Recent and In The Works:

• CAROUSEL at Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts — David as Starkeeper and Dr. Selden

• ANNIE at Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts — David as FDR

• SINGIN' IN THE RAIN at Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts — David as R.F. Simpson

• THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION at Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts — David as Gorrell and others 

• CRAZY FOR YOU at John W. Engeman Theater, Northport — David as Everett Baker

• ABE LINCOLN IN THE 21ST CENTURY — David in a solo performance reading for Lincoln's 200th year, available after January 1, 2009: a surprising portrait of our most literary president, from Lincoln's writings and speeches, which portray a witty and wise statesman who speaks to us in 2009 as if he lives today and understands our most pressing, confusing and amusing concerns.

• CHRISTIE MYSTERIES: GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER  — David with Rick Heuthe (Poirot) and Diana Heinlein (Marple) in readings from the short stories of Agatha Christie plus a short play in which the two sleuths debate rules of evidence. [available 1/1/11]

• A BEN FRANKLIN FOR ALL SEASONS — rDavid as the great American, bewildered as he attempts to make notes for a speech about his own life and times, while trying unsuccessfully to keep it serious.[1/1/11]

• A RODGERS AND HART AUDITION — Five singer/actors impersonate famous entertainers of the '30s and '40s auditioning with the songs of the famous duo. [Available in the fall of 2011]

Actor, Long Island Regional Theater — 1990-2008
On-Stage Photo Gallery

• ANNIE — FDR — Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts

• SINGIN' IN THE RAIN — R.F. Simpson — Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts

• JEKYLL AND HYDE — Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts

• THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION — Leslie Gorrell — Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts

• GREY GARDENS — Major Bouvier — Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts

• THE MUSIC MAN — Mayor Shinn — BayWay Arts, Centre Stage, Hecksher Park, Airport Playhouse

• FUNNY MONEY — Henry Perkins — Studio Theatre

• THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL — Ozzy —Theatre Three

• THE DRESSER — Sir — BroadHollow Theater

• DIAL M FOR MURDER — Tony Wendice — BroadHollow Theater

• ALONE TOGETHER — George Butler — BayWay Arts, Centre Stage

• THE MOUSETRAP — Major Metcalf — Theatre Three, BayWay Arts, Centre Stage

• A CHRISTMAS CAROL — Fezziwig, Topper, Old Joe — Theatre Three

• HIGH SOCIETY — Uncle Willie — Centre Stage; Seth Lord — Theatre Three

• FUNNY GIRL — Florenz Ziegfeld — BroadHollow Theater

• DEATH OF A SALESMAN — Ben — BroadHollow Theater

• THE LITTLE FOXES — Horace Giddens — BayWay Arts, Centre Stage 

• A FUNNY THING / FORUM — Senex — Theatre Three, BroadHollow

• ROMEO AND JULIET — Friar Lawrence — Theatre Three

• THE FANTASTICKS — Henry, the Old Actor — BroadHollow, BayWay Arts, and Airport Playhouse

• INHERIT THE WIND — Reverend Brown — Airport Playhouse

• MURDER AMONG FRIENDS — Palmer Forrester — Centre Stage

• AFTER PLAY — Marty Guteman — BroadHollow Theater

• POSTMORTEM — William Gillette — BayWay Arts Center

• LET'S DO IT — Noel Coward — 20 Public Libraries in Nassau and Suffolk Counties

• THE LAST DANCE — Fred Astaire's valet Georgie — 18 Public Libraries in Nassau and Suffolk Counties

• A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED — Inspector Craddock — BroadHollow Theater

• CARNIVAL — B. F. Schlegel — Airport Playhouse

• MOVE OVER MRS. MARKHAM — Phillip Markham — Airport Playhouse

• MACK AND MABEL — William Desmond Taylor — BroadHollow Theater

• HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES — Frank Foster — BroadHollow Theater

