Backup Plan is now on Amazon Prime

Dear Friends,

At long last, it gives me great pride to share with you the award-winning "Backup Plan", a 15 minute short film I wrote, directed, co-starred in, produced, and composed the score for. It's now streaming on AMAZON PRIME! (If you don't have Amazon Prime, you can rent or buy it at a nominal price.)

Link to watch Backup Plan

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After you watch it, do us a solid and give us a review on Amazon! I have written a feature screenplay (which has placed in several screenwriting contests already) inspired by the short ready to go and even have a few investors on board and MIND-BLOWING talent attached as interested, but of course the pandemic has caused delays. If you watch the short film and you're interested in being a part of the feature in any way -- financially, artistically, emotionally -- message me! I'd love to hear from you.

Thank you so much for your continued support and enthusiasm as we trudge through 2020 one day at a time!

Love and Light,

David Beck



PRESS RELEASE: Starring in "In a Dark Dark House" by Neil LaBute December 6-21 in New York

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Knife Edge Productions is pleased to announce their next production, Neil LaBute's In a Dark Dark House. The play runs December 6 - 21 with opening night slated for December 10 at A.R.T/New York Theatres. In a Dark Dark House is directed by the company's Resident Theatre Director, Sam Helfrich.

This production will mark the first time the play has been mounted in New York since the original production premiered off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in 2007. In 2008, the Almeida Theatre in London produced the play where director Michael Attenborough worked with LaBute to create a different version of the play. The revised version made its West Coast premiere at The Matrix Theatre Company in Los Angeles in 2014. Knife Edge Productions will present the rewritten version.

Drew, who has been court-confined for observation at a psychiatry facility, calls his older brother Terry, to corroborate his claim of childhood sexual abuse, releasing barely-hidden animosities between the two. In a Dark Dark House tells a tale of sexual and emotional abuse and two estranged brothers who attempt to overcome it and understand the legacy of abuse, both inside and outside their family home.

The cast features David Beck (For Francis/Festival de Cannes), Neil Holland (starred opposite Tony Award Winners Reed Birney and Sutton Foster in the film Mired), and Krystal Tavarez (The House of Brenarda Alba/Stella Adler Studio).

The creative team includes scenic design by Afsoon Pajoufar, lighting design by Reza Behjat, costume design by Nancy Leary, sound design by Daniel Cohen, stage management by Andrea Miller, assistant stage manager Max Jabara. In a Dark Dark House is produced by Sam Helfrich, Neil Holland and Knife Edge Productions, Heather Arnson serves as production manager.

Tickets go on sale in mid-November at www.knifeedgeproductions.com. Performances take place at A.R.T/New York Theatres, the Gural, 502 West 53rd Street (corner of 10th avenue.), New York, NY 10019. Subways: A/C/E to 50th Street, A/B/C/D/1 to 59th Street. Running time: 90 minutes.

Performance schedule:

Friday, December 6 at 8 pm

Saturday, December 7 at 8 pm

Sunday, December 8 at 2 pm & 7 pm

Tuesday, December 10 at 7 pm (Opening night)

Wednesday, December 11 at 8 pm

Thursday, December 12 at 8 pm

Friday, December 13 at 8 pm

Saturday, December 14 at 8 pm

Sunday, December 15 at 7 pm

Tuesday, December 17 at 8 pm

Wednesday, December 18 at 8 pm

Thursday, December 19 at 8 pm

Friday, December 20 at 8 pm

Saturday, December 21 at 8 pm

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"Backup Plan" continues its successful festival run throughout the U.S....and coming soon to Europe!

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Dear Friends,

Happy September! Just wanted to give you an update on my short film “Backup Plan”. We are enjoying a wonderful festival run, and I’m currently researching grants, screenplay contests, and investors in order to secure funding for the feature film version!

So far, “Backup Plan” has played or will play:

Wicked Queer: Boston LGBTQ Film Festival (World Premiere)

qFlix Philadelphia (Best Short Film)

Astoria Film Festival (Best Actress/Best Drama Short)

NY International Short Film Festival

SOHO Film Festival

Long Island Film Expo

North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

Kapow Intergalactic Film Festival (Hollywood premiere, September 16th @ 7:30pm)

Sight + Sound Film Festival (Oxnard, California, September 21st @ 6pm)

Out on Film Atlanta (September 29th)

Reel Pride Fresno LGBT Film Festival (late October…date TBA)

Gender Reel Film Festival in St. Paul, Minnesota @ Metropolitan State University (October…date TBA)

Perlen Queer Film Festival Hanover, Germany (late October…date TBA)

Semi-Finalist Stage 32 Short Film Contest

If you would like more information on any of these festivals, please contact me at david@thegreatgriffon.com

Thank you, as always, for your support!

