Photos by Hunter Canning (huntercanningphoto.com)

David searches for his humanity as his family tries to reconcile this war-torn veteran with the boy who left. Written by a slam poet turned playwright in the style of Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry and inspired strongly by the choreopoetic style of Ntozake Shange, Goliath provides a tough perspective on war, masculinity and the breaking point of human conscience.

written by Takeo Rivera
directed by Alex Mallory
featuring Samantha Cooper, Dontonio Demarco, Natalia Duong, Edgar Eguia, Kenneth Heaton, Monique Paige and Nabil Viñas

Production History

Goliath was first presented at Stanford University in January 2007, where it was one of two student productions invited to perform at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and was selected for National Consideration, and received the award for Outstanding Student Direction. Goliath premiered in NYC as part of the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity where it received awards for Outstanding Overall Production of a New Play, Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Ensemble.

Goliath has been presented as part of Poetic License: a festival of new poetic theater, in Culture Project’s IMPACT 2012 Festival, at the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center on Veterans Day 2012, as part of the Program to Honor Veterans at La Guardia Community College, and in a multi-week run at the Wild Project in NYC.

Goliath toured to California in Spring 2014 with performances at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and Stanford University and then returned for an encore as a part of the 2014 Poetic License in NYC.