David Davila

Professor David Davila earned his M.F.A. in Playwriting from the University of Indiana and his B.M. from the University of Texas San Antonio. A playwright, composer, director, dramaturg, and performer, he serves as the Co-Artistic Director of Ammunition Theatre Company where he curates the AMMO-nymous Reading Series in West Hollywood. He also serves as the founding artistic director for Lone Star Theatre NYC and continues to serve on the literary council of the PlayGround Experiment in Manhattan. As a playwright and musical theatre writer hailing from South Texas, his theatre praxis stands at the intersection of queer culture and mestizaje; ranging from plays, musicals, and opera, to poetry and stand-up comedy. Winner of the National New Play Network Smith Prize for Political Theatre, the New American Voices National Playwriting Award, The Antinori Grand Prize for New American Opera, The Kennedy Center New Musical Theatre Award and the National Latinx Playwriting Award, he’s a Playwrights Horizons Artist Grant Recipient, a Roundabout Theatre Company SpaceJam Resident, and a Primary Stages Rockwell Scholar. His produced theatrical works include Manuel Vs the Statue of Liberty (NYMF 2015, Gallery Players 2018), Vox-Pop a Post-Democratic Musical (Indiana University 2024), Aztec Pirates, a Latinx Fantasia on National Themes (Lone Star NYC 2023), The Sickness (Atlanta Opera 2028), 1970’s College Sex Comedy (Chaos Theatre 2023), The Tamalera's Daughter (Teatro Audaz 2022), Free Throw (BPP 2022), Mimeo (Atlanta Opera 2024), The Piñata (IU 2022, Lone Star 2026), Veronica’s Recipe for Guacamole (Teatro Vivo 2023), Red Light / Green Light (NYMadness 2017), and #52Songs (Laurie Beechman 2014). His streaming series, Most Likely To, premiered at the Warner Bros New York Latino Film Festival, and his musical short film Sweet Ness is currently screenings at festivals across the country. His full-length folk-horror opera The Sickness (with composer Gillian Perry) will premiere at Atlanta Opera in 2028.