds-meet-music-arranger-matthew-dean-marsh/ |title=Swelling Sounds: Meet Music Arranger Matthew Dean Marsh |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=September 11, 2018 |website=Goodman Theater |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</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>{{cite news |last=Brantley |first=Ben |date=April 18, 1996 |title=Theater Review: Having Fun with Care for the Old |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/18/theater/theater-review-having-fun-with-care-for-the-old.html |work=New York Times |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref> which received a 1996 Obie Award for the entire acting ensemble.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.obieawards.com/events/1990s/year-96/ |title=Obie Awards 96 |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=www.obieawards.com |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref>
Cale's first screen role was in Woody Allen's ''Radio Days'' in 1987.<ref name="wp-bio"/> He has since appeared in more than 20 films, as well as TV roles, including Ed Harris' 2000 biopic Pollock and James Gray's 2008 romantic drama Two Lovers.
He played John Hocknell in ''The Testament of Ann Lee'' (2025).
== Songwriter == Cale's original songs have been recorded by several musicians including The Jazz Passengers, Debbie Harry, and Syd Straw.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ascap.com/repertory#ace/writer/339302572/CALE%20DAVID |title=ACE repertory |website=ASCAP |access-date=October 14, 2018}}</ref>
== Plays == * ''The Redthroats'' (1986, PS 122: New York) * ''Smooch Music'' (1989, The Kitchen: New York) * ''Deep in a Dream of You'' (1991, Goodman Theater: Chicago) * ''Somebody Else's House'' (1993, Goodman Theater: Chicago; presented earlier as a "workshop" at Sushi Performance Art Gallery, San Diego<ref>{{cite news |last=Churnin |first=Nancy |date=September 12, 1992 |title=Storyteller Cuts Deep to the Heart |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-12-ca-4-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=October 21, 2018}}</ref>) * ''Lillian'' (1997, Goodman Theater: Chicago) * ''Betwixt'' (2000, Theater at St. Clement's: New York) * ''A Likely Story'' (2004, Lion Theater: New York) * ''Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky'' (2005, Goodman Theater: Chicago) * ''The Blue Album'', with Dael Orlandersmith (2007, Long Wharf Theatre: New Haven) * ''Palomino'' (2010, Kansas City Repertory Theatre) * ''The History of Kisses'' (2011, Studio Theatre: Washington, D.C.) * ''Fluffing for Beginners'' (2017, Dixon Place: New York) * ''Harry Clarke'' (2017, Vineyard Theatre: New York) * ''We're Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time'' (2018, Goodman Theater: Chicago; 2019, The Public Theater: New York) * ''Sandra'' (2022, Vineyard Theatre: New York) * ''The Unknown'' (2026, Studio Seaview: New York)
== Publications == * ''The Redthroats''. Vintage Books, 1989. {{ISBN|0679739610}}. Contains two plays: ''The Redthroats'' and ''Smooch Music''. * ''Shows''. NoPassport Press, 2016 (available via Lulu.com). {{ISBN|9781329846500}}. Contains four plays: ''Deep in a Dream of You'', ''Lillian'', ''Palomino'', and ''The History of Kisses''. * ''Harry Clarke: with Bonus Performance: Lillian'' (audiobook). Audible Studios, 2018. {{ASIN | B075H1VLHX}}. ''Harry Clarke'' performed by Billy Crudup, ''Lillian'' performed by David Cale.
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{IMDb name|0129812}} * [https://myspace.com/davidcale David Cale on MySpace] * [https://vimeo.com/user19576132 Video recording of ''Deep in a Dream of You'' performed at LaMama ETC (without music)]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cale, David}} Category:English male stage actors Category:English male dramatists and playwrights Category:British male songwriters Category:Living people Category:English LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Category:English expatriate male actors in the United States Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:21st-century British LGBTQ people