• CABARET — Herr Shultz — Airport Playhouse

• MAN OF LA MANCHA — Governor/Innkeeper — BayWay and Centre Stage

• ME AND MY GIRL — Sir John — Airport Playhouse

• RUN FOR YOUR WIFE — Sergeant Porterhouse — BayWay and Center Stage

• SUPERMAN (Musical) — Abner Sedgewick — Theatre Three

• RED SCARE ON SUNSET — Benson, Granny Lou, etc. — Studio Theater

• M. BUTTERFLY — Toulon, Judge — Theatre Three

• 1776 — John Hancock — Theatre Three; Lyman Hall — Airport Playhouse

• A LITTLE HOTEL ON THE SIDE — Henri Palliardin — Theatre Three

• ON THE 20TH CENTURY — Flanagan — Airport Playhouse

• ANYTHING GOES — Sir Evelyn — Theatre Three

• ZORBA — Katapolis — Theatre Three

• THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH — Dr. Brubaker — BroadHollow Theatre

Film, Television, Commercials

• METLIFE — Voice Over — The Voice Bank 

• MEDICAL IMPLANTS (patient) — Actor (TV, Print Commercial) — Focus International

• 1-800-HURT-INFO (lawyer) — Actor (TV Commercial) — TCI

• VOYAGE TO DARKNESS (documentary) — Writer, Narrator — Eclipse Cruises, Inc.

• ATTACK FROM MARS (feature film) — Co-writer, Assistant Director — Ivanhoe Productions

• THEY WENT TO THE STARS (documentary) — Writer, Narrator, Director — Wade Williams Productions

Training

• VOICE-OVER: THE VOICE BANK, Charles Michel, New York City 

• ACTING: HEDGEROW THEATER GROUP, Rose Schulman, New York City

• APPRENTICE: CASA MAÑANA THEATER (Equity) Ft. Worth

• PAINTING AND FINE ARTS: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, Austin, TX 

• STAGECRAFT: TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY, Ft. Worth, TX

• SCENIC ARTS: LESTER POLIKOV STUDIOS, New York City

Other Credentials

• WRITER: Published/produced works: Jazz Baby, biography of Joan Crawford's childhood (St. Martins Press); several sci-fi and mystery novels including Gods in a Vortex, Wingmaster, Alien Perspective, Shadows on the Moon, and four novels based on episodes of the TV series Tales of Tomorrow (Norden Publishing); screenplays for Attack From Mars (currently on DVD), the documentaries Voyage to Darkness and They Went to the Stars; movie novelizations of Swamp Thing, Paradise, The Seduction. (Jazz Baby and Shadows on the Moon were optioned for motion picture production but not yet produced.) "Literary Entertainments" for theatres, organizations, libraries and schools; writer/director of hour-long one-act plays: Great Scott and Zelda, Lillie Alone, Murder and Madness and Poe, Let's Do It, Jazz Baby Joan and Fred and Adele Astaire: The Last Dance..

• DIRECTOR: The Belle of Amherst for schools and libraries, touring; Social Security for BroadHollow Players (BayWay and Centre Stage theaters); The Odd Couple Female Version and Sylvia for Molloy College. They Went to the Stars, TV documentary for Wade Williams Productions; assistant director of Attack From Mars, feature film for Ivanhoe Productions, and of Voyage to Darkness, documentary for Eclipse Cruises, Inc.  Also director "Literary Entertainments" for theaters, libraries and schools.

• DIALECTS: British, Cockney, German, Yiddish, Irish, Scottish, Texas, Midwest, Deep South

• SET/LIGHTING DESIGN: Designer, 6 years Equity summer stock in Ft. Worth, Phoenix, Dayton, Hampton Beach—over 100 musicals and plays; resident designer 2 seasons Ft. Worth Civic Ballet; Off Broadway set/lights for 1973 revival of Ayn Rand’s Penthouse Legend (The Night of January 16th) 

• MISCELLANEOUS: Technician for Off Broadway musical All Kinds of Giants; Stage Manager for Sol Hurok national tour of Roberto Iglesias Ballet Español; TD/sets/lights for several shows and cabarets in Dallas; Piano (sight-read badly, fake fairly well).

