Patricia Cotter

Patricia Cotter

Awards include The American Academy of Arts Letters, Richard Rodgers Award, Emmy Award, and a GLAAD Award nominee. Plays include RULES OF COMEDY, produced in the 2015 Humana Festival of Ten-Minute Plays and recorded for the podcast, Playing On Air. DRINKING ON A PLANE in 2018, and THE ANTHROPOLOGY SECTION in 2015 both produced by The Actors Theatre of Louisville’s The Tens, Other plays include: THE DAUGHTERS...
Awards include The American Academy of Arts Letters, Richard Rodgers Award, Emmy Award, and a GLAAD Award nominee. Plays include RULES OF COMEDY, produced in the 2015 Humana Festival of Ten-Minute Plays and recorded for the podcast, Playing On Air. DRINKING ON A PLANE in 2018, and THE ANTHROPOLOGY SECTION in 2015 both produced by The Actors Theatre of Louisville’s The Tens, Other plays include: THE DAUGHTERS San Francisco Playhouse, World Premiere 2019, 1980 (OR WHY I’M VOTING FOR JOHN ANDERSON) Chicago’s Jackalope Theatre 2017, Jeff Awards nominee for Best New Play, THE SURROGATE, winner of the 2016 Susan Glaspell Award, finalist at the 2016 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, produced at Centenary Stage Company, NJ, in 2017, THE BREAK UP NOTEBOOK. Musicals (librettist/ adaptations) include ROCKET SCIENCE: A MUSICAL, received readings at Playwrights Horizons in New York (directed by Kathleen Marshall) and was produced at The Village Theatre, Seattle; THE BREAK UP NOTEBOOK: A MUSICAL (based on her play), at The Vineyard Theatre in New York; MULAN, JR. based on the Disney film, MULAN for Disney Theatrical. Her musical LADYKILLERS was developed at the Rhinebeck Writer’s Retreat. The film version of THE SURROGATE  (with a screenplay adaptation by Patricia) is scheduled to be released by Kanbar Entertainment in 2020. 

Plays

  • The Daughters by Patricia Cotter
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: biography, comedy + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: Lesbian, History + 6 more
    Genre: biography, comedy, docudrama/historic, period, political, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Lesbian, History, queer, gay, LGBTQ, San Francisco, love, Sex
    A gutsy comedic romp over 60 years, from the first secret meeting of the first lesbian social club in San Francisco to closing night of the last lesbian bar. As women loving women gather in defiance of convention (and the law), they drink, debate, politicize, flirt, drink more, dance hard, makeout, fall in love, break up—and though they are entirely unaware—make history and change the world. A play about the...
    A gutsy comedic romp over 60 years, from the first secret meeting of the first lesbian social club in San Francisco to closing night of the last lesbian bar. As women loving women gather in defiance of convention (and the law), they drink, debate, politicize, flirt, drink more, dance hard, makeout, fall in love, break up—and though they are entirely unaware—make history and change the world. A play about the transformation of identity, gender, and sexuality across generations in the queer epi-center of the universe.
  • 1980 (Or Why I'm Voting For John Anderson) by Patricia Cotter
    Recommendations: 6
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, docudrama/historic + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Race, class + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, docudrama/historic, period, political
    Keyword: Race, class, sexuality, 1980s
    1980 (Or Why I’m Voting For John Anderson) is comedy about class, race and learning to believe that anything is possible, before you learn that it actually isn’t. For a sliver of a shining moment in the fall of 1980, it looked as though a little known congressman from Illinois, John Anderson, might actually have a chance to be a contender for President of the United States. At least that's what the...
    1980 (Or Why I’m Voting For John Anderson) is comedy about class, race and learning to believe that anything is possible, before you learn that it actually isn’t. For a sliver of a shining moment in the fall of 1980, it looked as though a little known congressman from Illinois, John Anderson, might actually have a chance to be a contender for President of the United States. At least that's what the campaign staff of John Anderson For President believes. In a bare bones campaign office in Boston, Massachusetts four very different (and slightly lost) people search for answers and hope that their long shot candidate will change their country and their lives.
  • After All I Did For You (Working title) by Patricia Cotter
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: comedy, docudrama/historic + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: LGBTQ, comedy + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, docudrama/historic, drama
    Keyword: LGBTQ, comedy, adult relationships, 1990s
    AFTER ALL I DID FOR YOU, a comedy about a serious subject, examines the similarities/differences between gay male relationships and lesbian relationships and the love between men and women in an alternative sense – how do we connect when sex is not a goal or an obstacle?

    Moving from the 1990s through the present day, the play centers on the long-term relationship between a gay male couple and a...
    AFTER ALL I DID FOR YOU, a comedy about a serious subject, examines the similarities/differences between gay male relationships and lesbian relationships and the love between men and women in an alternative sense – how do we connect when sex is not a goal or an obstacle?

    Moving from the 1990s through the present day, the play centers on the long-term relationship between a gay male couple and a lesbian couple. These couples are each other’s favorite people, the best of friends – family, really – and through their decades-long friendship, the play presents a specific and intimate history of the HIV/AIDS crisis and how it has impacted both the gay and lesbian communities.

