One-Act and Short Plays by Cynthia L. Cooper [Cindy Cooper]
A range of short plays, many featuring unconventional women and unconventional tales.
A woman sculptor interviews candidates for an unspecified job, but is only interested in a woman who can interpret poetry. Single set, 2 w, one mature; off-stage voice. 25 min.
Winner, Nantucket Short Play Festival; First Prize, Playwriting, Pen & Brush, NYC; Finalist, Drury One-Act Play Competition.
[Actors' Theatre, Nantucket (dir. Jim Patrick); Alverno College Theatre Dept., Spring Coffeehouse Theater; 'Actress in Pieces' -- Sarah Noone, Jackie Cotter, UK; Seton Hall University, PA, student project; Pen & Brush; Jefferson Market Library; Sam Schact Studios; Circle Rep teaching program, Wings Theatre.]
'...plum stage roles'-- Boston Globe. NEW! Read online at Cindy Cooper--Scripts.
A woman defense lawyer, longing for an alternative to the death penalty, turns to the victim's mother. Drama. Unit set, 2 w., 10 min.
Winner, Summer Shorts 2006, Theatre of Western Springs, IL; University of Delaware 2006; Camino Real Playhouse Show-Off 2005 Playwriting Festival, San Juan Capistrano, CA.;August 2005: Take Five, Kansas City; Georgia, college production; Women's Project and Productions at LaMama Galleria; Wings Theater, NY; The Artistic Home, NY; Amherst H.S., MA; University of Washington, WA; reading, Drama Book Shop, NY; published
Rowing to America and Other Short Plays from The Women's Project and Productions, Smith & Kraus, 2002. Read Online at
Scripts
A woman in charge of a shelter for needy women embraces hope and spirituality amid chaos. Single set, 18 min., 2 w (one off-stage). Second Prize, Pen and Brush Playwriting Contest, New York Winner, Malibu Second International One-Act Festival [Malibu Stage Company, dir. Stuart Cooper; 'Three Women' Guild Hall, NY, Episcopal Actors' Guild, dir. Yvonne Delet, featuring Claudia Schnieder; Pen & Brush, NY; Reading: American Renaissance Theatre Workshop [Hell's Kitchen Project] NY.
The father of a firefighter and a woman artist connect through art when both suffer loss. [Clark Studio Theatre at Lincoln Center, NY, Starfish Productions, "Nothing You Can Say," featuring Alison Stair Neet; Northeastern University, Student Project, April 2004.] Uni-set with varied setting; 2 m., 2 w.; 25 min.
A woman in a DNA lab becomes suspicious about the intentions of fellow workers concerning a sample from Elvis. Comic drama. Simple unit set, 1 w., 15 min. [Johnson City Theatre, Tenn. in
The King Was Here; Cracked Actor, United Kingdom
Published,
Elvis Monologues, Heinemann.
View monologue on Amazon.com's 'Sample Pages' [click on Elvis Monologues link.] or view online at
Scripts
Faced with a Catch-22 of rules, a woman in a welfare office gets lessons on how overcome the rules. Comic drama. Single set, 2 m., 2 w., 15 min. Winner, Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival, Double Image Theatre: Theatre Row; West Bank Cafe; Winner, One-Act Festival, Barn Theatre, NJ (featuring Jane Krajkowski); Winner, Playwriting Contest, White Bear Arts; Arts and Work Ensemble, NY; Wings, NY; Playwrights' Center, Pastiche, Mpls. "'Fox and Hounds' by Cynthia Cooper made the evening worthwhile. It works." Suzanne Simpson, critic, NJ. Also developed into short film script.
A tv reporter resorts to black humor when dealing with her own breast cancer. Flex. set; 2 w.; 10 min. Finalist, Louisville One-Act Play Festival [Cancer Survivors Day, Hope for Change Foundation, Rye Brook NY 2006; University of Delaware; Wings Theatre (dir. Seth Gordon); Millikin College, Illinois.]