• LITERARY ENTERTAINMENTS: David Houston's series of small-scale theatrical productions, on themes of history and literature, got its start in 2000 when he portrayed Charles Dickens, circa 1867, at a New York theatre and gathered impressive reviews. In 2001 he toured THE DICKENS! to Long Island libraries, where interest in additional plays was expressed. Houston—an accomplished writer and experienced actor—jumped at the opportunity. He wrote, produced and directed GREAT SCOTT AND ZELDA, with Melanie Lipton and Steve Corbellini, which toured libraries during the 2002 “Long Island Reads” celebration of THE GREAT GATSBY. Since then he has added other original plays to the repertoire: LILLIE ALONE, a one-woman tour-de-force starring Mary Ellin Kurtz as Lillie Langtry backstage in 1900 as she prepares lies to tell an interviewer and presents monologues from her classic stage successes; MARK TWAIN: TELLING TALES, in which Houston, as the elderly Twain, gives a lecture on humor and wit, derived from Twain essays and stories;  MURDER AND MADNESS AND POE, starring Rick Heuthe as Edgar Allan Poe attempting to secure a lucrative lecture tour in 1848, quoting and reading poetry and stories in the process; LET'S DO IT!, developed at the request of the Port Washington Library, a one-act musical in which Noel Coward (Houston) and Cole Porter (Heuthe) test material for Coward’s cabaret debut in Las Vegas, ending with Coward's outrageous lyrics for Porter's "Let's Do It"; JAZZ BABY JOAN, with Melanie Lipton as Joan Crawford in 1934 defending her career and reliving her childhood, based on Houston's Crawford biography Jazz Baby (St. Martin's Press); THE GHOST OF DOROTHY PARKER with actress Diana Heinlein as the famed Algonquin wit trying to make sense of her turbulent life through her poetry and stories; WALT WHITMAN, TO BEGIN WITH in which Houston impersonates Whitman and his critics; FRED AND ADELE ASTAIRE: THE LAST DANCE, starring Melanie Lipton and Steve Corbellini, in which, backstage in 1932, Fred and Adele reminisce in song and dance as she leaves their famous act for good; ABE LINCOLN IN THE 21ST CENTURY with Houston as a light-hearted Honest Abe; ON THE CASE: CHRISTIE MYSTERIE with readings of three short stories plus a one-act fully staged "Getting Away With Murder" featuring Diana Heinlein as Miss Marple and Rick Heuthe as Hercule Poirot; A BEN FRANKLIN FOR ALL SEASONS with Houston as the funny, bawdy and profound founding father; plus new editions of THE DICKENS! featuring "A Christmas Carol" and “The Chimes.”  In addition to original plays, Houston's group presents Melanie Lipton as Emily Dickinson in William Luce's Broadway play THE BELLE OF AMHERST; Houston in a reading of the first Sherlock Holmes novel STUDY IN SCARLET; Houston in readings of three short stories of ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER; a three-actor "radio style" dramatization of Ray Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451 with Houston, Lipton and Matt Stashin; a reading of the love story from JOY COMES IN THE MORNING with Houston and Gail Merzer Behrens, a dramatic reading of the trial of Tom Robinson from TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD with Houston and Heinlein; Houston and Heinlein are teamed for O. HENRY'S HUNDRED YEARS and O. HENRY'S CHRISTMAS GIFT readings of short stories. For Long Island Reads in past years, Houston has provided readings "in the style of radio drama": 2003 HOW THE GARCIA GIRLS LOST THEIR ACCENTS, with Houston and Lipton; 2004 SNOW IN AUGUST with Houston and Stashin; 2005 Houston ’s solo reading from Steinbeck’s TRAVELS WITH CHARLIE; 2006 Houston’s solo reading from Mark Mills’s AMAGANSETT; 2007 James McBride's THE COLOR OF WATER with Houston and Debbie Starker; 2008 a solo reading from Chang-rae Lee's ALOFT; 2009 Heinlein and Houston read from WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR by Doris Kearns Goodwin; 2010 Houston in a solo reading as Teddy Roosevelt in RIVER OF DOUBT; 2011 Houston reads from Colson Whitehead's SAG HARBOR with notes and music from the history of the village.