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David Ford

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STAGE CREDITS

[Broadway]
Original Broadway Production, 1969
John Hancock

John Dickinson [Replacement]

[Replacement]

John Hancock

John Dickinson [Replacement]

[Replacement]

[Broadway]
1964
Oskar Rose


Johann Wilhelm Mobius (Understudy)

(Unknown)

(Unknown)

(Unknown)

(Unknown)

(Unknown)

(Unknown)

[Broadway]
1961
The Duke of Norfolk (Understudy) [Replacement]

Attendant to Signor Chapuys (Understudy) [Replacement]

King Henry VIII (Understudy) [Replacement]

Attendant to Signor Chapuys (Unknown) [Replacement]

(Unknown) [Replacement]

(Unknown) [Replacement]

King Henry VIII (Unknown) [Replacement]

(Unknown) [Replacement]

(Unknown) [Replacement]

(Unknown) [Replacement]

(Unknown) [Replacement]

(Unknown) [Replacement]

The Duke of Norfolk (Unknown) [Replacement]

(Unknown) [Replacement]

(Unknown) [Replacement]

(Unknown) [Replacement]

(Unknown) [Replacement]

(Unknown) [Replacement]

Attendant to Signor Chapuys (Unknown) [Replacement]

(Unknown) [Replacement]

(Unknown) [Replacement]

[Broadway]
1959
Captain Norcross (Understudy)

Jerome Black (Understudy)

Captain Norcross (Unknown)

Jerome Black (Unknown)

(Unknown)

(Unknown)

(Unknown)

(Unknown)

(Unknown)

Captain Norcross (Unknown)

(Unknown)

(Unknown)

(Unknown)

(Unknown)

Productions

 
[Broadway, 1959]
Stage Manager
 
[Broadway, 1956]
Stage Manager

News


Brian Copeland's THE JEWELRY BOX is Coming to The Marsh Berkeley
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Nov 13, 2025

Award-winning playwright and actor Brian Copeland’s family-friendly holiday show The Jewelry Box ushers in the season with two special performances at The Marsh.
Wayne Harris' DRAPETOMANIA Extends at he Marsh Berkeley
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Oct 27, 2025

The Marsh Berkeley will extend the World Premiere engagement of acclaimed playwright and performer Wayne Harris’ Drapetomania, directed by David Ford. Learn more!
Brian Copeland's THE WAITING PERIOD Adds Performances at The Marsh Berkeley
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Oct 1, 2025

Continuing its efforts towards suicide prevention, The Marsh will offer free performances of The Waiting Period in Berkeley this October and November. Learn more and see how to purchase tickets.
Feature: THE WAITING PERIOD at The Marsh Berkeley Reaches Its 500th Performance
by Jim Munson - Sep 12, 2025

