David Cerda

David Cerda (born June 13, 1961, Hammond, Indiana) is an American performer and playwright based in Chicago. He is currently the artistic director for Hell in a Handbag Productions, which he co-founded in 2002. His campy, highly theatrical plays have made him a notable presence within the Chicago theater scene. He has written and appeared in many of his works, including a transgressive adaptation of Rudolph, the Red-Hosed Reindeer, How ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’ Happened and POSEIDON! An Upside-Down Musical^[1] which won the New York International Fringe Festival Best Ensemble Award and was the most attended show of the festival that year.^[2][3]

David Cerda
David Cerda in 2019
Born	(1961-06-13) June 13, 1961 (age 64) Hammond, Indiana
Occupation	Playwright

Cerda’s theatre group has araised money for Chicago LGBT non-profits such as Season of Concern, AIDS Legal Council, Howard Brown, the Legacy Project, Windy City Alliance for the Deaf, and Groceryland.^[4]

Selected works

Hell in a Handbag has produced over 70 original plays, of which Cerda has written several.^[5]

• The Drag Seed, a parody of The Bad Seed^[6][7][8]
• Snowgirls: The Musical, a parody of Showgirls^[9][10]
• POSEIDON! An Upside Down Musical (2002, 2009),^[11][4] a musical parody of The Poseidon Adventure^{[12][13][14][15]}
• The Golden Girls: The Lost Episodes (since 2017), a spoof of The Golden Girls^[16]
• Rudolph, the Red-Hosed Reindeer, a parody of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer^[17]
• How ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’ Happened, a parody of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
• The Birds^[4]
• Christmas Dearest^[4]
• Caged Dames^[4]

Awards

• 2003 - New York International Fringe Festival Excellence Award for Ensemble Performance^[2][3]
• 2016 - Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame^[4]