DAVE is ZACH's longest serving Producing Artistic Director, now in his 34th season. Dave is committed to an inclusive and empathetic dialogue in a theatre of, by and for Austin, to cultivate a greater sense of community for everyone who calls Central Texas home. Dave envisions ZACH as the meeting tent where our city gathers because it has investment, ownership, and representation in our creative work.

Dave has produced multiple World Premieres by Terrence McNally, Anna Deavere Smith, Steven Dietz, Jaston Williams, and Everett Quinton, among others. ZACH hosted Suzan-Lori Park's nationwide 365 Plays/365 Days Festival. Dave created the first bilingual adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical Jesucristo Superstar, and reimagined The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess in Katrina-era New Orleans with a jazz score, which received national acclaim from The New York Times.

Dave is the playwright of ZACH’s highest attended annual production A Christmas Carol, and Rockin’ Christmas Party, and Keepin’ It Weird, featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, and American Theatre.  He has directed over 100 ZACH productions, including: Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812, The Inheritance, Sunday in the Park with George, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Great Society, All the Way, The Who’s Tommy, The Gospel at Colonus, Next to Normal, August: Osage County, Caroline, or Change, Take Me Out, Jelly’s Last Jam, The America Play, and Angels in America. Regional directing credits include Actors Theatre of Louisville, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, New Stage Theatre, American Heartland Theatre, WaterTower Theatre, and City Theatre.

The City of Austin declared May 18, 2001, October 22, 2011 and December 5, 2021 as “Dave Steakley Day” on the occasion of his 10th, 20th and 30th ZACH Anniversaries. He is the recipient of the 2013 HRC Austin Visibility Award, 2005 Austin Circle of Theaters’ “Outstanding Contribution to Austin Theatre” Award, the 2000 Austin Under 40 Outstanding Arts and Entertainment Award, and 8 Austin Chronicle “Best Stage Director” awards. In 2009, he was crowned Austin Dancing with the Stars Champion, and he has a cameo in Richard Linklater’s film Bernie.