David

David has been bookselling for well over half of his life, and has worked at Elliott Bay since the spring of 1994. He currently maintains the store's website and Drama section...among other duties. His reading tastes gravitate towards plays, but he also loves a good mystery or fantasy tale. He enjoys traveling, rootbeer floats and the figure skating of Michelle Kwan. He hates acne and parking tickets but alas is prone to both. Away from the bookstore, you can find him active in the local theatre community. He is the founding artistic director of ReAct Theatre, Seattle's multi-ethnic philanthropic theatre company.

Dominic
by William Steig
One of my enduring favorite chapter books for kids is Dominic... a charming adventure tale with themes of good triumphing over evil, helping friends, finding true love and much more. All the characters are animals, and our hero, a courageous dog named Dominic is someone we should all strive to be. A great, imaginative heart-warming story to read aloud and share with kids of all ages.

Pawn Of Prophecy
by David Eddings
If you've exhausted all the terrific fantasy series by Tolkien, Rowling, Pullman and Brooks...it may be time to explore The Belgariad by David Eddings. The series starts with Pawn of Prophecy and continues through 4 additional page-turning novels (and subsequent sequels). I first read this series during my foremost impressionable years and highly recommend it!

P.S. Your Cat is Dead
by James Kirkwood
I first read this comedic tale some twenty years ago, and was delighted to come across this little gem again, with a new cover in a new trade format. Within we meet Jimmy Zoole, a unemployed actor...his girlfriend has dumped him, his best friend has died, he's been robbed a couple times recently and the only person he has around to talk with is a gay burglar he's caught and tied up in the kitchen. A funny yet rewarding read with comic surprises at every turn.

Rabbit Hole
by David Lindsay-Abaire
From the playwright who brought us such entertaining plays as the award-winning Fuddy Meers, the hysterically funny Wonder of the World and the quirky Kimberly Akimbo, among others, comes his newest, Rabbit Hole. Taking a slight departure from his usually zany fare, we embrace a family coming to grips with the loss of a child. Lindsay-Abaire has all at once given us a comedy with insight, a tragedy without melancholy, and a brilliantly rewarding new play that forces us to re-evaluate what we hold most dear.

The Shape of Things
by Neil LaBute
Although certainly controversial playwright/director/writer Neil LaBute's most "tame" plays, The Shape of Things nonetheless is an engaging and amusingly twisted piece of work. Set in a small midwestern college, we find Evelyn, a radical graduate art student who sets out to deface a museum statue she deems "false art." She encounters Adam, a security guard at the museum and thus begins their unusual relationship. Mix in friction from Jenny and Phillip, two of Adam's conservative friends who are engaged to be married and the stage is set for a beguiling and ultimately shocking exploration of the limits we set and the risks we take for love and for our passions. If you like drama that entertains and yet also makes you think and examine your own perceptions...this is the one to read.

Closer
by Partick Marber
Set in the London on the 1990s, this award-winning play (and disappointing recent film adapation starring Julia Roberts/Jude Law/Clive Owen/Natalie Portman) is a fascinating study of modern romance, desire, jealousy and the dark anatomy of love. It opens in a hospital waiting room after a mysterious young stripper has been hit by a car and escorted there by a gallant writer who witnessed the accident. Their attraction is immediate and playful. So, too is that of a second couple, a dermatologist and a photographer, whose chance meeting due to a case of mistaken identity on the Internet creates a hilarious scene.
We follow these four characters through twelve scenes and four years of romantic turmoil and change. Marber's play is not for the emotionally squeamish. It's a witty and urbane examination of sexual politics, emotional loss, betrayal, and revenge. It's the kind of writing that gets under your skin and makes you think about the value of your own life and relationships and how close we come to touching other lives.