Cynthia L. (Cindy) Cooper

An American woman, propelled by the memory of her mother's rescue from the Holocaust, is drawn to help asylum seekers in the U.S. As she attempts to understand and navigate the asylum system of the 21st century, she encounters both helpers and people fleeing persecution, eventually connecting with a lesbian escaping danger, while stories unfold in monologues by a range of characters -- an accompaniment trainer, a lawyer working on the border, a Russian lesbian, the director of a safe house for asylum seekers, a South American woman seeking refuge with her daughter, a Middle Eastern man forced to find a new home, a woman from Cameroon, a former child refugee who heads an organization for Asian Americans. The play is based on extensive first-person interviews. 8w, 1m (with crosscasting may be performed by 5 or 6 actors).

Development:
Excerpt: Jewish Play Project audio cast
Excerpt: Remember the Women Institute Zoom
Theatre Unbound (postponed, Covid)
Play Readings With Friends

2x Semi-finalist: O'Neill Theatre Center Playwrights Conference

Finalist Selection, Jewish Plays Project 2022
“This play is gorgeous, with a depth of character and a beautiful economy of words. The engagement of Jewish history and ethics in allyship with new immigrants hits exactly the sweet spot of the JPP’s mission.” David Winitsky, Artistic Director, JPP

Finalist for the Theater J Trish Vradenburg Jewish Play Prize 2021
"What a rich and important play.... When I think about politics and art colliding, I imagine this play and the impact it could have. It's an incredibly powerful piece of work." ~Adam Immerwahr, Artistic Director, Theatre J

In the uncertain economic times of Germany in the early 1930s, an idealistic young Jewish woman joins with a rebellious Catholic craftsman, to resist the rise of Nazism while deepening their love for humanity and each other. Drawn from the true stories of Gisa Peiper and Paul Konopka, this is a story of courage and love that thrive despite the dangers, telling of the hope and art of speaking out for the highest human values in the most pressing of times.

"The play is innovative in a number of ways.... there are two versions of Gisa on stage at almost all times – the younger activist Gisa and her more grown-up counterpart viewing and commenting from the raised railway station. This adds perspective by enabling us to undergo experiences as they happen to the younger Gisa, and yet still look back at the action from the hard-earned vantage point gained by the older Gisa.... The play is billed as a love story, and it is that. The charming deepening relationship between Gisa and Paul satisfies our romantic thirst. Yet the play is a love story on a larger level, too — a love for humanity, a love for the courage of people who care for others and fight for the betterment of all despite the personal costs, in ordinary times as well as in extraordinary times. ...(A) great many of us appreciate and admire purity of spirit like Gisa’s, and that is one of the reasons that the play is so satisfying.... you (leave) feeling not only entertained but also ennobled and elevated." Midnight East, Jerusalem, Israel.

"Silence Not, A Love Story (has) a meditative, pure tone that reiterates the need to face oppression with unflinching love...Cooper is a playwright at the height of her powers. She easily balances themes of empowerment, struggle, and equality, and raises the stakes ....The result is striking and breaks new ground in much-trodden soil...The action rises steadily to the last act, and only in the final pages is the tension lightened....Gisa is a strong, independent character....Thought-provoking without being abstract, historical without being condescending, Silence Not is a heady, beautifully written play. Worth reading several times, it strikes a lovely balance between poetry and reality, bringing to life a diverse cast of characters in a challenging time period. Cooper reminds us that true resistance to oppression comes from the act of love..." Claire Rudy Foster, ForeWord Magazine

