David Datz
He, him, his
Altadena, CA
David Datz has been a professional actor since 1978, and has appeared in numerous plays and TV shows. He has been writing plays for five years.
Biography

David Datz has been a professional actor since 1978, and has appeared in numerous plays and TV shows. He has been writing plays for five years. He has also written three novels and self-published the first, SCALIES, which is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, and the Apple book store (search for "david datz"). An excerpt from SCALIES, "Boris and Marjorie," appeared on http://commuterlit.com (click "Authors by last name" and find "Datz").

Plays

by David Datz

A couple ponders what to do when they discover that an unknown person is living in their basement. Call police? Kick the person out, with so many people homeless? What if it’s their unstable relative? Give priority to an old family friend who appears, homeless and needing shelter? What about their adult daughter, who wants a temporary place? What’s moral? What’s safe? And who’s down there, anyway? All fodder for the family’s greatest talent: bickering.

Cast:
Aubrey: Female, wife of Adrian, old enough to have a child aged twenty-something to early thirties. Adrian: Male, husband of Aubrey, old enough to have a child aged twenty-something to early thirties. Alex: Female, daughter of Aubrey and Adrian, twenty-something to early thirties. Ray: Male, old friend of Aubrey and Adrian and aged about the same as they are. Homeless. Kim: Female, Alex’s lover.
by David Datz

Everyone worries about corporate and government intrusions on our privacy, but we don't think much about what a skilled hacker could do to a personal enemy. In 'Hackers and Lovers', six old friends, all but one of them professional hackers, have been enjoying each other’s company for years, swapping stories about what they see while they’re looking for vulnerabilities in their clients’ computer systems. The friends are: Sylvia, African-American, passionate about her politics, particularly Black Lives Matter; Sylvia's white boyfriend Milo, the only non-hacker in the group, a plumber; sharp-talking, sharp-dressing Adolphus; Adolphus's sloppy-dressing lover Diogo; Katherine, a world-weary veteran of many affairs with both men and women, tough as elephant hide on the outside and sentimental and defensive of her friends underneath; and Aristide, a nerdy, argumentative libertarian. Every month they gather at Sylvia and Milo’s place for dinner, sharing laughs over their clients’ foibles. But then Katherine, sympathetic to Diogo’s never-ending suspicion about his lover, hacks Adolphus and confirms his infidelities, which sets off a chain reaction of mutual hacking and revelations within the group, shattering not just their relationships but their very ability to live socially.

Cast:
All characters are aged 25-40. Sylvia: Female, African-American. Milo’s girl friend. Level-headed businesswoman. Milo: Male, Caucasian. Sylvia’s boy friend. Physically strong, at least slightly buff. College-educated plumber. Katherine: Female. Emotionally very tough on the outside, but vulnerable beneath. Aristide: Male. Nerdy, but not a weakling. Adolphus: Male. Diogo’s live-in lover. Sharp dresser, likes wearing ties. Diogo: Male. Adolphus’s live-in lover. Sloppy dresser, wears anything he can get away with.
by David Datz

A man attending a variety show is mistaken for a celebrity and gets pulled onstage where the hosts try to force him to perform.

Cast:
Stage Hand: Any age, Any Race/Ethnicity, Any gender. Deshaun Hooldorf 25-40, African American, Male. Fit and handsome, but not intimidatingly so. Corell 25-40, Any race but African American, Female. Attractive and self-confident. Barry 25-40, Any race but African American, Male. Attractive and self-confident.
by David Datz

At a large non-profit organization, employees face moral decisions about how to react to the unethical diktats of a new CEO.

Cast:
Actors can be of any race or ethnicity. Dana: Male, upper-middle-age, middle manager. Kaden: Female, upper-middle-age, middle manager. Lee: Male, on the cusp of old age, the oldest person in the cast. Marty: Male, late twenties to early thirties. Gerry: Female, early twenties. Woodrow: Male, middle-age. Skylar: Female, middle twenties.

Successes

In October, 2022, my comedy Basement Folly completed a successful five-week run at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills, CA. Here's an excerpt from one of the several favorable reviews:

"This fight over a basement, by playwright David Datz, is actually a fight about family, home and love, with a touch of the greater forces of society and the economy. Who most deserves the space? The characters all have their own strongly held positions, giving the fun romp that is Basement Folly a deeper meaning."

The entire review is here: https://www.larchmontbuzz.com/featured-stories-larchmont-village/theater-review-basement-folly/