David Quang Pham

David Quang Pham is an award-winning composer-playwright and science communicator in Washington Heights. His musicals include Ellipses (2023 Theatre About Science International Conference, 2022 O’Neill semifinalist) and Turnover: A New Leaf (Best Book Award, Best Director Award: Aliyah Curry, Best Musical nomination – 2024 Theatre on the Verge New Musicals Festival), one acts Life After with Marie Incontrera and Stephanie L. Carlin and Check Out with Eric Grunin and Valerie Work. David’s plays have been produced or developed by Queer Theatre Kalamazoo, Musical Theatre Factory, The Tank, Theatre 71 at Blessed Sacrament, Signature Theatre’s Sigspace, New York Public Library, and The Workshop Theater (The Living Fossils). His musicals have been staged in Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, New York, and Portugal. He is also an aspiring animation screenwriter, having studied under David N Weiss and Kimberly Barrante at Sundance Collab. They readapted Ellipses and Turnover into the animated features, The Galaxy Family and Photosynthesis. He was the 2024 Great Performances Artist Fellowship Award recipient, 2022 Harriet Tubman Effect Institute composer, 2021 Playwrights Foundation fellow, and 2020 Working Title Playwrights apprentice.

David’s storytelling combines science and fantasy. Common themes in his work include human nature, coming-of-age, parent-child relationships, environmentalism, queerness, and immigration. His pentatonic music composition blends pop, punk, and Vietnamese folk elements to create melodies that reflect his Eastern influences. They are under the mentorship of composers Janelle Lawrence and Gonzalo Valencia-Peña. When not writing songs full of science puns, David plays trombone for Queer Big Apple Corps, Marching Band Casting, and Vietnamese zither with Mekong NYC. They hold a B.S. in Astrophysics and minor in theatre from Michigan State University. Be up to lightspeed at @sciencetheatre or www.sciencetheatre.us