Fall 2013: Reading, Primary Stages, NYC, directed by Ludovica Villar-Hauser,More Info; May 2013: Excerpts, More Jewish Women You Should Know, Anne Frank Center USA; Oct 2012: Anne Frank Center USA; Sept 2012: Norwalk Public Library, discussion; July 2012: Book Expo, Monroe Public Library, PA; Mar 2012: Holocaust Museum, DC, Book Signing; June 2011: Book Fair, PA; Mar 2011: Worthington Players at Shawnee Playhouse, PA; Nov 2010: Staged Reading, Pocono Playhouse, East Stroudburg University, Margaret Ball, dir.; July 2010: Book Event, E.Stroudsburg Library, PA;.June 6-7, 2010: Book Signing U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC; May 2010: Reading, Julia's Room, League of Professional Theatre Women, NYC; April 2010:Production, Center Stage Theater, The Merkaz, Jerusalem, Israel. Directed by Gabriella Willenz. World Premiere. See Review;March 2010: Production, Beit Avi Chai, Jerusalem, Israel. Directed by Gabriella Willenz; Feb. 2010, Staged Reading, Wellstone Center, St. Paul, Directed by Carolyn Levy. Sponsored by The Konopka Institute of the University of Minnesota, in celebration of the Life and Legacy of Gisa Konopka; Press Release; 2009 -- The Anne Frank Center USA, New York, Reading, directed by Joanne Edelmann; Justice Talks Radio; Library, East Stroudsburg, Publisher, Gihon River Press; Hamline University,at the Anne Simley Theatre, St. Paul, MN directed by Carolyn Levy. 2008: Geraldine Page Center for the Arts, New York. Finalist, Original Play Contest, Shawnee Playhouse, PA, 2011.

Published: Gihon River Press
See Play Publications. Selected as Best Historical Fiction, Books and Authors; Finalist, Best Book in Drama/​Performing Arts, ForeWord Magazine.

A women lawyer, Bayley, and her girlfriend, Shue, a struggling classical musician, see their relationship teeter as Bayley's mother falls to Alzheimer's and the looming memories of her own unloving marriage to a lighting scientist. In stylized storytelling with the World's Fair in the background and the WNBA in the foreground, Bayley seeks to recharge her life and chart a new path.

Various settings; 3 w.; 1 hr. 35 min. [Philadelphia, Shubin Th., Phil GL Theatre Festival., Swerve Prods.(Robin Eisenberg, dir.); Women at Wings, Wings Theatre, NY; Bailiwick Repertory Co., Chicago; HAG Theatre at Smith Theatre, Buffalo.

"Cooper is a graceful and skilled writer... exceptional writing ... You won't regret seeing it." Stewart Benedict, NY critic. "Speaks to the complexities of life ... and dealing with a parent's mental and physical decline." Theatremania.com. "Takes on the dynamics of relationships and the reconciliation and changing nature of the family." NY Blade "A poem of a play ...elegant construction ... sure to evoke emotion and provoke thought long after the theater grows dark." "A winner." Rick Reed, Lambda Publications.

German-Jewish writer Anna Seghers, whose books were burned by the Nazis, lives in exile in Mexico, when her new novel exposing fascism in Germany becomes a bestseller, and attracts the attention of Hollywood scriptwriter Helen Deutsch about turning her book into a film. Presented at Women, Theatre and the Holocaust, by Remember the Women Institute, at the Marlene Meyerson Manhattan JCC, for Holocaust Remembrance Day, 2023; performed, Equity Library Theatre at W. 53rd Street Library, Manhattan, 2013; Equity Library Theatre Virtual Playwrighting Festival, 2023, Winner Best Play

Gemma LaGuardia Gluck, sister to New York City Mayor and anti-Nazi orator Fiorello LaGuardia, is held as a Jewish-Hungarian political hostage in Ravensbrück women's concentration camp in 1944, where she strains to reach out to her brother for help, while also supporting other women in the camp with English lessons. 1 w, 1 m; 12 minutes.

Women, Theatre and the Holocaust, Remember the Women Institute, Manhattan JCC, NYC, May 2024

With Nazi soldiers all around, a Jewish-German underground worker summons an inner strength while awaiting a train that will take her to safety. [15 min, 2 w] Anne Frank Center USA; Resistance, Women and the Holocaust, Remember the Women Institute at the Center for Jewish History, directed by Ludovica Villar-Hauser. Recognizing Yom HaShoah with Women, Theater and Resistance to the Holocaust. Spring 2018: Untold Stories of Women at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, NYC. Spring 2018. Publication: She Persisted: 10 Minute Plays, ed Laurence Harbison, Rowman & Littlefield/Applause Books, 2021

Can be performed as a radio drama.

