as pure entertainment." Critic Vincent Canby wrote, "Ives [is] wizardly ... magical and funny ... a master of language. He uses words for their meanings, sounds and associations, spinning conceits of a sort I’ve not seen or heard before. He’s an original." It won the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award for Playwriting, was included in Best Plays of 1993 — 1994, and in 1995 — 1996 was the most performed play in the country after William Shakespeare’s plays. Ives’ full-length play, Don Juan in Chicago, premiered off-Broadway in New York at Primary Stages, on March 25, 1995. The Red Address, a full-length drama, premiered in New York at Second Stage Theater in January 1997.<ref>"Theater Review; The Red Address". New York Daily News". 13 January 1997</ref> An evening of one-act plays, Mere Mortals and Others, opened off-Broadway at Primary Stages in New York, May 13, 1997. Peter Marks of The New York Times described it as "a collection of six fast and ferociously funny comedies ... a madcap evening of one-acts", and noted that Ives has the "gratifying ability to unharness the intoxicating power of language and at the same time entertain."Polish Joke, a full-length play, has been described as loosely autobiographical. It premiered in the summer of 2001 at the Contemporary Theatre of Seattle, and then opened in New York at the Manhattan Theatre Club in February 2003, in the cast in New York was Walter Bobbie, who would later be the director of Venus in Fur.Jacobson, Lynn. "Review: Polish Joke." Variety. 27 July 2001The Blizzard is a short play that was written as part of a theatrical concept that began in 1995 on the lower East Side of Manhattan, in which a group of writers, actors and directors would gather together to create a play from scratch, rehearse it, and perform it — all within 24 hours. The Blizzard, and eight of Ives' other short plays, was produced on the radio by Playing On Air, directed by John Rando and starred Jesse Eisenberg.Ives, David. The Blizzard. Tumbler Primary Stages presented a revival of All in the Timing in January 2013. This new production was directed by John Rando.Ives, David. English Made Simple All in the Timing: Fourteen Plays (2010), Random House LLC, His plays have been published in the anthologies All in the Timing, Time Flies, and Polish Joke And Other Plays. In the mid-1990s, Ives contributed pieces