BroadwayWorld talks to Brian Copeland about 'The Waiting Period,' his searingly honest and surprisingly humorous life-saving solo show which will have its 500th performance September 20th at The Marsh Berkeley, coincidingBrian Copeland could easily point to any number of impressive achievements from his multi-faceted career. As a standup comic, he’s opened for icons like Aretha Franklin and Smokey Robinson. His seminal theater piece Not a Genuine Black Man still reigns as the longest-running solo show in San Francisco theater history. For 5 years, he co-hosted KTVUs Mornings on 2, and for 27 years hosted his own radio program on KGO. Related to the latter, he will be inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame next month, something of which he is particularly proud. But – if you ask him “What is the most worthwhile thing you’ve ever done?” he answers without hesitation, “The Waiting Period,” because it has actually saved people’s lives. I spoke with him recently to learn more about this uniquely impactful solo theater piece, which will mark its 500th performance on September 20th at The Marsh Berkeley. As has become standard practice for The Waiting Period, tickets are free of charge. Based on his personal experience, the piece is an exploration of depression and suicidal ideation, its title referring to the state-mandated 10 ten days that must elapse between purchasing a gun and taking possession of it. For Copeland, those ten days were literally a lifesaver, and so he felt compelled to share his story. Although he’d long struggled with depression, back in 2008 he was faced with an unimaginable chain of events that was more than he could handle. Within a short time, the grandmother who’d raised him died of a stroke, his wife announced out of the blue that she wanted a divorce, and he got into a horrific accident that totaled his car and necessitated spinal cord surgery, putting on his couch in a neck brace for three months, popping Vicodin. Thoughts of suicide became inescapable so he purchased a TomCat, planning to use it to end his life. Against all odds, he managed to “white-knuckle it” through the waiting period while the most acute aspects of his depression lifted just enough to stop him from killing himself. But, as Copeland says, “The thing about depression is it’s never cured – it’s better, it’s worse, it’s manageable, there are times when it’s absent - but it’s always a hair trigger away from something, from some catastrophe or some chemical imbalance.” Once the fog had lifted at least temporarily, he seriously started rethinking his experience as someone who believes in finding reasons for things. During that period, a young man within Copeland’s circle committed suicide at the age of fifteen and Robin Williams killed himself as well, although the complicating factor of Lewy Body Dementia had not been made public at that time. Copeland took those incidents like a blow to the solar plexus and began to explore what he could personally do to help prevent such tragedies. He was encouraged to bring his own struggles to light by his publicist, who happened to have represented film icon Rock Hudson in 1985 when the actor announced to the world that he had AIDS, thereby removing some of the stigma from that disease. The publicist suggested to Copeland that by going public with his story maybe he could do the same thing for depression and suicidal ideation. Copeland had received his mission. Collaborating with the Bay Area’s guru of solo performance, David Ford, Copeland set out to “create a show about depression that wasn’t depressing,” making sure to include enough reality-based humor to draw audiences in and counterbalance the heaviness of the topic. As he puts it, “the comedy makes the drama much more impactful, and the drama makes the comedy funnier because it’s a release.” The Waiting Period opened at The Marsh in 2012 and became an instant sensation, winning awards and getting extended multiple times. After a year or so, Copeland realized he couldn’t keep performing the show on a regular basis because it required him relive some very dark and harrowing episodes. But he felt he could continue to do the show on an occasional basis, maybe twice a month or so, without seriously endangering his own mental health. He also talked to Stephanie Weisman, artistic director of The Marsh, about making the show free of charge to audiences so that cost wouldn’t be a barrier to attending. Weisman readily agreed to having a GoFundMe campaign was set up to cover basic production costs like theater staffing. Copeland and his publicist then placed calls to various industry contacts and were stunned by the outpouring of support from celebrities like Glenn Close, Ed Asner and Lucie Arnaz, whose lives had been personally touched by depression and suicide. Fast forward to 2025, and Copeland is now embarking on the 500th performance of The Waiting Period on September 20th, timed to coincide with Suicide Prevention Month. Copeland remains committed to continuing to do the show because he knows the profound impact it’s had on the lives of so many people, from the letters he’s received and follow-up conversations he’s had. Just one example: a woman planned to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge one Sunday morning and stopped off at her favorite café enroute to savor one last coffee and pastry before ending her life. She noticed the San Francisco Chronicle “pink” section lying on her table and thumbed through it while finishing her coffee. It happened to contain a brief article about The Waiting Period that noted a performance would be happening that very afternoon. She was intrigued enough to alter her plan - slightly. She decided to flip a coin and if it came up heads, she would proceed straight to the bridge; if it came up tails, she would go see Copeland’s show first. It came up tails, and so she went to see The Waiting Period, the core message of which is “If you’re thinking of doing some kind of harm to yourself, tell someone first.” When the play was over, she remained in her seat crying for another twenty minutes, then called her sister to tell her what she was thinking of doing, and her sister got her help. Or there’s the story of a woman who struggled with depression and her husband always wondered why she couldn’t just lighten up and smell the roses. She basically dragged him to The Waiting Period, and afterwards he said to her, “That’s what you’ve been going through? I had no idea.” And that’s the thing with depression: it is so misunderstood. It’s not something that can be cured by thinking happy thoughts. As Copeland says, “You know, we’re dealing with a disease, and yet people are ashamed of it. There’s such shame and stigma attached to it, and I want people to know they have nothing to be ashamed of, any more than if you had Lou Gehrig’s Disease or muscular dystrophy or cancer. You wouldn’t be ashamed of those afflictions. And the world, society, would be a lot more sympathetic.” As a comedian and talk show host, i.e. someone who earns his living projecting amiability and cheerfulness, Copeland makes a perfect communicator for that message. If someone as seemingly light-hearted as him can suffer from depression, then it can truly happen to anyone. When he started debuted The Waiting Period in 2012, some people were quite surprised to learn that he’d ever wanted to kill himself. And yet, what sticks with him most over the years is the number of people who’ve approached him after a performance and whispered in his ear that they, too, are “one of us,” as Copeland refers to those who experience acute depression. Some of them are people Copeland knows well and are in the public eye, people he says you would never guess struggled with the disease. Toward the conclusion of our conversation, Copeland tells me, “If there’s nothing else at all worthwhile I’ve done while I was here, at least there are a couple of people walking around who might not be here.” I tell him that’s a statement most of us can’t make, myself included, and he responds, “You don’t know that. That’s the thing. I’m fortunate enough that I’m in a position where people are able to reach out and tell me. But you don’t know who you told to have a nice day to, who were planning on doing something and ended up not because of your kindness, you know, in tipping the barista and saying they did a good job one day when they thought they were worthless and were going to do something right after they got off work. There are stories like that, and those stories are real.” (Header photo of Brian Copeland by Joan Marcus) --- The Waiting Period will play its 500th performance 5:00pm, Saturday, September 20 at The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. Additional dates are soon to be announced. Thanks to the support of generous donors, general admission tickets are FREE. Supporters may donate $50/$100 for reserved seats, funds which make it possible for others to see the show at no cost. To order free tickets or reserve seats, please visit themarsh.org. with National Suicide Prevention Month.
Wayne Harris's DRAPETOMANIA is Coming to The Marsh Berkeley
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Sep 8, 2025

