My plays are united by a passion for social themes, stylized staging and a mixture of comedy and drama. These works have had the good fortune to be produced in many venues across the U.S., Canada and in Europe. Justice and culture thread through my works, which most often center women characters, as I seek to explore the nature of change and transformation -- individual and societal.

I have been lucky enough to win several awards including from Pen and Brush (twice), Malibu International Short Play Festival, Samuel French Off-Broadway Short Play Festival, White Bear Arts Council, Bar Theatre, Hutchinson Festival of New Plays, Nantucket Short Play Festival, Camino Real Playhouse Show-Off!, Theatre of Western Springs, 3LG and more. A citation for "Outstanding Achievements as a playwright ... devoted to exploring the issues and challenges that mean the most to women' was awarded to me by the City of Providence RI, and I was honored with the Anne E. Fisher Champion of Choice Award and Quixote Foundation for contributions to the community. I was twice awarded a Jerome Fellowship at the Playwrights Center, have been an O'Neill finalist or semi-finalist on multiple occasions, and am the recipient of several commissioned projects.

My full-length plays grapple with topics that illuminate moments of courage and compassion, while, I hope, still embrace generosity of spirit and humor -- a woman who resisted the rise of Nazism in Germany in the early 1930s ('Silence Not, A Love Story); a democracy activist who sought to transform authoritarian rule ('Stones of Tiananmen'); asylum seekers fleeing persecution and those who help them ('I Was A Stranger Too'), a woman determined to sort out a legacy of antisemitism that has caused generational damage ('Strange Light'); a man, who, to recover from post-war trauma, examines nature and shares its wonders ('Through the Sands of Time'); women athletes who challenged stereotypes and set new standards for men and women ('Running on Glass,' 'How She Played the Game') Others are listed below.

My plays often present unconventional women characters in complex situations. 'Sentences and Words' (on NPX), published in a volume released by the Women's Project in New York and produced at the University of Washington and a dozen other schools and theaters, finds two women -- a lawyer and a victim's mother -- grappling with the death penalty. In 'Works of Art,' winner of the First Prize for Playwrighting at Pen & Brush and other awards, a woman sculptor interviews women for an elusive position, but is drawn only to the candidate who can recite poetry. 'Beyond Stone' tells how the father of a firefighter and a woman artist, both at a loss for words after a devastating fire, connect through art. Others short plays are powerful stories of a woman who runs a shelter for women ('Casa' -- previously titled 'Dwelling,' a winner of the Malibu International Short Play contest), a television reporter who reaches for black humor instead of dealing with her breast cancer ('Mountain,' a finalist at Louisville), witches who clear a workspace of negativity ('The Accounting Department') and a DNA scientist determined to prevent the desecration of Elvis ('Saving Grace', published in 'Elvis Monologues'). Newer works include 'The Match,' about writer Anna Seghers, whose books were burned in Nazi Germany; 'All Databases Are Incomplete,' about a woman reckoning with intimate partner violence, and 'The Prize,' about Dr. Patricia Bath, the African-American woman doctor who invented laser surgery.

Another series of plays deliver uplifting images to young people -- the life of the inventor of the Braille system of reading for the blind ('Louis Braille: The World At Your Fingertips'); nontraditional career options ('Reaching,' published by Henry Holt); ways to counter prejudice ('High-Five'); 'Changemakers' about teens who unite against bullying. 'Sor Juana,' produced by Enrichment Works in LA, tells the true story of a young Mexican woman in the 17th century with a burning desire to learn, and who becomes a visionary poet and writer, and 'Go Girl Go,' shows a girl who gets encouragement from women sports figures of yore.

In addition to theater, I work as a journalist and author on human rights and justice, drawing upon my background as a lawyer (nonpracticing.). My eight books include "No Person Above the Law," a biography of Judge John J. Sirica of Watergate fame; "The Impeachment of George W. Bush," co-authored with Elizabeth Holtzman, and "Mockery of Justice," about the Dr. Sam Sheppard murder case and featured on Dateline and made into a CBS-TV movie. My articles have appeared in The Nation, Women's eNews, Glamour, National Law Journal, Marie Claire, In These Times, Ms., Equal Justice, others, and I have worked with or consulted with Amnesty USA, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Open Society, LAMBDA, and other nonprofits.

More at my website: www.cyncooperwriter.net