David Zax, photographed by Georgia Nerheim
DAVID ZAX

Plays and screenplays. Aftermath opens Off-Broadway in October.

Aftermath
AFTERMATH — written by David Zax, directed by Colton Pometta
New York Premiere · Off-Broadway

Aftermath

A new play · directed by Colton Pometta · produced by The InterCircle · with Steven Skybell, Danny Kornfeld, Jill Stern and Awesta Zarif · Mezzanine Theatre, A.R.T./New York Theatres
Previews
Oct 19
Opens
Oct 24
Closes
Nov 8, 2026
Get Tickets Read more in Playbill →
Payment in Kind
Payment in Kind — poster
Writer & Director

Payment in Kind

Short film, 2023 · Best Narrative Short, DCIFF · Oscars-qualifying at HollyShorts
Death Notice
Death Notice — the novel by Zhou Haohui
In Development

Death Notice

Television · Peacock / Lionsgate · dir. Tom Harper · Letitia Wright attached · from Zhou Haohui's novels, set in Chicago
Duet
Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, 1969
In Development

Duet

Feature film · Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, and the partnership that made her famous

Journalism

Selected
The Mattress Wars
Illustration for The War To Sell You A Mattress Is An Internet Nightmare
Fast Company

The War To Sell You A Mattress Is An Internet Nightmare

October 2017 · selected by its editors as one of Fast Company's best stories in its history
This American Life
This American Life
This American Life

Deep End of the Pool

Episode 595, 2016 · Louisiana's public defender system · in television development at Parkes+MacDonald
The New York Times
Nate Morris of Rubicon at Somerset Recycling, Kentucky
The New York Times

Dividing and Conquering the Trash

October 2014 · Nate Morris and the market bet behind Rubicon · photograph by Luke Sharrett for The New York Times

Technology

Senior Writer, IBM Think
What does AI look like?
Illustration for What does AI look like?
Feature

What does AI look like?

IBM Think, July 2026 · a plain-English tour of what is actually inside a model, for readers with no technical background · discussed on the Mixture of Experts podcast

Research

Holding the Line — research on writers, AI, and boundaries. Thirty-seven writers on where they would and would not accept help from a machine. arXiv, 2024.

An Ethnography of Conspiracy Theorists — fieldwork with internet trolls, with Google Jigsaw and ReD Associates. The findings informed platform policy. EPIC, 2020.

Also for the stage

Plays developed and produced at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Martha's Vineyard Playhouse and Playwrights Realm. 2015–16 Writing Fellow at The Playwrights Realm. MFA in Playwriting from NYU Tisch, where he studied with Annie Baker.

Also in print

Wired, Slate, The Paris Review, The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, Salon, San Francisco Chronicle and dozens more. Full archive at Muck Rack.

Honours

O'Neill Playwrights Conference finalist. Tisch Goldberg Prize. Oscars-qualifying at HollyShorts; Best Narrative Short, DC Independent Film Festival.

Representation

Film & Television
Laura Goodfriend
United Talent Agency
Laura.Goodfriend@unitedtalent.com
Management
Andrew Murphy
Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment
murphy@kaplanperrone.com