Born and raised outside of Tyler, Texas, David grew up with a love of rural Texas with all the perks presented to him in the form of the great outdoors. He learned hunting and fishing and searching the great Piney Woods for treasures only a life in the country can offer. "I learned about life, about creation, and the presence of an Almighty Father that saturates all I do." Being a child of Texas, a love of sports was nurtured by playing whatever sport came into season. However, with the encouragement of a loving mother, he was introduced to the world of theatre by listening to Broadway show tunes (in those days albums were 78's).
With an interest and talent in writing, his first serious opportunity came in grad school at Stephen F. Austin State University with the encouragement of professor Dr. W.K. Waters, who said, "You know, you'll never win a Pulitzer." Encouragement
for playwrights often takes on a different form than the normal reassurance offered lesser occupations. Tucking the experience into his back pocket, he left higher academia to accept his first job offer, a "lifetime one year" in Winnsboro,
Texas teaching Speech, Drama and Journalism. The experience left him with the knowledge that he "didn't have the gift for high school instruction." However, he did take away inspiration for his first play, Borrowed Plumage was completed
in July of 1977.
Fame and fortune come in fifteen minute increments. However, dues must be paid. Such was the case for Crawford as he moved to Marshall, Texas and took on the drama department at East Texas Baptist College. After another lifetime of being a "one-man department for one year", he literally leapt at an opportunity to become a member of the Theatre Department at Tyler Junior College. This was a "mind-boggling, life-changing experience". Within a couple of weeks of the new semester, Crawford discovered the love of his life sitting in his class. Of course he didn't know it. Of course, she didn't either. But, before the year was out, he proposed. His only worry was facing down a "John Wayne look-alike father and ask him for his baby daughter's hand". Surviving, David married her that August.
An important phone call came in October of '77. David had met Harvey Wilson in the summer of '76 while performing summer stock in Odessa, Texas at The Globe of the Great Southwest. Harvey, living in New York, was a member of now defunct Great American Theatre Project. "He called saying he was in this company of actors, technicians, directors, and staff, but no playwright or new plays. I was the only playwright any of them knew. He asked me if I had any plays. I had one. (Borrowed Plumage) I sent it. They liked it. They produced it in January of '78 at The Provincetown Playhouse. My first play was produced Off-Off Broadway. I was hooked." The first fifteen minutes came and went.
Over the next few years, Crawford tried to duplicate his earlier success. The problem? Life was full. Teaching full time, producing a lot of theatre, maintaining a young marriage, barely making it economically, living in rural East Texas, and being very ignorant about the art of playwriting made for some very tall walls to scale. Basically, Crawford calls it attending the school of failure. What he discovered were the many ways not to succeed. Now he was ready to turn the tables and learn what would succeed. But, first things first, Child #1, a son, was born in '81. David had always wanted to be a "daddy". "I wanted that relationship ever since I was a kid myself. Maybe I never had the relationship I wanted or needed. Having a traveling salesman for a dad didn't help." He got his wish that April.
The milestone came a year later when he was accepted into the doctoral program at Texas Tech University. The program was one of eleven in the nation and in Texas. (No out-of-state tuition.) "I immersed myself into the 'form and structure' of drama. I felt like the scales were removed from my eyes. Now, I got it! I understood!" Working on the doctorate spanned the years into 1987, during which son #2 was born. Also during that time, Crawford was named chair of the Speech and Theatre Department.
His dissertation was on playwriting methodology and included his first full-length script, Tangled Garden, which was a finalist in the Texas Playwriting Competition sponsored by Stages in Houston. "I had two scripts worth looking at, with a handful worthy of something...less." It was at that time he was introduced to William-Alan Landes, of Players Press. "He liked my work. I liked him immediately." Landes agreed to publish both plays and began "hammering me about writing. So...I wrote."
"There's so little quality time for writing, (the third son, came along in '91) I feel very jealous for the short burst of creative moments during the summers. I focus on stories that interest me. I've never written for 'the market'. I write plays that I want to see performed." Crawford loves travel and has found inspiration in the atmosphere and stories of places like the West Texas Panhandle (Harvest), Arizona (Artesia), Galveston (Tangled Garden and Night Cries). "That's what I am, a story-teller."
More awards, publications and productions have come and gone. Another fifteen minutes of fame was celebrated as Crawford was produced Off-Broadway at The Beckett Theatre. "Harvest was picked up by Judson Jones of The Alchemy Theatre of Manhattan. (He's now at Theatre East.) I had attended a workshop in Lexington, New York sponsored by the Ensemble Studio Theatre which sparked a friendship with Arthur Giron. He sponsored it in their Octoberfest which was seen by Jones."
As he sees the light at the end of the tunnel, in the guise of retirement, Crawford has plans of writing full time, for the first time in his life. "My bucket list includes about nine plays. That list will grow, but I hope I'll have enough brain activity left for at least half of them."