David Bloom is a playwright, director, dramaturg, producer, actor and fight choreographer.
He has run the Solo Show program at Studio 58 since 2001, overseeing the creation of more than 400 one-person shows. He has taught Stage Combat, Improvisation, Shakespeare, Scene Study and New Play Creation for educational programs including Theatre at UBC, Studio 58, The Art Institute, Carousel Theatre, University of Victoria, Magnus Theatre, Caravan Stage Company and the Playhouse Acting School. He spent 3 years co-teaching and co-developing Studies in Interdisciplinary Creation and Performance for the Bachelor of Performing Arts program, a program co-created by Langara College, Capilano University, Douglas College and VCC. He is the recipient of an ARC Fund research grant from Langara College.
Directing work for his company Felix Culpa includes co-direction of Palace of the End for Touchstone Theatre/Felix Culpa/Horseshoes & Hand Grenades (Jessie Richardson award, Outstanding Direction, Small Theatre), the North American premiere of Howard Barker’s Und, The Monument (Jessie Richardson Award nomination, Outstanding Direction, Large Theatre) and his play Two in The Morning which was produced in Vancouver and London, England. He has directed shows in Vancouver, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Kamloops, Thunder Bay, Whitehorse and London.
Bloom’s play Revenge was produced by Felix Culpa, under the direction of James Fagin Tait and was nominated for a Jessie Richardson Award for best original play. His plays have also been performed by Green Thumb, Studio 58, Felix Culpa, Carousel, Axis Theatre, Canadian Phoenix and the University of British Columbia.
He is currently creating two linked pieces, Emergency Mushroom Report (designed to be performed live online) and Learning Fear in Omphalotus (designed to be performed in a tent). Most recently, he performed in Seventeen (Western Gold Theatre), Blackbird (Kestrel Solutions), This, Here (Babel Theatre) and King Charles III (Arts Club Theatre). Other performance highlights include his own one-person show My Holiday Photos from Afghanistan, appearing in Three Sisters with The Only Child Collective, Transmissions for Chrysalis/Proximity Arts, Fragments of a Farewell Letter Read by Geologists for Screaming Flea, The Designated Mourner for Felix Culpa, Apple and the premiere of Governor-General’s Award-winning play Unity 1918 for Touchstone Theatre. Acting and fight choreography have taken him across the country, including work at The Theatre Festival of the Americas, The Shaw Festival, Manitoba Theatre Centre, The Citadel and many companies in British Columbia.