The Marsh Berkeley will present the World Premiere engagement of acclaimed playwright and performer Wayne Harris’s Drapetomania, an exploration of political dissent and the tools of oppression that can be employed to silence protesters.
The Marsh to Present No-Cost Performance of Brian Copeland's THE WAITING PERIOD  
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jul 24, 2025

The Marsh and award-winning playwright Brian Copeland have teamed up once again to offer no-cost performances to the public of the deeply moving and surprisingly funny show The Waiting Period in Berkeley this August and September.
Pearl Ong's NIGHT DRIVER Extended at The Marsh SF
by Chloe Rabinowitz - May 21, 2025

The Marsh San Francisco will send writer/performer Pearl Ong’s Night Driver into the fast lane once again after a wildly successful Marsh run this spring. Learn more!
GRANDMA’S MILLION-DOLLAR SCHEME Comes to The Marsh
by Stephi Wild - May 13, 2025

The Marsh San Francisco will present a new work from Koorosh Ostowari, Grandma’s Million-Dollar Scheme. Learn more about the upcoming production and how to get tickets here!
The Marsh To Offer Free Performances of BRIAN COPELAND'S  THE WAITING PERIOD 
by A.A. Cristi - May 8, 2025

Continuing its efforts towards suicide prevention, The Marsh will offer free performances of The Waiting Period in Berkeley and San Francisco this May and June.
Interview: Pearl Ong of NIGHT DRIVER at The Marsh
by Jim Munson - Mar 11, 2025

BroadwayWorld chats with Pearl Ong about 'Night Driver,' her solo show about leaving behind her cosseted Hong Kong childhood to drive a cab at night in wild and crazy late 70s San Francisco, running through April 5 at The Marsh.
Pearl Ong's NIGHT DRIVER to be Presented at The Marsh San Francisco
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jan 28, 2025

Writer/performer Pearl Ong will return to The Marsh San Francisco with her solo show, Night Driver. Learn more about the show and see how to purchase tickets.
Brian Copeland's THE JEWELRY BOX Opens At The Marsh In December
by A.A. Cristi - Nov 16, 2024

Brian Copeland's holiday show THE JEWELRY BOX returns to The March for performances on December 8 and 21.
Performer-Playwright Stacey Winn Featured at November New Works Showcase
by Stephi Wild - Nov 4, 2024

The second New Works Showcase for season 2024-2025 features Sacamento area native performer / playwright Stacey Winn, and her new solo show in progress, Openings, on November 18 at 7 p.m. in the Parkview Event Room, Rocklin, California.
Brian Copeland Adds No-Cost Performances of THE WAITING PERIOD  at The Marsh
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Aug 21, 2024

Continuing the effort of suicide prevention and hitting the milestone of 10 years of without-charge performances to the public, The Marsh has extended free performances of The Waiting Period. Learn how to attend performances.
Review: LOOKING FOR JUSTICE (IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES) at Bliss - Capital Fringe Festival
by Rachael F. Goldberg - Jul 20, 2024

Oppenheimer gives a great performance and a wonderful perspective on some of the core issues that many of us struggle with today, but flails a little when she tries to project onto others. Which, in a way, makes sense – after all, it’s harder to see the other sides of the story beyond your own.
EXIT Theatre to Present The 2024 San Francisco Fringe Festival
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jul 17, 2024

EXIT Theatre will host the 33rd annual San Francisco Fringe Festival from August 9-25, 2024. Tickets are $15 and under. Learn how to purchase tickets.
The Marsh Presents First Ever IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES Performance Festival This August
by A.A. Cristi - Jun 15, 2024

The Marsh has announce the inaugural In Front of Your Eyes Performance Festival, running from August 1 to 25, 2024, showcasing a diverse array of live performances.
Amy Oppenheimer To Premiere Solo Show LOOKING FOR JUSTICE (IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES) At Capital Fringe
by A.A. Cristi - Jun 7, 2024

Amy Oppenheimer will present her solo performance at Capital Fringe, showcasing a unique blend of storytelling and personal experiences. Join her for an engaging and thought-provoking theatrical experience.
NOT A GENUINE BLACK MAN Extends at The Marsh San Francisco
by Chloe Rabinowitz - May 13, 2024

The Marsh San Francisco will add four additional performances of the limited return engagement of Brian Copeland’s Not a Genuine Black Man. Learn how to purchase tickets.
GALILEO & More Lead San Francisco / Bay Area's Summer 2024 Top Theatre Shows
by Team BWW - May 10, 2024

San Francisco / Bay Area is never lacking outstanding theatre, whether epic Broadway shows, engrossing dramas or bold fringe offerings. BroadwayWorld is rounding up our top recommended theatre every month. Selections for May 2024 include Galileo, Evita and more!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How many Broadway shows has David Ford been in?

David Ford has appeared on Broadway in 4 shows.

How many West End shows has David Ford been in?

David Ford has not appeared in the West End.

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