DIRECTING/NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT: David will direct the development of a new play by Monica Flory during the Plays in Bloom Residency 2024 in May. Monica, a Philadelphia-based theatre maker, will be the guest professional playwright for this unique opportunity for Bloomsburg University theatre students to collaborate with a guest professional in a week-long new play development process. David and Monica have a long history of collaborating, including on Monica’s plays The Jungle Book and Leaving IKEA.

DIRECTING/NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT: In April, David directed readings of new work by playwrights Cathy Caplan and Dano Madden as part of the id-iots at Play (Seven Devils New Play Foundry) and Juggernaut Theatre Company‘s evening of new work. The performance was at the Episcopal Actors’ Guild Hall in Manhattan. Photo: The Problem with Gigi by Dano Madden in performance, featuring (L to R) Tyler Hawkins, Bob Jaffe, Dana Jacks, Joel Rene Scoville, and Lauren Singerman.

DIRECTING/NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT: During the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival’s Region 2 Festival in Pittsburgh, PA, in January 2024, David directed a staged reading of The Monument Maker by Sally Seitz, an MFA student at Carnegie Mellon, for the National Playwriting Program. Set in “a time of destruction” after 30 straight days of rain in the Lowlands of South Carolina, The Monument Maker is suffering through the responsibility of having created the monuments that have all been taken down for good reason… The reading featured student actors Francesca Love and Katie Goz of Adelphi University and Tyler Hawkins from Borough of Manhattan Community College (pictured below in rehearsal for the reading). The dramaturg was recent Bloomsburg University grad Matt Hogeland. The play was awarded recognition as a Finalist for the John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play.

LEADERSHIP/NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT: In December 2023, David was named the Interim President of the Board of Directors of Seven Devils New Play Foundry.

DIRECTING/NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT: David directed The Astronots by Mora V. Harris for BU Players (Bloomsburg University). The production ran November 2 to 5, 2023, at the Alvina Krause Theatre in downtown Bloomsburg. This fabulous play was first developed during the Plays in Bloom Residency at Bloomsburg University. Scenic design by Titus O’Neil, costume design by Alia Storino, lighting design by A’nie Kirchner, properties design by Ethan Krupp and Katie Huhlen, sound design by Tom Halko. The play, filled with humor and heart, centers on out-of-touch billionaire Alston Garth’s taking four civilians with him into space on what they expect to be a 90-minute ride… It becomes much more.

TEACHING: This fall David is teaching Playwriting, Directing, and Career Seminars at Bloomsburg University. He began the fall semester with a new title, promoted from Associate Professor to Professor.

DIRECTING/ACTING/NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT: Participating as an actor, director, and mentor in the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference in McCall, Idaho, June 5 to 17, 2023. Played a shifty New York real estate developer in The Queen of the Bonackers by Susan Kathryn Hefti. Mentored two student playwrights from McCall-Donnelly High School and served as director for the demo of a third play by a student playwright for a public sharing of our Seven Devils new play development process. Director for the development and reading of A Beginner’s Guide to Self-Loathing & Why We Say Goodbye by Wolfgang Jones, collaborating with Wolfgang and dramaturg Heidi Kraay. The Conference is in its 23rd season and has developed more than 250 new plays. It is a tremendous incubator of plays, staffed by incredibly talented and generous artists who all put the playwright at the center of the new play development process.

Photos: Company photo and rehearsal, performance, and post-play discussion for A Beginner’s Guide to Self-Loathing & Why We Say Goodbye by Wolfgang Jones at Seven Devils Playwrights Conference. David A. Miller, director. Heidi Kraay, Dramaturg. Fallon Brooking, Michael Hisamoto, Starr Kirkland, and John Wicks, Actors. Josie Wald, Stage Manager. Jeni Mahoney, Artistic Director of Seven Devils New Play Foundry. Photos by Sarah Jessup of Bear Basin Photography, bearbasinphotography.com.

NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT: The second year of the Plays in Bloom Residency took place at Bloomsburg University in May 2023. This year’s residency featured The Appliance Department by guest professional playwright Bella Poynton. David is the founder and Artistic Director of Plays in Bloom: A New Play Development Program.

PLAYWRITING/DIRECTING: Six Characters in Search of an Author adapted from Luigi Pirandello and directed by David A. Miller, a co-production between Bloomsburg University Players and the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble at the Alvina Krause Theatre, Bloomsburg, PA. February 23 through March 12, 2023.
> The production is now available to rent via streaming video at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/sixcharacters.
> Learn more about the adaptation and production in a WVIA ArtScene interview with David via SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
> To read the adaptation, visit Read a sample from the play on New Play Exchange.”>New Play Exchange.

Photos: Scenes from Six Characters in Search of an Author. Scenic Design by Jen Varbalow, Lighting Design by Fred Eubele, Costume Design by Emily Weisgerber, Properties Design by Ethan Krupp, and Sound Design by Quinn Collins.
> More images in the Gallery.

