plays
This page offers a compilation of plays written by David over his lifetime available for download and by request.  Contact David for information on obtaining complete scripts, or click any "stage a production" link for licensing opportunities. 

LAST GLEAMING
Last Gleaming examines the last moments of Presidents John F Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon, unalike and tied together by in an unusual way. The first act, A Warm Day in November, Jacqueline Kennedy tries desperately to save her marriage by persuading her husband to cancel an event in Dallas.  The second act, Dancing Among the Wildflowers, Lyndon Johnson deliberating masks his failing health from his wife, Lady Bird, so that she fulfills her personal commitments.  The final act, The Family Hour, Richard Nixon staggers back to the East Wing after receiving the news of his impending impeachment and is confronted by his wife, Pat and an ultimatum.
THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES
Mysterious deaths, hidden documents, ghosts from the past, lovers from opposite sides of a centuries-old curse, and family secrets interweave in David's adaptation Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel of haunting tragedy and romance. In this dark, Gothic love story, Hawthorne expresses the belief that new hope and promise can supersede the grim despair of the past.  


Note: A dramatic musical background score for THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES composed by Kathleen Dahill is available on compact disc for use with amateur productions for $19.99 (plus shipping). Please contact www.wildwdstudios.com for further information.
CHARLES DICKENS'S GHOST STORIES
Charles Dicken's Ghost Stories is a collection of eerie Victorian tales from one of the world's greatest storytellers. Beguiled from early childhood by his nursemaid's stories of giants and demons, ghosts and monsters, Dickens harbored a lifelong interest in ghosts, apparitions and events of chilling coincidence.

While preserving the original material's humor, romance and eeriness, David's adaptation also evokes Dickens's fascination with the macabre. A lively mixture of comedy, pathos, and the supernatural, the stories include The Signalman, The Bagman's Uncle, The Queer Chair, and The Portrait-Painter's Story.


October 2011: On stage at the Festival Playhouse in Arvada, CO.
From Charley Ault, Director "The audiences have thoroughly enjoyed it. It is something a little different from our usual fare. Some have said that it ranks in the top ten of shows they have seen. That is pretty good considering we have produced over a thousand plays in 75 plus years."

New Hampshire Community Theatre Awards 2007
Winner: Play, Director, Actress (2), Scenic Design, Lighting Design; 
Nominations: Original Play, Supporting Actor (2), Supporting Actress, Costume Design
Edited clip from the Concord Community Players production of Charles Dickens's Ghost Stories
Approximately 8.5 minutes
(Feature length video filmed and produced by Chris Sweitzer, Wildwood Studios)
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
Maintaining the original novel's dark and erotic themes, David's adaptation of THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY also evokes Oscar Wilde's cynical and flashing wit. The play tells the fascinating story of a wealthy young man, Dorian Gray, who after seeing his portrait, claims that he would sell his soul to remain youthful while the portrait ages in his place.

Influenced by the temptations of high society, Dorian embarks on a hedonistic life, fully exploring his intellectual, aesthetic, and sensual appetites. Despite his innocent beauty, he exerts a corrupting - and deadly - influence over many acquaintances. Meanwhile his portrait grows more hideous with each new sin, until in a fit of remorse he destroys it and himself.


New Hampshire Theatre Awards 2010
Nominations for Ghostlight Theater Company's Production in the Drama/Comedy category: Best Production, Best Director (Ozan Haksever), Best Set Design (Jim Webber), Best Lighting Designer (Craig Brennan), Best Sound Designer (Nat Ward), Best Costume Designer (Jannaruth Jenner), Best Original Playwright (David Preece), Best Actor (Devon Scalisi as Lord Henry), Best Actor (Joe Metcalfe as Dorian Gray), Best Supporting Actor (Andrew Mattox as Basil Hallward)
TENDER
TENDER exposes the love-hate relationship between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, two of the most important American writers of the twentieth century. Based on true incidents, David's play focuses on their destructive relationship and shows how their dangerous intimate friendship spirals Fitzgerald's wife Zelda into the depths of madness.

Set in Paris, the play takes place one night in 1927 when Hemingway visits Fitzgerald for assistance with his first novel, The Sun Also Rises. In the course of a drunken evening, past truths are painfully revealed and lives forever changed.


LA Weekly Theatre Awards 2003:
Nominations: Playwriting, Leading Female Performance

New Hampshire Professional Theatre Awards 2007:
Winner: Best Original Play
Nominations: Best Non-Musical, Actress, Director
ACCORDING TO JOHN
This two-act play - a modern-day heresy trial - involves the ordination of a gay priest and a retelling of the Book of John.
THE SCARLET LETTER
The stage adaptation of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter
Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston - the years 1642 to 1649 - this drama centers on Hester Prynne, a young woman who conceives a daughter through an adulterous affair, and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity.

WALKING MOLLY
This love story set in New York City in the late 1980s, features a young man confronting his fears of loving someone who is HIV Positive.

The two men meet accidentally through Molly, a stubborn Scottish Terrier who brings them together on her daily walk through Central Park. While facing his partner's mortality, the protagonist reluctantly finds himself immersed in the daily life and rituals of his lover and his dog.

WALKING MOLLY is about the triumph of love in the face of adversity.