Meredith Dayna Cope-Levy

Meredith Dayna Cope-Levy

Meredith Dayna Levy is a playwright based in Roanoke, Va. She writes plays rooted in lived experience and emotional truth, and aims to make space through her work for dynamic, challenging women (both on stage and off). She is a cisgendered, white lesbian, and a practicing Episcopalian.

Her plays THE BREAD BAKING PLAY and THE HILLS were named finalists for the 2023 and 2020 seasons (respectively...
Meredith Dayna Levy is a playwright based in Roanoke, Va. She writes plays rooted in lived experience and emotional truth, and aims to make space through her work for dynamic, challenging women (both on stage and off). She is a cisgendered, white lesbian, and a practicing Episcopalian.

Her plays THE BREAD BAKING PLAY and THE HILLS were named finalists for the 2023 and 2020 seasons (respectively) of the National Playwright's Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.

Her full-length all-female cast historical drama DECISION HEIGHT was published by Samuel French in November 2014. Her lyrical monodrama SHE MADE SPACE and whimsical Underground comedy COUPLER have been produced as part of the Hollins-Mill Mountain Theatre Winter Festival of New Works (in 2017 and 2016, respectively). Coupler is the recipient of the the 2016 David L. Shelton Full Length play award from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, region IV. She Made Space placed first in the short play award category at the same festival in February 2017.

Levy earned her M.F.A. from the the Hollins Playwright’s Lab in Roanoke, Va. She is a proud member of the Dramatist’s Guild. She was a founding member of dwellings dancetheatre (2012-2017), a collaborative partnership between herself and dance maker Patricia Brooks Cope; their mission is to create opportunities for other emerging artists to explore, connect, and make performance works.

Plays

  • The Hills by Meredith Dayna Cope-Levy
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: drama, period + 1 more
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    Keyword: queer, epic + 3 more
    Genre: drama, period, political
    Keyword: queer, epic, women, Politics, feminist
    Lift thine eyes, from whence does our help come?

    In an epic tale charting the cosmically-fated conflict of humanity, we follow Eve through three incarnations as she works to navigate the patriarchal world established by Adam. When her eyes are opened by encounters with the chaos-bearer Lilith, Eve must decide if she can continue to live in Adam's world, if she can bear the cost of embracing...
    Lift thine eyes, from whence does our help come?

    In an epic tale charting the cosmically-fated conflict of humanity, we follow Eve through three incarnations as she works to navigate the patriarchal world established by Adam. When her eyes are opened by encounters with the chaos-bearer Lilith, Eve must decide if she can continue to live in Adam's world, if she can bear the cost of embracing chaos, and if she has the strength to undergo an eternal quest for the land without Hills.
  • Decision Height by Meredith Dayna Cope-Levy
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    9–14
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    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: feminism, friendship + 3 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, period
    Keyword: feminism, friendship, World War II, Air Force, Texas
    Virginia Hascall has left her home and fiancee to join the Women Airforce SErvice Pilots, and do her part to help defeat the Axis powers in the Second World War. Through triumph and tragedy, she and her sisters in flight suits learn as much about themselves as they do about airplanes. AS the war rages over there, the women form a sisterhood that cannot be broken, and Virginia must make a decision that will...
    Virginia Hascall has left her home and fiancee to join the Women Airforce SErvice Pilots, and do her part to help defeat the Axis powers in the Second World War. Through triumph and tragedy, she and her sisters in flight suits learn as much about themselves as they do about airplanes. AS the war rages over there, the women form a sisterhood that cannot be broken, and Virginia must make a decision that will change her life forever. With a vibrant all-female cast, Decision Height offers a look into an under-recognized subset of American heroes and revises history into HERstory.
  • She Made Space by Meredith Dayna Cope-Levy
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
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    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: queer, affirming + 4 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, political
    Keyword: queer, affirming, feminist, Lesbian, uplifting, touring show
    An arrival is, an arrival is, an arrival is, ... an arrival.

    A 20-something intellectual American lesbian tourist arrives in Paris at the turn of the 20th century, tracing the steps she has taken to get there in an honest and touching consideration of the occupation of space - both inside, and outside, of herself.
  • The Bread Baking Play (working title) by Meredith Dayna Cope-Levy
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama, faith-based
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    Keyword: naturalism, unit set + 4 more
    Genre: drama, faith-based
    Keyword: naturalism, unit set, Crisis of Faith, site specific option, kitchen drama, dramatic yet funny
    Martha and Polly's brother has died. As they bake communion bread for his funeral, old hurts and new secrets rise to the surface. Without their brother to bridge the gap, will Martha and Polly be able to overcome their differences, and reconcile themselves to one another?
  • Coupler by Meredith Dayna Cope-Levy
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    7–14
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    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
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    Keyword: comedy, british comedy + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: comedy, british comedy, romantic comedy, peter pan, 20-somethings, London, found spaces, black box
    Love, Trust, and Pixie Dust ....

    Coupler follows the twists and turns in the lives of the occupants of the last car of the Northern line, who are looking for love and struggling to trust. With the help of some pixie dust, and a particularly vocal tube train, they work to connect, listen, and eventually - inevitably - grow up.
  • Smart Kid by Meredith Dayna Cope-Levy
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: drama, young audiences
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    Keyword: dyslexia, learning differences
    Genre: drama, young audiences
    Keyword: dyslexia, learning differences
    Jamie’s a smart kid—everybody tells her so—but she didn’t do the book report. She tells her best friend she was too sick to write it; her school nurse that a bully stole it; her bus driver that she was having too much fun to bother. As the story keeps shifting, can Jamie keep one step ahead, or is it time for her to stop running from the truth?

    Published by YOUTH Plays. Full list of producing...
    Jamie’s a smart kid—everybody tells her so—but she didn’t do the book report. She tells her best friend she was too sick to write it; her school nurse that a bully stole it; her bus driver that she was having too much fun to bother. As the story keeps shifting, can Jamie keep one step ahead, or is it time for her to stop running from the truth?

    Published by YOUTH Plays. Full list of producing schools can be provided upon request.
  • Waiting for Sylvia by Meredith Dayna Cope-Levy
    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: dark comedy
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    Keyword: absurdism, Lesbian + 1 more
    Genre: dark comedy
    Keyword: absurdism, Lesbian, feminist
    On a clear morning in Paris, Annie and Bea wait for Sylvia Beach to arrive and reclaim her literary legacy. They wait, they drink coffee, and they hear a terrible rumor. Commence the absurd cycle of waiting for what has already gone, and forgetting what was once remembered.