Editing David Ives (section)

==Early life and education==
Ives wrote his first play when he was nine. He attended a boys Catholic seminary.  "We would-be priests were groomed for gravitas," he has said. At the end of the year the seniors could be a part of a school show called "The Senior Mock," in which the students satirized the teachers. Ives played the role of "the chain-smoking English teacher who coached the track team (while smoking)", and he wrote and performed a song. This school experience, along with seeing a production of [[Edward Albee]]’s ''[[A Delicate Balance (play)|A Delicate Balance]]'', starring [[Hume Cronyn]] and [[Jessica Tandy]], were two early events that inspired his interest in theatre.<ref name="auto">Ives, David. "Why Write for Theatre?" ''Zeotrope: All Story''. Volume 4, number 4.</ref>

Ives attended [[Northwestern University]], majoring in English. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1971. He traveled to Germany, where he taught English. Ives graduated from the Yale School of Drama with a Master of Fine Arts in 1984.<ref>Grimes, William. "David Ives's Quick-Hit Approach To Staging the Human Comedy" ''The New York Times''. 4 January 1994 {{ISBN|9780879101831}} page 286</ref>