Date: May 11, 2021, 7:00 p.m.
Location: Online
In partnership with: University of Iowa Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, Iowa Cancer Consortium, and Riverside Theatre

David Lee Nelson (playwright and performer) was an award-winning actor, playwright, and solo performer. His TV and film credits included: Turn (AMC) The Inspectors (CBS), Daytime Divas (VH1), Nashville (CMT).

He created four solo plays with collaborator Adam Knight: Silence of Lucky (78th Street Theatre Lab, Piccolo Spoleto Festival); Status Update (Out of the Loop Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 59E59 in NYC, Piccolo Spoleto Festival; “Best Touring Production” of the 2010/2011 theatre season by the Dallas/Ft. Worth Critics); The Elephant in My Closet (Piccolo Spoleto, Out of the Loop - “Best of Festival” Winner, Cincinnati Fringe Festival, Capital Fringe Festival, NC Stage Company); and Stages (PURE Theatre, Riverside Theatre).

Full length plays include Folly Beach (PURE Theatre, SPACE at Ryder Farm), A Sudden Spontaneous Event (PURE Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s Southern Writers’ Festival).

As an actor, credits included: Stupid F.B. by Lucy Alibar (EST/Youngblood); Binge by Thomas Ward (Slant Theatre Project); Keeping Watch (Piccolo Spoleto); Every Brilliant Thing (Alabama Shakespeare Festival and Warehouse Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing (Warehouse Theatre); and Hamlet (College of Charleston).

BA: College of Charleston. MFA: Alabama Shakespeare Festival. David taught at Furman University, the Fine Arts Center in Greenville, SC, and College of Charleston.

He received a Young Alumnus Award from the College of Charleston School of the Arts. Playwright in Residence at PURE Theatre. His blog davidleenelson.com/blog and book Hope in the Time of Chemo chronicled the ups and downs of life as a cancer survivor. In March 2020 he married the love of his life Jaimie Malphrus.