“When stories die, we can’t remember who we are or why we’re here.”
Sue Monk Kidd
Who even is dhp?
With 8 years in the industry under their belt, DAVID H. PARKER (they/them) is an award-winning artist from Birmingham, AL, a blue island in the US South’s sea of red. Intersectionality informs the base of their work, but the intersection of Blackness and Queerness is always at the top of their priorities. David was an inaugural recipient of the 2021 Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program and 2023 GLAAD Black Queer Creative Summit, a participant in the 2023 SIPP Culture White Oak Residency, finished their MFA in Directing thesis at UCLA in February 2024, and is now an incoming Artistic Director at Birmingham Black Repertory Theatre Collective for the 2024-2026 seasons.
David is currently a Teaching Associate at UCLA. They have done other guest teaching artist engagements with the University of Oregon and University of Alabama at Birmingham's Arts in Medicine.
As a Type-A Virgo whose only claim to fame is how they once won a beautiful baby contest, they need a surprising number of naps.
WHAT DO FOLX SAY ABOUT MY WORK?
LA Times Review: "'Fat Ham' at the Geffen Playhouse slathers barbecue sauce on 'Hamlet'"
LA Times Review: "'Fat Ham' at the Geffen Playhouse slathers barbecue sauce on 'Hamlet'"
LA Times Review: "'Fat Ham' at the Geffen Playhouse slathers barbecue sauce on 'Hamlet'"
GLAAD Ambassador
LA Times Review: "'Fat Ham' at the Geffen Playhouse slathers barbecue sauce on 'Hamlet'"
LA Times Review: "'Fat Ham' at the Geffen Playhouse slathers barbecue sauce on 'Hamlet'"
GLAAD's 3rd Annual #GLAADHonors Celebrating Black, Queer Storytelling (2024)
Forbes, Teen Vogue, and The Grio on the inaugural Black Queer Creative Summit (2023)
CanvasRebel Interview: "Meet David H. Parker & Aija Penix"
LA Times Review: "'Fat Ham' at the Geffen Playhouse slathers barbecue sauce on 'Hamlet'"
New York Times Review: “At the Top of His Game, and Lonely”
New York Times Review: “At the Top of His Game, and Lonely”
Playbill: “Broadway Advocacy Coalition Announces 1st Round of Cody Renard Richard Scholars”
New York Times Review: “At the Top of His Game, and Lonely”
VoyageLA Interview: “Life & Work with David H. Parker”
Playbill: “Broadway Advocacy Coalition Announces 1st Round of Cody Renard Richard Scholars”
Playbill: “Broadway Advocacy Coalition Announces 1st Round of Cody Renard Richard Scholars”
Playbill: “Broadway Advocacy Coalition Announces 1st Round of Cody Renard Richard Scholars”
Playbill: “Broadway Advocacy Coalition Announces 1st Round of Cody Renard Richard Scholars”
Playbill: “Broadway Advocacy Coalition Announces 1st Round of Cody Renard Richard Scholars”
UCLA Interview: “[The Zoo Story] drives home consequences of suppressed emotions”
Reckon South Interview: “David and Devin Creating a Southern, Black, queer renaissance”
UCLA Interview: “[The Zoo Story] drives home consequences of suppressed emotions”
Jim Cooney Interview: “Cut the Excuses and Just Be Great with David H. Parker”
Reckon South Interview: “David and Devin Creating a Southern, Black, queer renaissance”
UCLA Interview: “[The Zoo Story] drives home consequences of suppressed emotions”
Reckon South Interview: “David and Devin Creating a Southern, Black, queer renaissance”
Reckon South Interview: “David and Devin Creating a Southern, Black, queer renaissance”
Reckon South Interview: “David and Devin Creating a Southern, Black, queer renaissance”
WORKS IN PROGRESS
A JUNETEENTH SEDER
In the first half of 2024 Inheritance Theater Project (ITP) is collaborating with Black, Jewish, & Black-Jewish communities in Los Angeles to create a Juneteenth Seder, a theatrical ritual experience that marries the traditional structure of a Passover Seder with the story and symbolism of the Juneteenth holiday.
Director: Zhailon Levingston
Associate Director: David H. Parker
Executive Director: Jon Adam Ross
Director of Community Impact: Ariel Warmflash
Dramaturg: Dr. Rebecca Schorsch
Composers: Denise Manning & Ellie Kahn
WHAT HAVE I DIRECTED / CREATED RECENTLY?
