DAVID COLE

COLE--David. David Stuart Cole died on July 18, 2024 at the age of eighty-two. David devoted most of his life to writing plays, as well as books about theatre. He received BA, MA, and Ph.D degrees in English from Harvard, and taught in the English departments there and at Yale. Though he had a passion for music, writing was his full-time profession, pursued for almost fifty years. His many plays range from the six-hour The Moments of the Wandering Jew, produced in New York at Theatre of the Open Eye, to shorter plays in such venues as Circle-in-the- Square Theatre, American Place Theatre, Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre, 92nd St. YM-YWHA: Mosaic Theatre, Gene Frankel Theatre, Cornelia Street Cafe, South Street Theatre, Theatre Company of Boston, at Harvard, Princeton and Emory, and online. He received the Harvard Shaw Traveling Fellowship for Playwriting and the Yale Morse Fellowship for Playwriting. His website: davidcoleplaysandprose.com includes all his plays and his prose parables. These are available, free to anyone, including directors and actors of productions of the plays. David's work manifests his extraordinary intellect, wit, and language. His plays explore, among other things, the nature of theatre itself. This subject he pursued in three books, one of which, Acting as Reading (1992), won the George Jean Nathan Award for Best American Theatre Criticism, 1992-1993. The Theatrical Event (1975) is widely used in drama courses. His most recent book is Words for the Theatre (2019). David enjoyed friends, listening to music, watching old movies, and omnivorous reading. David and his wife of fifty-five years, Susan Letzler Cole, shared a devotion to theatre and an indelible love. David will be remembered as a brilliant playwright and as a loving and beloved husband and faithful friend. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his brother-in-law and sister- in-law Kenneth and Joyce Letzler, his nephews Robert and Benjamin Letzler, and his grandnephews Theodor and Jakob Letzler. David once wrote to Susan: "Wherever you are, I'm waiting for you. Wherever I am, I'm waiting for you" Gifts in his memory should be directed to Interfaith Volunteer Care Givers of Greater New Haven, carenewhaven.org/donate.