David Rhee began his career as an actor after graduating from New York’s Circle in the Square Musical Theatre program. Since then, he appeared on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning Thoroughly Modern Millie, worked at numerous theaters across America including Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, and Silk Road Rising, and guest starred on TV’s Law and Order. In 2015, David returned to school to earn his MFA at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in Dramatic Writing where he worked with Oskar Eustis at the Public Theater, Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks, Lucas Hnath, Eduardo Machado, and Kristoffer Diaz.
In 2017, David co-founded Token Theatre, Chicago with a mission to change the narrative and shatter the false constructs about Asian Americans by creating new stories, reimagining classic works, and empowering artists to reshape the American identity. In 2021, David joined TimeLine Theatre's Playwrights Collective, where he created the feet of God: A history of Asians in America. His play, Zac Efron opened to rave reveiws in 2024, and he also helped to develop Chalo! A Soccer Musical, When the Sun Melts Away, and directed Lloyd Suh's The Far Country at Phillips Exeter Academy in 2026 with an all Asian cast, a first in its near 250 year history.
He was a guest lecturer at Northwestern University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, DePaul University, and he was the former Chair of Theater and Dance at Phillips Exeter Academy. David is the recipient of the Tisch School of the Arts Department Fellowship and the Rackham Merit Fellowship Award.
Featured Artworks
"Thoroughly Modern Millie"
David Rhee with Dixie Carter and Francis Jue
Broadway Production
"Kafka on the Shore"
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
David Rhee with Francis Guinan
"Yellow Face"
Silk Road Theatre
David Rhee with Joseph Foranda
"Zac Efron"
Production Poster
"Zac Efron"
Don't Stop Believing
With Hansel Tan and Wai Yim
Author of "Zac Efron"
"Zac Efron"
Gordon Chow and Wai Yim
Angels
Author of "Zac Efron"
"Far Country"
Direction by David Rhee
Creating Poetry From Loss
Production Photo
"The Far Country"
Direction by David Rhee
Gold Mountain
Production Photo
"When the Sun Melts Away"
Producer
Lovers
"Sleeping Beauty" Ballet
Dancer
David Rhee has crowd-funded a project with 3AP
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- $5,675 raised of $5,000 goal
- 0 Days 0:00:00 LEFT
It’s time for American theater to look more like America, one story at a time. I’m producing a live reading of my new play entitled Zac Efron, which focuses on two Queer Asian Americans looking for love, who in …
Read more about Zac Efron