CYNTHIA (Cindy) Cooper

Cynthia L. Cooper -- or Cindy -- writes plays united by a passion for social themes, stylized staging and a mixture of comedy and drama.

Cindy's plays have been presented in NYC at the Women’s Project, Primary Stages, (How She Played the Game), Wings (Strange Light, Slow Burn, Sisters of Sisters), Clark Studio at Lincoln Center, Theatreworks USA (The World at Your Fingertips), Museum of Tolerance, EST, Anne Frank Center (Silence Not, A Love Story), New Circle Theatre Co, WOW Café, Art & Work Ensemble, Judson Church, HERE, LaMama Annex (Sentences and Words), other; as well as in Minneapolis, Philadephia, Boston, LA, DC, Reno, San Francisco, Cape Cod, Portland, Buffalo, Maryland, Alabama, Florida, Texas, Montreal, Budapest, Jerusalem, Helsinki, London, elsewhere.  Her plays are published in 16 volumes.

Now based in New York City, Cindy began playwriting at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis, where she was twice awarded a Jerome Fellowship and directed the first Women's Playwriting Conference. She has won awards from Pen and Brush, Malibu International Festival, Samuel French Off-Broadway Short Play Festival, Hutchinson Festival of New Plays, Barn Theater, Nantucket Short Play Festival, Camino Real, and others, including a special citation in Providence, RI for "Outstanding Achievements as a playwright ... devoted to exploring the issues and challenges that mean the most to women."

She is the founder and executive director of ReproFreedomArts.org, which does theater related to social justice and reproductive freedom. She is also a journalist and author on justice topics, drawing upon her background as a lawyer.  Cindy is a member of the Honor Roll Executive Committee.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Cyn Cooper Writer http://www.cyncooperwriter.net
FB: Cynthia L. Cooper
TW, IG: @cyncooperwrtr

MORE ABOUT ME
* What was your most gratifying moment in the theater?
A play of mine about women in sports (How She Played the Game, now called Running On Glass) was performed at a conference in Budapest. People came from all over the world. Seeing the the similar responses of many people of many different languages was riveting.

* What play or production changed your life?
The first play I wrote, Dirty Laundry, a play with a comic edge about sexism, sexual deviation and restorative justice, literally changed my life. Based on it, I was lucky enough to secure playwriting fellowship, and, with that began  a career.

* How do you overcome disappointment?
I remind myself that we are all on our own journeys, and that the only thing I can do is continue mine. I also devote time to activism -- redressing sexism, racism, homophobia, ageism in the theater and elsewhere, and giving back.

*If you could bring one change to theater, what would it be?
Equity, of course. Also transparency and a respect for all of the artists.

*What do you want artistic directors to know?
I wish Artistic Directors would spend more time expanding beyond their immediate circle and getting to know writers and their values.

*What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not writing?
Activism.

* Why do you keep doing theater?
Theater offers the possibility transformation.

WHAT I’M WORKING ON
Currently, I am developing a play about people who seek asylum in the U.S., and the people who host them. Ongoing and continuous, I produce and write about reproductive freedom through a nonprofit I founded, ReproFreedomArts.org.
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KEYWORDS
political, thriller, historical, equality, biography, comedy, mystery, nature, docudrama, queer, feminist, justice, rights