Dr. David Crawford was excited that one of his many works won an award during Play Fest at the Texas Educational Theatre Association’s annual convention in Dallas on Jan. 23.Many don’t know that Tyler Junior College Professor Crawford is a successful playwright.”I was very pleased. Most writers write so that others could see. So people would see my work not for money, but for appreciation,” said Crawford who is also a published playwright.Crawford got the inspiration for “Moonlight Serenade” from his mother’s stories of her and her siblings’ experience of how a group of siblings struggled to readjust to family life after serving in World War II. He used some pieces of his mother’s stories in his play as well as his original thoughts.”The planning processes for ‘Moonlight Serenade’ took several months, but the actual writing of the play took several years,” said Crawford.”Moonlight Serenade” is not the first of his plays.From the looks of it, this will not be his last. Crawford is a successful playwright with five published plays, three scene books and a previous work, “Harvest,” that ran off-Broadway in 2007.”My mother was not able to attend the award ceremony in Dallas but she was able to see the show when it first ran at TJC in November and she loved it,” he said.With a small cast of eight, Dr. Crawford was determined to cast this play before his elderly mother died. The play opened Nov. 18, 2009, under the direction of Jacque Shackelford. The cast included: Sandrah Patty, Whitehouse; Skye Graham, Brownsboro; Caden Crawford, Tyler; Lloyd Luthas, Whitehouse; Corey Finzel, Fort Worth; Gib Maynard, Gilmer; Cassidy Jones, Omaha; and Crawford.He has higher goals to accomplished after achieving the task of winning an award at the TETA convention and an off-Broadway play. He loves what he does so it is only natural that he continues. “Oh, yeah. It is a hobby. I enjoy it. I am ready for the next one,” he said. Crawford is already busy at work on his next project, sometimes working on two at a time.”I keep a list of ideas in my head and one will just pop to the front of my mind and it just comes to me,” Crawford said. Once he finishes one project, he is quickly well on his way to his next potential “masterpiece.”
