By Robert Simonson
02 Dec 2003

David Greenspan

Sinister, snake-voiced actor David Greenspan will play Mephisto to Will Badgett's Faustus in These Very Serious Jokes, playwright Douglas Langworthy's new adaptation of Goethe's mammoth drama Faust.

The Target Margin Theater production will play Jan. 4-25 at Off-Broadway’s HERE Arts Center (145 Ave. of the Americas, one block south of Spring St.). Target Margin's artistic director David Herskovits will direct, per usual.

The edgy, experimental Target Margin has not had a new full production in two years, and will spend the next three examining Johann Wolfgang Goethe's famous epic about the scholarly Dr. Faustus and his fateful deal with the Devil to exchange his immortal soul for omnipotence and omniscience.

These Very Serious Jokes represents part one of the long-term project. It was workshopped last November in Brooklyn.

Also in the cast are George Hannah, E.C. Kelly, Pun Bandhu, Yuri Skujins and Wayne Scott. Scenic design is by Carol Bailey; costume design y Kaye Voyce; lighting design by Lenore Doxsee.

David Greenspan, both an actor and a playwright, has been busy at both trades in recent years. After a break from writing that lasted several year, he returned in spring 2003 with She Stoops to Comedy, a Playwrights Horizons production for which he won an Obie Award. He also acted in the piece. Soon after, he premiered The Myopia, a solo piece presented in a workshop at The Soho Think Tank's "Ice Factory" annual summer festival. Other recent acting gigs include Saved, High Life and The Wax.

For information, call (212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com.