Women baseball players, disguised as before-game entertainment, take over the field. Simple set, 1 w., 10 min. [Published,
Baseball Monologues, Heinemann.]New Zealand, 2008.
A woman journalist is looking into a long-ago murder, when her subject, an older woman, turns the inquisitorial tables. Simple set; 2 w., 10 min. [Women's Project, Tandem Acts at LaMama Galleria, NY; Wings Th., One-Acts, NY; New Paltz, NY: NYSSA, July 2005.]
A man proves that being a panhandler is not the only way to qualify for bumdom. Comic drama. Flexible set, 1 m., 30 min. [Lakeshore Players, MN; Playwrights' Center, MN; Hutchinson Festival of New Plays (featuring Richard Pahl), KN.]Cynthia Cooper's 'How to be a Bum' is a funny lecture on the art of panhandling. Cooper definitely has a good ear for gags.
Outside a professional women's basketball game, two women debate the joys and stresses of alternative relationships. Comic drama. Simple staging, 2 w., 10 min. [Madison WI, Stage Q Playfest June 2006; Miami, FL. Creative Arts Enterprise/Third Annual Lavendar Footlights, 2006; Manhattan Theatre Source (Donna Jean Fogel, dir.); Richmond VA, JERA Entertainment, 2004.]
A man and his sister-in-law, fleeing from Death Squads to a safe haven in the U.S., are visited by a man unknown to them. Political drama. Unit set, 3 m., 1 w. [Spanish/English language ability for 2 m and 1 w], 20 min. [Art & Work Ensemble, NYC; Reading, Primary Stages, Melanie Joseph, dir.]
Sheila's a chocoholic; her friends and family do their best to intervene, but Hershey's is tough competition. Light comedy. Single set, 3 w., 2 m., 15 min. [Primary Stages, One-Act Series, NY; Mitchell Community Theater, SD.]
Two women, roommates but not lovers, discover another kind of entanglement when the mother of one visits. Comic. [3w.] [WOW Cafe, NY, produced by Hear Us Out, Zenobia, dir., featuriing Connie Winston.]...comedy that takes you on a roller coaster ride of an unusual relationship, and an even more unusual date. The Villager.Finalist Out on the Edge Playwrighting Festival; planned production: Greece.
OTHER ONE-ACT PLAYS INCLUDE:
~TRU LUV A girl's parents aren't so happy when she falls in love with a stem cell; comic. (5 min, 2 w., 1 m.) Venus Theater, DC.
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~NEW!/ -HELL OF A TIME A stylized performance piece based on newspaper text about war and war games. [8 min., 3 m, 1w or more]
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~PAPERBACK WRITER Writers are chained to their desks to produce formulaic paperbacks in the subbasement of a publishing house. Comic. 3 w., 1., 10 min.[Primary Stages, One-Acts.]
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~NEW!EXTRAPOLATION OF PASSION -- Two gay penguins split up, but a soldier finds his gay identity at the Central Park zoo. 10 min, 3 m. [Wings Theater, Instant Play.]
~ACCOUNTING -- An emotionally toxic workplace undergoes a little Wicce treatment. Humor. Single set, 3 w., 10 min. [Wings, NY 1 acts; Reading-Contrast and Juxtaposition, Planet One Workshop, NY.]
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~EARTH MAGIC -- A circle of magic saves a tree in a national forest. Comic. Single set, 3 w., 10 min. [Primary Stages, short play series.]
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~ENTREPRENEUR -- A small shop owner is faced with a homeless person who insists on helping. Single set, 2 w., 10 min.
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~THINGS WE DON'T TALK ABOUT -- Co-written with Michael angel Johnson. Two women try to sort out the complexities of race, family and personal histories. Stylized. Multiple scenes, 2 w., one Caucasian, one African-American, 20 min. [Women With Bite, Director's Theatre, NY]
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~FAMILY DOGMA -- A dog named Sojourner and her person, a woman, subtly explore the meaning of freedom, as they meet, come together and then must part on their own journeys. 2 w. 8 min. [Primary Stages, short play series.]
