Cynthia Jones Chapman

Sky Chef - 2014 Playwrights' Center Core Apprentice Program Finalist

Polish immigrant, Anna Wiley, is trying to be a model American citizen and be true to her idol, Eleanor Roosevelt. She and her husband, Gus, thought they were fortunate when the airport where they operate their diner, SkyChef, was turned into an Army Air Force training base in this northern state. A year and half after the United States joined the war, there is no end in sight, and the country has become a racial tinderbox. Anna struggles to keep her family together and keep Sky Chef afloat, while her husband lives on the edge of the law to keep them supplied in contraband. It’s not enough that her sister’s husband may be MIA, now her only son wants to enlist. Meanwhile Curtis and Roy, new Black soldiers reporting to the base, are tormented by the army’s institutional racism and the one restaurant that smells like home but is off limits. This brings Anna to a crossroads of her conscience, especially now that rumors are spreading that Mrs. Roosevelt is coming to the army base for a visit!

THIS PLAY IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION: In this non-linear drama, Dayenne’s fury is stoked by the announcement of her mother’s second and swift marriage. Dayenne diverts her pain into adolescent rebellion with the mentorship of her reckless friend Carrie, who teachers her to gamble and lie. Death does not separate these ill-starred friends. When Dayenne is unable to bear the pressure of husband and career, she summons Carrie, as the personification of her gambling addiction that wreaks havoc in the lives everyone she loves and hurtles her towards self-destruction if no one can stop her..

Inspired by Julia Butterfly Hill's 738 day tree-sit in the redwood known as Luna. Julia faces challenges from man, society, nature and self and she risks life and limb to save an ancient redwood tree from the loggers of Pacific Lumber Company in the Lost Coast in Humboldt County, CA.

On December 10, 1997, Julia Butterfly Hill began the most famous tree-sit of all time,180 feet high in an ancient redwood known as Luna. Her mission is to protect Luna from the loggers of the Pacific Lumber Company on California’s Lost Coast. In this 10 minute version of The Lady in the Tree, Julia, already 15 months into her tree-sit, meets with PALCO’s president, John Campbell, and grapples with him to create a fair agreement and save Luna from destruction. Julia knows that until an agreement is reached, she cannot set foot on terra firma again. But agreements with Timber Barons are not so easily won. How will Julia win over her opponent without losing herself in the process.

In Aphrodite's Erotic Chocolate Factory, the Supervisor manufactures a scheme to force the young pawns, er, um, workers, Helen and Paris, into giving up all rights as workers and effectively starts yet another war. Helen and Paris must decide if they will remain under the spell of the powerful Supervisor or do the right thing — if they can figure out what that hell that is.

The next stop for Debbie (The Mother-Lovin' Train protagonist) is the high school graduation of her daughter. Even under "normal" circumstances, this can be challenging for a dedicated parent. Debbie, who's been parenting on her own, finds herself struggling to let go of her daughter, single-mom guilt and loss and move forward on a nightmarish train ride to commencement.

Steven has kept Linda in the dark so long, she doesn’t see what’s right in front of her. When her celebratory evening turns into a crash cart kind of night, Linda must either apply relationship CPR or remove life supports from their 15 year relationship.

The Next Jean Harlow is a new play that takes a step back in time to when the country was deep in the Depression and people needed their hopes and dreams to cling to. Young and newlywed, Rebecca is out of sorts and out of place in her husband’s family farmhouse. Her “I do” brought on as many troubles as she left behind. It’s a marital showdown.

Single-mom Debbie, at odds with her middle-school aged daughter and exhausted from her 9-5, finds herself stepping outside her comfort zone on what should be just an ordinary train ride home from work.

Anna Sokolow cut loose from Martha Graham and became a choreographer and teacher of modern dance unlike anyone before her. Through her twilight years, Anna continued to shape and mold dancers. In this short play, Anna welcomes new dancer, Brooke, with tough love as she works to excavate the truth. Brooke, like many initiates of Anna's, is caught in a flee or fight moment with her formidable teacher.

Mr. Roys' Bicycle Repair Shop is a family-based play that touches the sore points in the lives of both the young children and the adults with a healthy dose of comedy. When Mr. Roys opens his impromptu bicycle shop, he soon finds out he has much more to repair than Lulu’s suspiciously flat tire.

A man and a woman, both battle-weary from past relationships, meet through an on-line match site and what ensues is a dating calamity with fear and extreme low-self esteem in the driver’s seat rather than love.

An ocean-liner, an iceberg, one life-boat. A housewife, her CEO husband and his senator. Cruisin’ is a farce about the loyalties of different bed-partners, sexism and corporate greed, politics all rolled into one sinking adventure.

Golden Years is a surreal one-act play in the Bernie Madoff world of today. Mabel travels to a dark place of despair at the loss the nest egg that she and her husband, Albert, had worked to grow their entire lives. Albert is beside himself as he tries to save his lost wife.

In the late 1960s, the happy world of a young girl is shattered when she finds out the wrong babysitter is about to arrive.