'A sports scholar engages her friend, a designer and running buddy, in envisioning a pop-up museum of women sports figures; as they explore the stories, they take on the persona of six fascinating persons from sports history, illuminating the resilience and spirit that shape the lives of women who broke the glass before the term 'glass ceiling' even existed. Stories include: Althea Gibson, Gertrude Ederle, Wilma Rudolph, Gretel Bergmann, Babe Didrikson, Mamie 'Peanut' Johnson, and more. A tour-de-force for two women performers, one African American, one white.

60-70 Minutes in length (approx)

Minimum, two women performers 1 b, 1 w). Could be performed by six performers, or even eight.

Production: Venus Theatre, Laurel, MD, Nov-Dec 2018. Livestreamed on Facebook.

"The stories are compelling and well-told." "A celebration well worth attending." "A deeply personal look at what drove (the athletes) to succeed." DC Metro Theatre Arts.

"A slam dunk." "Hits the mark." "The spirit of each athlete shines out to the audience." "RUNNING ON GLASS is a grand slam for fans and athletes of all ages." Maryland Theatre Guide.

"Cynthia Cooper's work is quite extraordinary." "Cooper delves into the lives of these women, finding passionate moments of intensity ... to maximize their impact upon the audience." "A remarkably felicitous way of capturing each of these female athletes." "It gets the gears turning in the mind while simultaneously stoking the fires of passion. Women have come so far and yet have so far to come... Cooper's title could not be more apt." The Theatre Bloom

"Actually a joy." "The engaging script ... pulls out the human story." "Only when we remember ... those who have burst through supposedly insurmountable obstacles will we ... keep moving forward -- through shards of glass, indeed." DC Theater Scene

Readings,Off the Page Series, Ego Actus Theatre, NYC; SUNY Delhi, NYSSSA, directed by Tasha Solmon-Gordon, 2018; Michael Warren Powell Creative Center, NCTC), Dramatists Guild Foundation Music Hall, NYC, directed by Tasha Solmon-Gordon, Arts That Matter, 2018; 24 Hours of Women, The Ivy Theatre, NYC, Arthodox (Titled She Plays!), SUNY Delhi, NYSSSA 2017, directed by Michelle Bossy (titled She Plays). Supported in development by the New York Summer School of the Arts.

In 1972, lawyer Ruth Bader Ginsburg shares a legal strategy to wipe off the books laws that discriminate by sex. 1 w, 5 min.

Celebrating Jewish Women and More for Women's History Month, Jewish Theatre Circle, 14 St Y, NYC, March 2024; SUNY Purchase College, Diversity and the Arts Program, 2022; Put A Woman on a Pedestal, StatueFest, New Shokan Kitchen Island Project; StatueFest on Stage; PRTT Theater, Fall 2021; Zoom StatueFest Four, June 2021.

Writer and activist Liu Xiaobo, prior to winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, creates a deepening bond with the Mothers of Tiananmen in order to seek freedom of speech and justice in China. Leaving incarceration for the third time at the start of the new Millennium, Liu Xiaobo struggles with his conscience but finds his inspiration from the Lost Souls of the Tiananmen Massacre and the Goddess of Democracy, also a memory character in the play. Faced with shifting political sands, Liu Xiaobo charts a path of peaceful resistance that perhaps fails to consider the risk of rearrest and the consequences to others -- including his artist-poet wife, Liu Xia. When Liu Xiaobo is, in fact, rearrested, Chinese authorities work to further silence his ideas by placing his wife under house detention. This is a story of people who struggle with their conscience and summon the moral courage to shoulder the burdens of a people and resistance to oppression.

Staged Readings: Vaclav Havel Library Foundation, Festival of Plays, directed by Ralph Pena; Urban Stages, NYC, sponsored by the Visual Artists Guild; HBO Play Reading Series of the TV Academy, NYC. Workshop: New York City at Urban Stages, directed by Keira Loughran of Stratford Shakespeare Festival (Canada).