"Backup Plan" to play Boston March 31st!

Dear Friends,

I am WICKED excited to announce “Backup Plan”, the short film I wrote, directed, and act in, is an official selection of WICKED QUEER: Boston LGBT Film Festival. This is one of the oldest and most established LGBTQ film festivals in the world and the largest LGBTQ cultural event in New England.

If you happen to be in Boston at the end of March or know of anyone who lives in the area, invite them! We’ll be in a group of other wonderful short films. Tickets are only $13 and it’s followed by a Q & A with some of the filmmakers, including me and my star Jennifer Bobbi!

For more information and for tickets, visit: https://www.wickedqueer.org/events/trans-shorts-program

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Sean O'Casey Reading Series with the Irish Rep

It has been sheer joy working on Sean O’Casey’s lesser known plays Within the Gates and The Silver Tassie. Here’s a cast photo with our director, my dear friend, Nicola Murphy, and our music director Stephen Kennedy Murphy. I had a blast playing opposite veteran character actor Joe Grifasi (known for Law & Order: SVU, Naked Gun, and Natural Born Killers). We had a great time playing off each other as Cockney chair attendants in London’s Hyde Park, limping and complaining about the pain in our legs, begging for a schilling from the Bishop, fending off ridicule from the antagonistic Dreamer, running from the eerie “drumbeat of the Down and Outs”, and singing merrily about how we’ll all soon be dead. (Yes, it’s a bizarre play, so if none of this makes sense to you, you’re not alone!) Plus, as you can see in the photo, Joe and I got to wear matching hats!

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The Silver Tassie - Sean O'Casey Reading Series

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I am so pleased to be playing in the ensemble of soldiers and stretch bearers in Sean O’Casey’s expressionist, hauntingly poetic anti-war play The Silver Tassie. As my beloved friend and director of the reading Nicola Murphy points out, O’Casey wrote about the state of the nation and was heavily influenced by my personal favorite playwright, Eugene O’Neill. O’Casey proves that great writers transcend their era. My character actually shouts at one point, “build the wall of force”. This was written in 1914.

If you are in New York this weekend, come to the Irish Rep and let O’Casey’s language and the music of the times wash over you.

Saturday Feb. 2nd @ 8pm

Sunday Feb. 3rd @3pm

Irish Rep, 132 W. 22nd Street

Free admission.

"Dad" by Shawn Belpanno at the Actors Studio

Happy New Year, friends!

This month, I have the privilege of playing the lead role in a staged reading of Shawn Belpanno’s “Dad” on Wednesday January 23rd at 6PM at the historic Actors Studio in New York.

About the play: Vinny (played by David Beck) is in desperate need for guidance. He is clueless on how to handle his life when the spirit of his deceased father (played by Mike Jankowitz) comes to him to offer him advice and a chance to explore his past and reinvent his future.

Seats are very limited, but if you would like to attend, please contact me for a reservation.

Last month was a flurry of staged readings, including playing the role of Lee Strasburg in Ronald Rand’s screenplay Group Paradise. It was such a treat playing the iconic acting teacher during the formation of The Group Theatre (with Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, and Stella Adler). These theatre artists forever changed drama, and we are all indebted to the great strides they achieved in the evolution of the craft of acting.

Stay tuned on updates for my short film “Backup Plan”, produced by my non-profit The Great Griffon and production company Blue Slate Films, now being submitted to film festivals nation wide!

The Good Book of Pedantry and Wonder

This is one of those plays that makes me fall in love with acting all over again. I'm thrilled to be taking part in this invited staged reading of the beautiful, funny play "The Good Book of Pedantry and Wonder" by Moby Pomerance tomorrow at 2pm. If…

This is one of those plays that makes me fall in love with acting all over again. I'm thrilled to be taking part in this invited staged reading of the beautiful, funny play "The Good Book of Pedantry and Wonder" by Moby Pomerance tomorrow at 2pm. If you don't have a day job, come on over to the Acorn Theatre at Theatre Row and be swept away to Victorian England! There will be a reception to follow.

Marymount Manhattan College Alumni Panel on Making My Own Work

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This past weekend, I had the privilege of being a part of a wonderful panel at my alma mater Marymount Manhattan College.  The topic of discussion was "Creating Your Own Work", geared toward graduating seniors.  I hope we were able to bring a bit of illumination to these kids about to plunge into the professional world of theatre and filmmaking!    

Spring Street is featured in The Huffington Post!

Dear Supporters,

I am so thrilled to announce that Spring Street has received its first bit of press from The Huffington Post!  Thank you to JamesMichael Nichols for endorsing our webseries and Kickstarter campaign.  There is less than one week to make a tax-deductible contribution.  Onward we go! www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/spring-street-web-series_us_57bb2bc5e4b03d513689aebd?