    AFTER ALL I DID FOR YOU explores themes of love, loss, and betrayal while illuminating how living through trauma has repercussions that none of us can predict.
  • I'll Give You Something to Cry About (The Sister Play) by Patricia Cotter
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    ·
    Keyword: family, Black comedy + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: family, Black comedy, Sisters, features LGBTQ character
    Paulette and Ann Marie are sisters - they share some DNA, a brutal sense of humor and that's about it. So what happens when Paulette shows up unannounced to Ann Marie's San Francisco apartment from New Hampshire? Hint: fistfights, a medical crisis, a homemade musical, and a shot at forgiveness. “I'll Give You Something to Cry About" is a ruthless comedy that investigates the meaning of...
    Paulette and Ann Marie are sisters - they share some DNA, a brutal sense of humor and that's about it. So what happens when Paulette shows up unannounced to Ann Marie's San Francisco apartment from New Hampshire? Hint: fistfights, a medical crisis, a homemade musical, and a shot at forgiveness. “I'll Give You Something to Cry About" is a ruthless comedy that investigates the meaning of family, responsibility and the power of letting go.
  • The Surrogate by Patricia Cotter
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: surrogacy, gay and lesbian + 7 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: surrogacy, gay and lesbian, infertility, San Francisco, bio-ethics, surrogate motherhood, In-vitro fertilization, assisted reproductive technology, reproduction
    THE SURROGATE is a comedy about the slippery slope of bioethics and just plain ethics. When Billy and Sara ask their best friends Margaret and Jen to be the guardians of their precious Tallulah (and yet-to-be-born baby Carroll), lives change and friendships are tested. The surprise arrival of surrogate Crystal and Sara’s mother, Rita, bring the issues of motherhood, desire, class and sexual politics to a head...
    THE SURROGATE is a comedy about the slippery slope of bioethics and just plain ethics. When Billy and Sara ask their best friends Margaret and Jen to be the guardians of their precious Tallulah (and yet-to-be-born baby Carroll), lives change and friendships are tested. The surprise arrival of surrogate Crystal and Sara’s mother, Rita, bring the issues of motherhood, desire, class and sexual politics to a head in unexpected ways. THE SURROGATE explores what happens when we become casual about de-intimating the rituals of life into a business plan.
  • Rules of Comedy by Patricia Cotter
    Recommendations: 6
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    Genre: comedy
    Caroline is really, really not funny. Which is why she hires Guy, a stand-up comedian with some hang-ups of his own, to teach her how to tell jokes. But it turns out that they both have things to learn from one another, about life as well as laughter.
  • The Break Up Notebook: A Musical by Patricia Cotter
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    8–10
    ·
    Genre: comedy, musical + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Lesbian, gay + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, musical, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Lesbian, gay, gay marriage, alternative musical theater
    The Break-Up Notebook: A Lesbian Musical is the award-winning, hilarious, touching and sexy musical comedy for anyone and everyone who has ever had a broken heart and lived to tell about it. Based on Patricia Cotter’s critically-acclaimed hit play of the same name, The Break-Up Notebook: A Musical has music and lyrics by Lori Scarlett.
    The musical tells the story of Helen Hill, a 33-year-old lesbian who...
    The Break-Up Notebook: A Lesbian Musical is the award-winning, hilarious, touching and sexy musical comedy for anyone and everyone who has ever had a broken heart and lived to tell about it. Based on Patricia Cotter’s critically-acclaimed hit play of the same name, The Break-Up Notebook: A Musical has music and lyrics by Lori Scarlett.
    The musical tells the story of Helen Hill, a 33-year-old lesbian who has recently been dumped. She is heartbroken, slightly stunned and determined to go out there and do it all over again. With the support of her best gay boyfriend, Bob, and her gal pals, Monica and Joanie, she jumps back into the dating pool. What she finds takes her a bit by surprise…two-stepping twelve-steppers, anxiety prone lawyers, a dominatrix, Match.com, rebound bad dates, rebound great dates and maybe…just maybe… the girl of her dreams.
  • The Anthropology Section by Patricia Cotter
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: Lesbian, gay + 1 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: Lesbian, gay, anthropology
    After a bad break up, two women meet in The Anthropology Section of a bookstore.
  • When You Talk About This by Patricia Cotter
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    ·
    Keyword: college, professor
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: college, professor
    A student/teacher conference takes a turn that neither student nor teacher quite expects.
  • Ladykillers by Patricia Cotter
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    8–10
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: murder, women killers
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, docudrama/historic, musical, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: murder, women killers
    Ladykillers is a pitch-black musical comedy based on the true story of Olga Rutterschmidt and Helen Golay, two older women who killed homeless men for insurance money.

    Olga and Helen, two casual sociopaths and grifters, living in Santa Monica, have been friends for decades. Feeling past their prime and at the end of their rope financially, they devise a plan to take in homeless men, purchase...
    Ladykillers is a pitch-black musical comedy based on the true story of Olga Rutterschmidt and Helen Golay, two older women who killed homeless men for insurance money.

    Olga and Helen, two casual sociopaths and grifters, living in Santa Monica, have been friends for decades. Feeling past their prime and at the end of their rope financially, they devise a plan to take in homeless men, purchase multiple life insurance policies on them, and murder them after two years (the Period of Contestability for insurance companies to investigate fraud).

    After successfully executing their plan on the villainous Chadsey by housing him for two years and then running him over with their Mercury Sable, Olga and Helen discover that they not only have a real gift for this but a real passion as well. They warehouse and murder more homeless men and the money keeps rolling in. As the women become greedier, they also grow more reckless, and suspicious insurance adjustor (and all around good guy) Todd Winslow is soon on their trail.

    When a mysterious new man enters the women’s lives, he threatens to blow apart both their murderous scam and their friendship.

    With a pop score encompassing elements of film noir, tropicalia, and Bakersfield outlaw country and western, Ladykillers asks the question: What is the value of a human life?

    Ladykillers also offers a warning to its audience: Be careful about who you ignore.