Finalist, Kitchen Dog Theater, Dallas; SemiFinalist, PlayPenn, Philadelphia; SemiFinalist, Bay Area Playwrights' Festival, San Francisco.

"'Stones of Tiananmen' was so engaging... People in the audience were laughing and crying.” "The audience applauded with excitement." Jing Zhang, Women's Rights in China (reading, TV Academy Play Series, HBO).

Alternate Working Title: I Have No Enemies

A New Jersey woman searching for her family roots in Germany finds unexpected results from the Stolperstein project and 'remembrance' work in that country, while beginning to make connections to her past and to history and memorials in the U.S. Women, Theater and the Holocaust, Remember the Women Institute, Yom HaShoah, on Zoom. 1 w, 15-17 min.

~ALL DATABASES ARE INCOMPLETE, NEW -- A woman parses quantification and enumeration while also trying to address the domestic violence she has experienced. 1 w., 10-12 min, Zoom appropriate.

Artists and Writers Respond to Domestic Violence, Remember the Women Institute, 16 Days Against Gender Violence, Virtual; 'A Monologue and A Chat,' Pace Women's Justice Center, Spring 2021, Virtual; Moment Gallery, Strongin Collection, Washington DC, Dec 2021, video; Roosevelt Institute/Remember the Women Institute, Intimate Partner Violence and the Arts, Spring 2022; Rutgers University, Intimate Partner Violence.A Monologue and a Chat, online; Rutgers University, Remember the Women Institute, October 27, 2022.

A Congolese refugee manages to make it to South Africa, thousands of miles away, where she uses hope as a thin ladder, despite living through genocidal violence and rape. Based on a true story.

For one woman, 8-10 minutes.

Performed at the Ronald Feldman Gallery in NYC as a part of the Violence art show by Remember the Women Institute.

SPYGLASS

A cold-case murder is the subject of a psychological tango between a journalist and a woman who might have a critical clue. Simple set; 2 w., 25 - 30 min. Good for Zoom productions.

[Readings or Productions: AirPlay Radio Performance, New Circle Theatre Company, Women's Project, Tandem Acts at LaMama Galleria, NY; Wings Th., One-Acts, NY; New Paltz, NY, NYSSA.]

Researchers try to pierce denials about sexual violence experienced by Jewish women in the Holocaust [20 min, 2 w][alt: 1 w or 3 w] Theatre, Women and the Holocaust, an event of Remember the Women at the Center for Jewish History, New York City, Spring 2016; The Actors Temple, NYC ,Service and Commemoration of Kristallnacht. Mentioned in the Ms. Blog. Fall 2017: Remember the Women Institute, Benefit, NYC. Spring 2018: Untold Stories of Women at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, NYC. Spring 2018: VIOLATED exhibit, Ronald Feldman Gallery.

A Jewish young girl (played by an adult) in Queens in 1948 helps her parents fill a care package for the man who hid them in Poland during the Holocaust, and now faces his own difficulties as a result. As those rescued reach back to aid their rescuer, the girl sorts through memories and finds caring amid the ugliness of war and the Holocaust. Inspired by a true story. [15 min, 1 w]

May 2019: Remember the Women Institute, Yom HaShoah recognition event.

Two women on different continents get together on Zoom to celebrate a birthday when one suddenly sees a figure appear outside the other's window. To be performed on Zoom.

New Circle Theater Company Zoom Project, NYC
B Street Theater, Brunch at BStreet, Sacramento CA

Born in the mid-1600s, a young girl in Mexico who thirsts to learn, despite all odds, later becomes world renown as Sor Juana, a poet, playwright, intellectual and nun who advocates for the education of women. an uplifting story about a girl who follows her own path and makes amazing contributions to culture and society ahead of her time. 45 minutes in length.

Written for 2w, Latina, who play multiple roles, it may also be played by 1 w, or up to 8.

Enrichment Works, Los Angeles, (2007-2017); Venus Theatre with Touchstone Gallery Reading Series, DC.; 365Women (prior publications, Indie Theatre Now).

Video below from Enrichment Works.