FAT HAM (2024 Broadway Transfer)
See what the New York Times calls “a hilarious yet profound tragedy smothered in comedy,” in this Pulitzer Prize–winning take on Hamlet, direct from Broadway to Los Angeles.
Written by James Ijames
Original Director: Saheem Ali
Director: Sideeq Heard
Associate Director: David H. Parker
Starring: Nikki Crawford, Chris Herbie Holland, Billy Eugene Jones, Adrianna Mitchell, Marcel Spears, Benja Kay Thomas, and Matthew Elijah Webb
FAIRVIEW (2024)
MFA THESIS ... 8 SOLD OUT SHOWS! In Plainfield, New Jersey, the Frasier family lives a nice Black life in a nice house in a nice neighborhood, and the matriarch, Beverly, just wants to throw the best party for her Gemini-of-a-mother. The cake is in the oven, aunty Jasmine’s wine is on ice, and the cheese plate is full fat, baby! But little does the family know that all eyes are on Beverly’s daughter Keisha as some unexpected party guests stick their noses where they damn well don’t belong.
Written by Jackie Sibblies Drury
Director: David H. Parker
Stage Manager: Sophi Boylan
Lighting Design: Em Moore
Costume Design: Elena Gim
Sound Design: Malick Ceesay
Scenic Design: Rye Mandel
Video Design: Lucas Guazelli
AFRO TALES (2023)
An intergenerational development lab, Afro Tales is a new original immersive musical play that combines elements of storytelling from across the African Diaspora as we follow Jakai, a young Black kid who needs the help of several famous (and infamous) folk-tale & fable characters from West Africa to Alabama while on an epic emotional journey to find himself.
Written by Aija Penix and Carlton V. Bell II
Directors: David H. Parker and Devin Ty Franklin
Choreographer: Jacqueline Lockhart
TELL ME I’M GORGEOUS AT THE END OF THE WORLD: THE LAST GAY PLAY (2023)
Tell Me I’m Gorgeous at the End of the World: The Last Gay Play, a 2022 Yale Drama Series Finalist and 2-time Eugene O'Neill Conference Finalist, is about the (sometimes literal) earth-moving influence that Black and brown Queer people have when they try to exist in white spaces not only unintended for them, but in which they are rendered completely invisible.
Written by Aaron Coleman
Director: David H. Parker
Stage Manager: Alexandria Hamilton
Lighting Design: Gabe Rodriguez
Costume Design: Emma Beeman
Sound Design: Malick Ceesay
Scenic Design: Jay Tyson
TEXAS FOR FOUR MORE YEARS (2023)
My original play about a Black Queer teenager reckoning with identity, family, and the stigma of HIV on a North Texas landscape. It was workshopped and produced by REACH LA and Pothos Arts & Theater House as part of a New Works Festival at Los Angeles' East West Players.
Written and directed by David H. Parker
Starring: Khalif J. Gillett, Elisawon Etidorhpa, Cortunay Minor, Paula Ali, and Makeda Lutufyo
PATIENCE (2022)
A sports-inspired fantasia, Patience is a meditation on Black excellence, next chapters, and playing a very long game alone. This Off-Broadway world premiere was produced by 2nd Stage.
Written by Johnny G. Lloyd
Director: Zhailon Levingston
Associate Director: David H. Parker
Starring: Justiin A. Davis, Jonathan Burke, Nemuna Ceesay, Zainab Barry, and Mary E. Hodges
BLACKSIGHTERS (2022)
Winner of the 2022 George Burns and Gracie Allen Award in Comedy, Blacksighters stars Birmingham-grown best friends Radney and Nyah as they both enter the Write4Change poetry contest. But once they do, they realize they couldn’t have more different writing and advocacy styles. What will they realize about each other before the day is done?
Directed, edited, and written by David H. Parker
Starring: Devin Ty Franklin and Briana Lené
IS ANYBODY OUT THERE? (2020)
Is Anybody Out There? is a premiere virtual dance opera that explores a new medium combining traditional theatre and experimental film while its characters grappled head on with isolation, sexual expression, and their own morality.
Produced by Birmingham Black Repertory Theater Collective
Written by Carlton V Bell II
Director: David H. Parker
Cinematography: Dez Wilson
Edited and scored by Aija Penix
Starring: Devin Ty Franklin, Rachel Simonne, and Michael Charles