David is a playwright, lyricist, and monologist based in NYC and Vienna. Also, he was once a nerdy gay kid in 1980s South Jersey in love with musicals. Fittingly, he and his gay composer/brother Joseph wrote the WW2 love story Yank!, performed off Broadway and around the globe. He still loves making theatre, creating musical podcasts (Loveville High), and telling funny/sad/shocking stories on stages around NYC and Vienna. The NY Times once said his writing has “the ragged, jagged edge of truth to it.” The Chicago Sun Times called it “completely off-the-wall.” Can it be both? You decide!
David Zellnik David Zellnik @davidzellnik @davidzellnik1946
updated: 09/02/2026
In high school, David auditions for the role he’s dreamed of: the Artful Dodger in the musical Oliver!, the charis...
09/22/2026
LISTENAt a Vienna food festival, David, a dual US–Austrian citizen whose father fled Nazi Austria as a child, strikes up a c...
05/19/2026
LISTENDavid has a transformative night at a gay bar in the early 90s, during the ongoing AIDS crisis. It felt risky but it als...
02/17/2026
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