A woman defense lawyer, longing for an alternative to the death penalty, turns to the victim's mother. Drama. Unit set, 2 w., 10 min.

Winner,Summer Shorts 2006, Theatre of Western Springs, IL; Western Connecticut State University, 2020; Manchester College, IN, 2011; University of Delaware 2006; Camino Real Playhouse Show-Off 2005 Playwriting Festival, San Juan Capistrano, CA; Take Five, Kansas City; Georgia, college production, 2005; The Acting School of South Florida, Hollywood FL; Loyola University Forensics Team, 2009; Amnesty Fundraiser, Homer, Alaska, 2010; Lee Strasberg Institute, NYC, 2012; Metropolitan State University of Denver, Theatre Department, 2013; Women's Project and Productions at LaMama Galleria; Wings Theater, NY; The Artistic Home, NY; Amherst H.S., MA; University of Washington, WA; reading, Drama Book Shop, NY; others.

Published Rowing to America and Other Short Plays from The Women's Project and Productions, Smith & Kraus, 2002.

A groundbreaking Black woman ophthalmologist and inventor of laser surgery for the removal of cataracts faces her toughest challenge in a reluctant patient. Based on the real-life story of Dr. Patricia Bath (1942-2019). 1 w, 22 min.

365 Women; Queens Stem Girls, 2021; White Mouse Productions, Orlando FL, Nov 2021; We [HEART] Women Doctors, Manhattan 2022

THROUGH THE SANDS OF TIME (previously: THE OUTERMOST HOUSE)

This play is a meditation on love, nature, war and the human spirit. A writer, traumatized by service in World War I, seeks respite in nature, and in the process rediscovers his humanity, a sense of connection to "elemental forces" and his buried capacity for love. Henry Beston, who was described as the inspiration for Rachel Carson (author of 'The Silent Spring'), finds what is important by living simply through "all the seasons" on the isolated dunes of the outer shores of Cape Cod. Originally commissioned by Annie and Marvin Einhorn, and performed as a one-man show by Marvin Einhorn; later revised into a new script.

"(A)n eloquent script" -- Don Wilding, Executive Director, The Henry Beston Society

2023: Montauk Public Library, performed by John Hickok, directed by Sal Trapani.

Reading: New Circle Theatre Company

Performances and readings of an earlier version by Marvin Einhorn: Cape Cod National Seashore Outdoor Ampitheatre; Backgate, Portland; Primary Stages, NY (Casey Childs, dir.); Chapel in the Pines, Eastham,(Kathryn Morooney,dir.), a benefit for The Henry Beston Society and WOMR-FM; The Culture Center, NYC (Michelle Bossy, director) a Benefit for the New York New Jersey Trail Conference. Truro Public Library, part of One Book Festival; The Outermost House with Marvin Einhorn, filmed by The "Dune Tramp."

St. James-in-the City Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, CA, Catherine Roskam, director (cast of 3).

A South Asian lawyer for asylum seekers takes an unconventional route to getting help for a teenager stuck in detention at the border. 8 min, 1 w.

A painter, looking longingly out his tenth-floor window, views and films a nefarious right-wing group of Boogaloos setting up in the early light, at the same time that a neighbor across the street is doing her morning meditation and a young woman to whom he has rented a room resists his entreaties. They come together to take action. A play specifically designed for Zoom and to use the Zoom architecture in a nonZoom way,but as windows on the world.

New Circle Theater Company, Western Connecticut State University

Two neighbors finally connect after a tragic escalation of incidents between teenagers with snowballs and an elderly man. Drama. Single set of 2 locations; 3 w., 3 m. [including two teen m., one senior m; one senior w.]; 2 hr.

Finalist, Source Theatre; Finalist, Original Playwriting Award, Aspen Theater Conference; Finalist, Western Illinois University Playwriting Award; Finalist, Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence; Semi-Finalist, Promising Playwright Award, Colonial Players; Semi-Finalist, East-West Players FDG/​CBS New Plays Program. [Wings Theatre, NY (Michael Warren Powell, dir.; film option (expired) Greenspan Productions.)"Rather than present the audience with a courtroom drama ... Cooper shows us the people and the events." N.R. Adler, critic. "Gripping play." Alberto Isaac, East-West Players.

