Copy: David Cote is a theater critic, playwright, and opera librettist who has written for numerous publications such as 4 Columns, Observer, The A.V. Club and Time Out New York. He’s written popular companion books about the Broadway hits Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Wicked, Jersey Boys, and Spring Awakening. His operas have been produced in New York, London, Nashville, Chicago, and Cincinnati. In his past life as an actor, he worked with Richard Foreman, Richard Maxwell and Iranian exile auteur Assurbanipal Babilla. He is also one of three artists taking part in the inaugural Ecker Fellows Program at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute, which aims to explore connections between psychoanalysis and art — therefore he is a perfect guest/patient and our session does not disappoint.

David is from a tiny town in New Hampshire—Gilmanton Iron Works, which has a population of 3,945 (it was about 2,200 when he grew up). Grace Metalious’ scandalous bestselling novel and TV show Peyton Place was inspired by the town. Taken from his bio, he self-describes as “a weird little adopted kid in rural New Hampshire devouring my Globe Illustrated Shakespeare.”

David and I take a deep dive into his growing up as an adopted child and what that meant to him personally, and how it affected his life up until now, after he has faced a tragedy of losing his wife, Katy, to cancer at the way-too-young age of 48. They were together for nine years. David talks about how he met his wife, their first date, her career in audiobooks, and about grief, in a way that you can sense how it affects him. Through this, you can see how David's passion and connection to his writing practice illuminate the power in the way creative work can help us live.