David Berry (writer)

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David Berry (born 8 July 1943) is a, screenwriter and playwright. His most famous work is the screen play for the film The Whales of August (1987). The feature film, The Whales of August, starred Lillian Gish, Bette Davis, Vincent Price, Ann Sothern and Harry Carey, Jr.. The film was directed by Lindsay Anderson, whose credits include This Sporting Life, If...., and O Lucky Man! Anderson was also a notable director in the British theatre. Ann Sothern was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film.

[edit] Biography

Berry was born in Denver, Colorado in the United States. Berry's first play, G. R. POINT, won him an Obie Award for Distinguished Playwriting and a Drama Desk Nomination for Best New American Play in 1977. The play was produced on Broadway in 1979, directed by William Devane and starring Michael Moriarty, Michael Jeter, and Howard Rollins, Brent Jennings, Lori Tan Chinn and others.

The play of The Whales of August was initially produced as a staged reading in the "First Stage" program of Center Stage in Baltimore, Maryland in 1980. It was also presented in Providence, Rhode Island, as a regional theatre premiere, by Trinity Repertory Company in 1981 where it was directed by Trinity Rep's Artistic Director, Adrian Hall. Whales of August had its New York City premiere off-off Broadway in a production at the WPA Theatre in 1982 directed by William Ludel and its Chicago premiere at the Victory Garden Theatre in 1984, directed by Dennis Zacek.

Berry has taught playwriting at the National Theatre Institute of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, as well as for the Worcester, Massachusetts, Consortium for Higher Education. In 2005 he began teaching screenwriting at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He continues to write for both theatre and film.