A gay man and a gay woman, childhood friends, meet to exchange old letters from 30 years earlier when they had worked to save each other's life. At that point, the woman, a radical, was languishing in prison, held in extreme solitary conditions. The man, struggles with the rise of AIDS in the late 1980s and his desire to find new meaning in life. Their shared experiences and memories as family friends and red diaper babies help them to reconnect and emerge from debilitating isolation. 2m, 2w. Semi-Finalist, O'Neill Theater Center Conference. Previous title: Walls.

Readings: New York, Julia's Reading Room, League of Professional Theatre Women; New York, Chelsea, Arts That Matter; New York, Blue Roses/Circle Workshop; San Francisco, Playwrights Platform. Previous title: 'Walls.'

The struggling owner of a small luxury goods boutique finds a strange customer in her shop with an even stranger request. What do you do when someone needs to come in from the dark?

Single set, 2 w., 15 min. Inferno Project, New Circle Theatre Company, Chain Theater, NYC, June 2019 directed by Emily Tetzlaff; Lunch Pail Theatre, Theater on the Lake, Yellowknife, Canada, 2014; Wings, NY, Playwrights One-Acts.

May be performed as a radio drama.

Two women in a queer relationship engage in extensive negotiations about clothing, intersectionality and cross-issue alleyship before heading to a protest; comic. A ZOOM version of 'BEND THE ARC,' as two intrepid women prepare for a 2020 protest and add masks to their list of sartorial worries.

Earlier versions: Winner, Lez Rights: 3GT/Lez Rights, San Francisco, Portero Stage, 2017; UnAugeration, An Evening of American Playwrights, Riverside Goddard Center, 29th St Collective, 2018; Stonewall Event Reading, Michael Warren Powell Cntr, 2019; Semi Finalist: Word Power, The Avant Garage Theatre Company, LA, 2019.

To read, contact: cyn@cyncooperwriter.net

A gay couple's relationship is challenged when they seek to order a flower arrangement to greet their soon-to-be-adopted daughter, but encounter an unwilling florist. [30 min., 3 w, 1 voice (OS or on)]

Upcoming; Sandbox production, New Circle Theatre Company, New York City, directed by Lisa Pelikan

A woman sculptor interviews candidates for an unspecified job, but is only interested in a woman who can interpret poetry. Single set, 2 w, one mature; off-stage voice. 10 min. (Also a 25 min version available)

Winner, Nantucket Short Play Festival; First Prize, Playwriting, Pen & Brush, NYC; Finalist, Drury One-Act Play Competition.

Actors' Theatre, Nantucket (dir. Jim Patrick); Alverno College Theatre Dept., Spring Coffeehouse Theater; 'Actress in Pieces' -- Sarah Noone, Jackie Cotter, UK; Seton Hall University, PA; Pen & Brush; Jefferson Market Library; Sam Schact Studios; Circle Rep Outreach; Wings Theatre; Bard High School, NYC; Firehall Theatre, Niagara Falls, ON, Canada, 2018. '...plum stage roles'-- Boston Globe; Julia's Reading Room, 'Five Short Plays by Cindy Cooper,' reading, League of Professional Theatre Women.

Co-authors: Cynthia L. Cooper, Joel Vig; Lyrics: Jane Smulyan; Music: Annie Lebeaux

A young blind genius invents a way for those without sight to read during a time in the 1800s when the blind are treated as castoffs. Flexible staging, 3 m., 2 w. (with doubling); up to 25 (without doubling), 1 hr. (Theatreworks USA: Town Hall, NY; Promenade, NY; Triplex, NY; Henry Street Settlement, NY; BAM; Kennedy Center; 20 touring states)(dir. Alma Becker) Finalist, 2002 National Children's Theatre Festival 2002; Special Feature Florida 2005. . "The performance was wonderful -- it opened up new avenues of thought for curious minds" (5th grade teacher); "One of the best children's theatre productions I have ever presented ... informative in a very entertaining way" (Rita Donald, Children's Theatre Rep, Papermill Playhouse; "I'll never forget this show. I was very impressed. I am blind myself ... I would like all the people in my school to see this play." (Student, Forest Grove Jr. High School, Mass.) 2015: Kanab High School, Utah; Hangar Theatre, Ithaca, NY(dir. Drew Feldman), July 2016.

