Ian Cohen

Ian Cohen

Full-length plays include OLD WOUNDS, selected by the Great Plains Theatre Conference for PlayLabs; also semi-finalist Ashland New Plays Festival. BERTRAND PRIEST, winner of the Kaufman & Hart Award for New American Comedy, and subsequently produced at Arkansas Rep. LENNY & LOU, world premiere, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington, D.C. Nominated, Charles MacArthur Award for Best Play and Best Resident...
Full-length plays include OLD WOUNDS, selected by the Great Plains Theatre Conference for PlayLabs; also semi-finalist Ashland New Plays Festival. BERTRAND PRIEST, winner of the Kaufman & Hart Award for New American Comedy, and subsequently produced at Arkansas Rep. LENNY & LOU, world premiere, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington, D.C. Nominated, Charles MacArthur Award for Best Play and Best Resident Play as part of the Helen Hayes Awards. Also nominated, American Theatre Critic’s Association’s New Play Award. HE WHO LAUGHS, workshop, Yale Off-Broadway Theater, JCC Theaterworks, New Haven, CT. Citation, Jerry Kaufman Award. VATTAGO, featured at undergroundzero, PS 122, selected as a PlayLabs Playwrights Center semi-finalist and winner of the Jerry Kaufman Award. JEFFERSON STREET, finalist NAAA Playreading Contest, UK, staged reading at NYU Studio Tisch. GOD’S CREATURES, semi-finalist, Stageplays’ International Playwrights Competition. LITTLE UNIVERSE, screenplay, semi-finalist Scriptapalooza International Screenplay Competition. Other plays include THE DESERT, Honorable Mention, Crossing Borders/Approaching Millennium New Play Contest, Wharf Rat Theater. LUNA PARK, Runner-up, Jewish Ensemble Theatre Spring Festival of New Plays, One-Act plays include THE AUTHORIZED PRACTITIONER, Gallery Players New Play Festival; FANTASY, Summer Play Festival, The Workshop, film, co-directed by the author and Joe Leonard for Blatantly Subtle Productions; FUCKIN WORK, Summer Play Festival, The Workshop; GOING, The Workshop, semi-finalist, Chutzpah Festival, Manhattan Punchline. Published by Playscripts, Inc.

Plays

  • He Who Laughs by Ian Cohen
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: family, Religious Fundamentalism + 5 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, faith-based, tragedy
    Keyword: family, Religious Fundamentalism, finding God, Bible, faith, afterlife, Human Sacrifice
    God has been kind to Alfred Wells since the day He spoke to him in Central Park. Asking for nothing but his love, God provided Al with everything a man could want; a beautiful wife, a loving son and a thriving shipping business. Al, now nearing seventy, and God, (after being silent for many years), approaches him again. This time, asking for something very different; his son as a burnt offering. HE WHO...
    God has been kind to Alfred Wells since the day He spoke to him in Central Park. Asking for nothing but his love, God provided Al with everything a man could want; a beautiful wife, a loving son and a thriving shipping business. Al, now nearing seventy, and God, (after being silent for many years), approaches him again. This time, asking for something very different; his son as a burnt offering. HE WHO LAUGHS is a modern-day retelling of the Binding of Isaac. It is a seminal, human story that challenges faith and our concepts of right and wrong. Can they really co-exist?
  • The Playwright and His Wife by Ian Cohen
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: marriage, intimacy + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: marriage, intimacy, betrayal, family, theatre, writing, parent-child relationships, gossip, the playground
    Struggling playwright, Bertrand Priest, has written what he believes is a breakthrough play. Coming ever closer to the success he dreams of, he’s proud that this new work pulls no punches; exploring sex, fantasy and extra-marital relationships in shocking ways. His wife, Jill, a private person by nature, is not very happy about this. Things haven’t been very good between them and believes that this play...
    Struggling playwright, Bertrand Priest, has written what he believes is a breakthrough play. Coming ever closer to the success he dreams of, he’s proud that this new work pulls no punches; exploring sex, fantasy and extra-marital relationships in shocking ways. His wife, Jill, a private person by nature, is not very happy about this. Things haven’t been very good between them and believes that this play reveals the truth about their marriage for all to see. Caught in the middle, is their young son, Jake, who is beginning to sense that something is wrong. Bertrand loves his wife. He loves his family. As far as he’s concerned, “It’s just a play.” THE PLAYWRIGHT AND HIS WIFE asks whether it’s right to hurt and betray those we love in order to create art.
  • Old Wounds by Ian Cohen
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    7–9
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: absurdist, dark comedy + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, political
    Keyword: absurdist, dark comedy, Fantasy, reality, aging, health care, hospitals, memory, confusion
    Harry’s awoken to find himself in the hospital, strapped to a bed, unable to move and with only bits and pieces of memories. When his friend Bennett finds the existence of a large canister behind his bed, a darkness descends on them both. A darkness that gives way to a frightening world that Harry’s now become a part of. Aided by a Being who lives in in the ceiling— Harry plans his next move— to escape his...
    Harry’s awoken to find himself in the hospital, strapped to a bed, unable to move and with only bits and pieces of memories. When his friend Bennett finds the existence of a large canister behind his bed, a darkness descends on them both. A darkness that gives way to a frightening world that Harry’s now become a part of. Aided by a Being who lives in in the ceiling— Harry plans his next move— to escape his captors and reunite with his one, true love. OLD WOUNDS is an absurdist dark comedy about aging, the blurring of fantasy and reality, love and loss, healthcare, and the memories that remain with us as we fade.