Triza Cox

Triza Cox is a playwright, screenwriter, and theatre artist. She is currently the Associate Artistic Director for Theatre for Change with Imagination Stage; South Carolina Ambassador for the Dramatists Guild; a member of Actors’ Equity Association;and an associate member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. She has just been awarded the FY22 South Carolina Arts Commission Fellowship for screenwriting. Her research and creative work center on playmaking using Jungian archetypes, motifs, and symbols of the collective unconscious. Triza holds an MFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Louisville and has trained with Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. Her performance credits include a national tour of Harriet Tubman and Bella Under the Bullying...

Triza Cox is a playwright, screenwriter, and theatre artist. She is currently the Associate Artistic Director for Theatre for Change with Imagination Stage; South Carolina Ambassador for the Dramatists Guild; a member of Actors’ Equity Association;and an associate member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. She has just been awarded the FY22 South Carolina Arts Commission Fellowship for screenwriting. Her research and creative work center on playmaking using Jungian archetypes, motifs, and symbols of the collective unconscious. Triza holds an MFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Louisville and has trained with Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. Her performance credits include a national tour of Harriet Tubman and Bella Under the Bullying Big Top with Bright Star Children’s Theatre; regional tours of Bullies with Blue Apple Players; Nothing New for Easter: Shopping for Civil Rights for the Kentucky Historical Society; and Becoming Mothers with Looking for Lilith Theatre Company. Triza’s book, How I Make Transcendent Theatre, examines the implementation of community- based techniques and psychological theories in the creative process. Her original plays include A Last Supper; Meritocracy; The Willing ,which recently received a staged reading with Triad Stage in Greensboro, NC; God in the Midst of it All and Lil’ Bard which was a semi-finalist in NYU’s New Plays for Young Audience 2018 and premiered at Charlotte’s Children Theatre in a staged reading. Triza has received a Kentucky New Voices grant for her playwriting. She has been the assistant director and choreographer for a regional production of the musical Chicago. In South Carolina Triza has directed and produced: Gospel at Colonus; Black Nativity; Bullies; The Conversation; Shakespeare: Queens, Witches and Wenches; # Together; But I’m Only Seventeen; What Gets Left; For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf; Miss Julie and Macbeth.

Triza has worked extensively in various capacities of Theatre Arts education. She presented at the Bath Spa Symposium: Theatre, Youth, Trauma and Europe in Crisis. She utilizes classical and experimental concepts and techniques to teach craft and theory. Triza worked in Kentucky and in the Northeast as a Teaching Artist. Her work included Arts Literacy Programs with Hartford Performs; teaching playwriting with Northeast Children’s Theatre Company; and Journey: A Trip on the Underground Railroad with Walden Theatre in Kentucky. As artistic director and founder of The Drama Lady Theatre Group (thedramaladytheatregroup.org), Triza has shown dedication to creating new and classical productions. Through this organization, Triza has implemented and facilitated many workshops and programs including Shakespeare Behind Bars, Peer Educational Theatre and Forum Theatre.

Scripts

A Last Supper

by Triza Cox

Synopsis

Two ex-cons with an in-depth history share a final meal together.

Two ex-cons with an in-depth history share a final meal together.

Lawn of the Month

by Triza Cox

Synopsis

A middle aged woman recounts a border dispute with a neighbor.

A middle aged woman recounts a border dispute with a neighbor.

Cassidy's Mourning

by Triza Cox

Synopsis

A young woman recounts a coffee run, which revealed tragic news.

A young woman recounts a coffee run, which revealed tragic news.

Family Portrait

by Triza Cox

Synopsis

It's Christmas Eve and the Moby family must confront their mom's enabling of her oldest son's addiction.

It's Christmas Eve and the Moby family must confront their mom's enabling of her oldest son's addiction.

Life Route

by Triza Cox

Synopsis

Savannah, a young woman in crisis, plans a trip with Adella amidst the backdrop of the vicissitudes of life in rural Kentucky.

Savannah, a young woman in crisis, plans a trip with Adella amidst the backdrop of the vicissitudes of life in rural Kentucky.

Melodies in E

by Triza Cox

Synopsis

Amidst the bustle of Harlem in the early 1920s, the vibrancy of Black life can be felt in many ways. Numbers running, while technically illegal, underwrites businesses and provides much needed capital. Jazz infuses the social scene with joie de vivre, despite the protestations of the evangelical Christians. And, the Black Nationalist movement encourages a spirit of self-reliance never seen before this time...

Amidst the bustle of Harlem in the early 1920s, the vibrancy of Black life can be felt in many ways. Numbers running, while technically illegal, underwrites businesses and provides much needed capital. Jazz infuses the social scene with joie de vivre, despite the protestations of the evangelical Christians. And, the Black Nationalist movement encourages a spirit of self-reliance never seen before this time. While these worlds mostly co-exist in this historic neighborhood, during a faithful couple of weeks they collide and the result is murder.
Melodies in E is a pluralist protagonists play which follows the life of a jazz legend, Vaughn Dee, as she dreams of owning her own club with her sometimes lover/business manager, Charlie. Vaughn and Charlie’s dreams are thwarted when he loses their investment to the notorious numbers runner, Madame Micheaux. This loss fractures Vaughn and Charlie’s relationship causing grief for them both. Vaughn’s grief is compounded when her daughter, the devout Carmen, announces she wants to marry a minister of music, Theo, and move south with him. Being a southern transplant herself, Vaughn is acutely aware of the perils of lynching facing Black people in the south and forbids the couple from leaving New York. Theo and Carmen are distraught by Vaughn’s demands, but her assessment of the dangers for black folks south of the Mason Dixon line are confirmed when her friend and journalist, Nettie, reports of a lynching of the negro post master in River City, South Carolina-the same place where Theo wants to take Carmen. Theo’s prominent Baptist family are, indeed, a part of the Black elite: they are one of the few Black landowning families in the county. Moreover, they are recruited to be trustees for the Black Star Line, a business venture of the Garveyite movement, by Nettie’s paramour, Erwin. Through Nettie’s investigative journalism, she discovers that Theo’s family also played an unseemly role in allowing the white mob to lynch the postmaster. Nettie wants to make their complicity known, but Vaughn uses this knowledge as leverage to prevent the couple from marrying. Erwin also encourages Nettie to suppress this news, due to him wanting to protect the Black Star Line’s investment. When Vaughn confronts Theo and Carmen, Carmen agrees to stay in New York, while Theo becomes irate at this threat. Prospects begin to look up for Vaughn when she and Madame Micheaux decide to go into business together to open several jazz clubs. This act further fuels the acrimony between Vaughn and Charlie. These opposing ambitions all culminate when Nettie and Erwin arrive at the jazz club and find Vaughn’s dead body at the bottom of her dressing room’s stairs. Melodies in E combines historical fiction with a touch of Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, while maintaining integrity of dramatic writing craft.