Two women build a romantic relationship with poetry and empathy and a little dissonance after a chance meeting on Zoom. LGBTQI, women. 2 w, 8 min.

Six spirited women from sports history overcome obstacles and stereotypes:Babe Didrikson, Gertrude Ederle, Althea Gibson, Sonia Henie, Eleanor Randolph Sears, Gretel Bergmann. Simple set, One-woman show (may be performed by six actors),65 min. [Also 45 min. version.]

Enrichment Works, LA 2008-12, Venus Theater, Maryland, September 2006 2006 Capitol Fringe Festival, DC, Summer Camp 2011; D.C./​MD, Venus Theater, Deb Randall; 2005: Randolph Macon Woman's College[see poster to left]Virginia; Touring performances Washington D.C. by Venus Theatre; Marblehead Festival of Arts; Women's Project & Productions, Off-Broadway, Samuel Beckett Th., New York; Primary Stages, New York; Helsinki,International Women's Sports Conference; Budapest; Los Angeles; Montreal; Vancouver Fringe Festival; Women's Theatre, New Jersey; Theatre Inconnu, Canada; Nashville Public Theatre; Wells College; Women's Arts & Culture Conference; Threshold Theatre, Boston; Barnard College; A Daring Adventure Theatre, Reno; First Stage; Brooklyn BACA Showcase; Grand Valley State College; Touring Performances); Pennsylvania Women's Conference 2011; Stacey Linnartz ("Gretel Bergmann"), Anne Frank Center USA, 2012; Stacey Linnartz ("Gretel Bergmann"), The Shed, Brooklyn, 2014.

"Makes you feel like praising." The Village Voice. "Important and inspirational." Billie Jean King. "The perfect theatrical hook." Marilyn Stasio, critic. "(G)raceful pastiche" ... "Cooper shows the relentless, indomitable human heart as it defeats the limitations both of society and of the body." Tim Trainer, critic, DC. "We left the theater with a mixture of admiration and elation." Bill T. "Fascinating insight into society and the culture." The Budapest Sun. "Audiences around the country are inspired." Women's Sports and Fitness magazine. "Funny, intelligent and arousing." Ronnie Gilbert, folksinger. "Emphasizes the courage and virtue of the human spirit." Estelle Ritchie, producer.

Gerard Croiset, known as the 'Mozart of psychics,' spins open the lives of an FBI agent and journalist investigating a child's disappearance in the 1960s. Croiset, a Dutchman with limited education, was discovered to have enormous powers to provide clues to crime scenes, and is contacted by crime-fighting agences around the world, including the FBI. He is sheperded around the world by a leading European professor -- or is the professor manipulating him? In this fascinating story, Croiset is contacted by the FBI to help with the disappearance of a young girl in NYC, a true story, at the same time that the FBI agent finds Croiset unwittingly telling him unknown details of his father's story. At the same time, Croiset, once detained by the Nazis and used for their entertainment, relives painful memories of his own. The play asks: are so-called 'psychic' abilities real? How do we know what is true and what is not? What are the roots of knowledge? A story of many mysteries. Various settings; 3 m., 2 w.; 2 hrs.

Runner-Up, Pulse Theatre Festival, New York; Readings: 2010-29th Street Rep's The Hive, Founded by Paula Ewin, at Soho20Gallery Chelsea, NYC (Michael Hillyer, dir.); Theatre by the Blind (Michael Johnson, dir.); 29th St. Repertory, New York (Michael Hillyer, dir.) Blue Heron Theater Center, New York (Michael Hillyer, dir); Playwrights' Advocate, Illinois (Richard Pahl, dir.)

Religious zealots and liberals unite to object to a couple's scientific supertricks with DNA and stem cells to make themselves multisexual, crossing all the boundaries of gender and life. Comic drama. Single set, 1 m., 2 w. (1 off-stage voice, male), 1 hr. 40 min.