TEACHING: In Spring 2023, David is teaching Fundamentals of Acting for Theatre Majors & Minors, Intermediate Acting, and Voice Over Acting.

2022

TEACHING: In Fall 2022, David is teaching Directing and Advanced Directing, Playwriting and Advanced Playwriting, Career Seminars I & II, and Introduction to Theatre at Bloomsburg University where he is in his 11th year of teaching.

NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT: David joined the Board of Directors of Seven Devils New Play Foundry, a fantastic organization that has developed more than 250 new plays over the course of more than 25 years of professional, high-quality new play development.

NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT: David has developed Plays in Bloom, a new play development program for the theatre program at Bloomsburg University. He taught Theatre 492: New Play Development in spring 2022 and the Plays in Bloom Residency launched in May 2022 with The Astronots, a new play by Mora V. Harris, and new works by Bloomsburg University students and alums. Developing the program was the focus of David’s Sabbatical in Fall 2021. | Read more about Plays in Bloom.

TEACHING: In Spring 2022, David is teaching Fundamentals of Acting, Advanced Acting, Playwriting, and New Play Development for the Theatre Program at Bloomsburg University.

PLAYWRITING: A newly revised draft of the full-length play Semi-Permanent was part of the Elephant Room Reading Series (EERS) with Elephant Room Productions in January 2022. This was an exciting return to the Herd; one of the very first drafts of the play was read in the EERS in 2016.

2021

PLAYWRITING: Stage Left Theater produced “As Long as the Window is Closed”, a one-person play, as part of their Masterpiece Monologues: New Works series, directed by Susan Hardie and featuring Nich Morgan. The play first streamed on Facebook and Vimeo on Friday, October 8 alongside a collection of other monologues written by playwrights from around the world, performed by actors from the Spokane, WA region. Marketing image by Jeremy Whittington.

COMEDY PODCAST: Joe Schiappa created a podcast to dissect the movies of Paulie Shore, called Are you Shore? The podcast, which launched July 6, includes a “bonus” episode exploring the role of the fool in theatre and film with David as guest. > Listen to the podcast.

ARTISTRY & PARENTING PODCAST: David was a guest on the Art Meet Offspring: A Podcast for Parent Artists hosted by Monica Flory. The podcast is live and begins with the David episode. > Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

ACTING/NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT: David played James in BODY + BLOOD by Shannon TL Kearns in the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference 2021. > Read more about the Conference.

PLAYWRITING: Off the Map was selected by Winters Theatre Company, Winters, CA, for the 2021 10-Minute Festival. It ran in podcast form during the festival. > Listen to the play now.

VISUAL ART: David and his son Dawson collaborated on a a new painting, I Would Like to Explore the Empire State Building (When the Sickness is Over). It was on display as part of the exhibit “What I Did in Quarantine” at The Exchange, Bloomsburg, PA. > Read more about it in David’s recent Missive.

DIRECTING / NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT: David directed a reading of Into the Woods, a new one-act play by Katie Arnold from University of Maryland at College Park, at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) Region 2 Festival 53 in January 2021. During the Festival, David also co-presented a workshop titled “BE COOL: New Play Development Etiquette” with dramaturg Dr. Carrie Winship and playwright Catherine Weingarten.

2020

PLAYWRITING: Theatrical Scenes from Danville, PA was awarded a Project Stream Grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts through the Community Partnerships RC&D Council, Inc. Five short plays premiered on Thursday, December 17 at 7:30pm on YouTube. → To read more about the project.

TEACHING: Fall 2020 courses at Bloomsburg University include Career Seminar courses for incoming and outgoing theatre majors, Playwriting, and Acting for the Camera. > To watch the Acting for the Camera Final Projects (Life in the North Pole: The Untold Stories). Spring 2021 courses include Fundamentals of Acting, Intermediate Acting, and Directing.

DIRECTING: David was the Artistic Director of The Screen Plays for Bloomsburg University this fall and directed Post-Audition by student Brian Bond. → To watch Post-Audition, the first play of Series B. → To watch a conversation between David, playwright Brian Bond, and dramaturg Eliana Tate.

DIRECTING/SCENIC DESIGN: Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, produced by the BU Players at the Alvina Krause Theatre, Bloomsburg, PA, ran February 26 through March 1, 2020. > More

2019

PLAYWRITING: Remembered: A Play Inspired by Rosemont Cemetery was produced by Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble in October 2019 as part of their 42nd season. Written by David with Dano Madden and students from Bloomsburg University, the play will be performed in the cemetery itself. → To read more about the project.

DIRECTING: Directed Gutenberg! The Musical! by Anthony King & Scott Brown for Amphibian Stage Productions. July 12 to August 18, 2019. This is not the story of Gutenberg. This is the story of Bud and Doug. Gutenberg! The Musical! is going to propel these two into the canon of great American musical writing teams. George and Ira, Rogers and Hammerstein, Bud and Doug. “Move over Hamilton. There’s another important historical figure to sing about he’s not throwing away his shot…or his Printing Press.” – Bud Davenport and Doug Simon