Megan Cohen

Megan Cohen

* " A ruthless innovator" (SF Weekly)
* "One insightful and confident woman with a devilish sense of humor" (Huffington Post)
* "In the sui generis mind of theater artist Megan Cohen, silliness intermingles with oh-no-she-didn’t moxie; searing smarts blend seamlessly with surreal reverie and a bottomless capacity for feeling" (San Francisco Chronicle)

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* " A ruthless innovator" (SF Weekly)
* "One insightful and confident woman with a devilish sense of humor" (Huffington Post)
* "In the sui generis mind of theater artist Megan Cohen, silliness intermingles with oh-no-she-didn’t moxie; searing smarts blend seamlessly with surreal reverie and a bottomless capacity for feeling" (San Francisco Chronicle)

Megan Cohen (b. 1983) is a playwright and opera librettist based in San Francisco, CA where she is a resident playwright at Playwrights Foundation.

During her 20-year career, Cohen's more-than-one-hundred texts for performance have been developed or performed in the US, UK, and Australia with partners including Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC, the Neo-Futurists, and Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center.

Recent Work: She is under commission for Houston Grand Opera's HGOco "Song of Houston" initiative to write the libretto for TURN AND BURN, a new full-length chamber opera about cowgirl culture and the lives of female athletes in contemporary rodeo. Her world premiere play FREE FOR ALL: A NEW MISS JULIE FOR A NEW WORLD (2019) was commissioned by and produced at Cutting Ball Theater in San Francisco and was lauded as "The Best Party At The End of the World" in KQED's "Best Bay Area Theater of 2019."

Education: High school dropout, B.A. Stanford University (Major in Drama.)

Making a Living: As a writer for interactive media, she has created narratives and dialogue for mobile and casual games with over 1 million weekly players. She also uses her 20 years of professional writing experience to support others as a creative consultant for narrative projects and as a one-on-one writing coach.

Twitter: @WayBetterThanTV.
Website: MeganCohen.com.

Plays

  • The Horse's Ass by Megan Cohen
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: comedy, experimental + 1 more
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    Keyword: feminism, feminist + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, experimental, political
    Keyword: feminism, feminist, feminist critique, slapstick, a comedy for two women, Aristotle, female orgasm, equal pay, female equality, vaudeville
    A feminist vaudeville for 2 women, a horse mask, a hatrack, and a big pile of carrots.
  • Free For All: A New Miss Julie for a New World by Megan Cohen
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: feminist, feminist critique of traditional literary canon + 8 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, experimental
    Keyword: feminist, feminist critique of traditional literary canon, adaptation of Strindberg, climate change, absurd comedy, Miss Julie, menopausal women, menopause, Chinese American, San Francisco
    Developed with Ariel Craft at Cutting Ball Theater in response to August Strindberg’s Miss Julie as translated by Rob Melrose, FREE FOR ALL reboots Strindberg’s hyper-realistic drama through an absurdist feminist lens. In fantastical near-future San Francisco, CA, a menopausal heiress finds complex sexual and emotional heat with her much younger Chinese American chef during a blowout gala on the last night...
    Developed with Ariel Craft at Cutting Ball Theater in response to August Strindberg’s Miss Julie as translated by Rob Melrose, FREE FOR ALL reboots Strindberg’s hyper-realistic drama through an absurdist feminist lens. In fantastical near-future San Francisco, CA, a menopausal heiress finds complex sexual and emotional heat with her much younger Chinese American chef during a blowout gala on the last night before a cataclysmic climate change weather event. Critics have called the play “a wildly imaginative comedic romp,” “satirically smart,” and “fantastically joyful.”
  • Truest (WIP, Spring 2020 Draft) by Megan Cohen
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: revenge, Utopia + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, experimental, political
    Keyword: revenge, Utopia, feminist, America, Sisters, true west, absurdism, feminist critique of traditional literary canon, real estate, colonialism
    In TRUEST, Sam Shepard meets Thelma and Louise when two sisters go on a revenge quest to shoot off the dicks of every man they can find, including a pair of brothers right out of the pages of the iconic fraternal American drama TRUE WEST. Bang bang. The guns hit the mark and the guys hit the kitchen floor. But the men will not die, because trauma is not that simple. The women search for redemption and healing...
    In TRUEST, Sam Shepard meets Thelma and Louise when two sisters go on a revenge quest to shoot off the dicks of every man they can find, including a pair of brothers right out of the pages of the iconic fraternal American drama TRUE WEST. Bang bang. The guns hit the mark and the guys hit the kitchen floor. But the men will not die, because trauma is not that simple. The women search for redemption and healing as they strive to become more than what has happened to them, and more than what they have done to try and make it right. But the specter of America's violent colonialist history and the tempting lure of capitalist greed push against their better natures when a fast-talking realtor offers to buy the blood-soaked kitchen, brothers and all. Will the sisters transcend or give in? "Nobody ever said utopia would be easy."