The subject of genetic engineering and human cloning is hotly debated today. Where do we draw the line? Perhaps scientists Alicia and Duncan have crossed the line. Duncan's not sure he's happy about being pregnant, Alicia is infatuated with her rising testosterone level, and the world is at their doorstep.

Semi-Finalist, Trustus Theatre Playwriting Festival (Readings: New Amsterdam Repertory (featuring and produced by Connie Britton, Seth Gordon, dir.); Women's Project (Melanie Joseph, dir.); Primary Stages (Liz Margid, dir.); Option, Playwrights' Theatre of Baltimore.

Request a copy: cyn@cyncooperwriter.net

A teen's parents aren't so happy over their child's budding love relationship with a stem cell; comic. [5 min, 2 w., 1 m; race and gender neutral casting encouraged for all roles] Venus Theater, Maryland; Words of Choice, touring; Brazen Harlots Theater, Buffalo; published: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom
.

A girl on a solo journey while at soccer camp encounters sports heroes from a different era. (School tours: Women's Theatre Co., N.J.; Enrichment Works, Los Angeles, director Murphy Cross.) Flex. set., 4 w. 40 min. K-6. Interactivity. "The response to it from principals, teachers and student audiences has been overwhelmingly positive." Abraham Tetenbaum, Executive Director, Enrichment Works. "Great presentation, a 10, it gave the students a lot of courage." Los Feliz Elementary, Los Angeles. Women's Theater of New Jersey.

An adaptation of 'How She Played the Game' [also on New Play Exchange], published in 7th grade text, used in state assessment testing.

Sheila's a chocoholic; her friends and family do their best to intervene, but cocoa is tough competition. Light comedy. Single set, 3 w., 2 m., 15 min. [Primary Stages, One-Act Series, NY; Mitchell Community Theater, SD.]

Margory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998), a journalist and activist, appears from the past to bolster a distraught Parkland teenager after the tragic mass shooting at the Florida school called Marjory Stoneman Douglas. [10-12 min, 2 w] A 365Women project.

A Lebanese woman in Germany must change her life when her husband, mistakenly seized by the CIA in 2004, disappears physically and then returns a shell of himself, while American lawyer tries to get justice for them. What happens when the 'war on terror' becomes terrorizing?

May also be read as a radio drama. [10 min]

Two women in a #MeToo office environment search for a third person to complete their circle for the first ritual to heal the workplace.

Readings or workshops: Contrast and Juxtaposition, Planet One; Wings Theater; 29th Street Rep at Goddard Riverside Center, Feisty Women Festival; New Circle Theatre Co.; Western Connecticut State University

Outside a professional women's basketball game, two gay women debate the joys and stresses of alternative relationships, that is, marriage. Comic drama. Simple staging, 2 w., 10 min.

[Madison WI, Stage Q Playfest; Miami, FL. Creative Arts Enterprise/Third Annual Lavendar Footlights; Manhattan Theatre Source (Donna Jean Fogel, dir.); Richmond VA, JERA Entertainment.]

Two queer women in a relationship engage in extensive negotiations about clothing, intersectionality and cross-issue alleyship before heading to a protest. Comic (but kinda serious, too.) [5 min, 2 w]

3GT/Lez Rights, San Francisco, Portero Stage, 2017; UnAugeration, An Evening of American Playwrights, Riverside Goddard Center, 29th St Collective, 2018; Stonewall Event Reading, Michael Warren Powell Cntr, 2019

Also available as radio drama.

To read, contact cyn@cyncooperwriter.net

Two women, roommates but not lovers, discover another kind of entanglement when the mother of one visits, and an actual love relationship emerges, but not as expected. Comic. [30 min., 3w.] [WOW Cafe, NY, produced by Hear Us Out, Zenobia, dir., featuriing Connie Winston.]...'comedy that takes you on a roller coaster ride of an unusual relationship, and an even more unusual date.' The Villager. Finalist Out on the Edge Playwrighting Festival.