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The Notorious Plays of Megan Cohen

Thrilling introductions to the major theatrical works at the heart of my tremendously notable early-stage canon of groundbreaking plays.

UPCOMING PRODUCTIONS:

It's Good To Know That When All Else Fails And You Don't Know What To Do, At Least You Have Some Options, So There Is A Decision To Be Made And You Don't Have To Just Keep Doing What You Are Doing, Right? I Mean That's Good, Right?
At Woman's Will Playfest, June 3 & 4, 2011, at the Phoenix Theater, SF CA.
15 minutes, 2 female
{two sisters talk about impossible decisions while the third has an abortion. a drama with jokes. not as precious as it sounds. excerpt.}
Previously produced January 2009, Love Creek Productions, NY NY

Megan Cohen's James Joyce's Ulysses
At San Francisco Theater Pub, June 20 2011. Free admission, 8pm.
30 minutes, 3 male, 1 female
{a breathless half-hour adaptation of the 265,000-word modernist epic that is quite widely accepted to be the most important English-language novel of the last hundred years}

How To Love
At Performers Under Stress.
Slated for production Oct-Nov 2011, exact dates TBA.
90 minutes, 5 people, any genders
{based on Plato's "Symposium." set in an underground bunker, where a crack team try to solve the problem of "how to love" through the clever use of thinking, resting, kidnapping, staying up all night, writing incredibly rude sonnets, and more.}
Written in the month of May 2009, with a live blog of the 30-day process of writing the play.
Developed through a excerpt produced at San Francisco Theater Pub Feb 2010, and readings with No Nude Men Sept 2010 and Performers Under Stress Dec 2010.

Joe "Orion" Ryan
Commissioned by the San Francisco Olympians Festival.
Staged Reading, Oct 7 2011
90 minutes, 2 female, 3 male
{a san francisco cop hunts his criminal prey in the city streets. inspired by "Dirty Harry," greek myth, and the stars above.}

Untitled Megan Cohen Project
Commissioned by Threshold.
Slated for production in Summer 2012.
90 minutes, in development
{a three-act fantasia built around my one-act play "A Three Little Dumplings Adventure," and custom-tailored for the cast who performed "Adventure" in the 2011 Bay One Acts festival.}

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF MEGAN COHEN:

A Three Little Dumplings Adventure
Produced March 2011, Three Wise Monkeys, SF CA, as part of the "Bay One Acts Festival." Here's my interview from that festival.
Previously produced October 2006, Robots Vs. Dinosaurs, NY NY
Previously produced May 2003, Prosser Theatre, Stanford CA
30 minutes, 1 female, 1 male, 3 either, 1 talking suitcase
{a one act of pure. . . something.}
What Separates Us
Produced November 2010, Pianofight as part of "Menage-a-Plot," SF CA
30 minutes, 2 female, 2 male
{crime, heartbreak, and monkeys, in the aftermath of the "worst" or "best" costume party ever.}
Birdy Darling And Fancy Darling On The Brink Of The Amazing And Unknown Future
25 min, 2 female
Produced Feb 2011, Flying Island Lab at the Palo Alto Art Center as half of "The Entangled Plays," a performance commissioned to accompany the gallery exhibit "The Nature of Entanglements," Palo Alto CA. Staged Reading.
{two sisters doggedly try to braid their incredibly long hair in this meditation on empty nests, safety nets, and predicting what comes next.}
The Best Things In Life Are Money
Produced August 2010, San Francisco Theatre Festival and San Francisco Theater Pub, SF CA
10 minutes, 1 female, 1 male
{commerce, magic, jokes, poetry, and a tiny bit of urination.}
Exactly 21 Different Dreamers Dreams in Just Under 10 Minutes
Produced April 2010, Pianofight, SF CA
9 minutes, 3 people, any genders
{a whirlwind tour through 21 unconscious minds, with stops at your funeral where your mom is crying and your dad is making unexpected whoopie, your supermarket where the checkout girl might or might not remember you, and the basement of your apartment that isn't quite exactly like your actual apartment but feels like it is your apartment.}
The Great Double-Check
Produced February 2010, Three Wise Monkeys, SF CA
15 minutes, 2 female, 1 male
{two friends' hunt for a missing wallet turns into an all-out screwball when a mysterious stranger reveals a secret that will change everyone's future. oh my goodness what could it be? excerpt.}
Makeout
Staged Reading October 2009, Three Wise Monkeys, SF CA
15 minutes, 1 female, 1 male
{a repugnant request leads to an explosive monologue on desire and exposure. also, it's totally sad for part of it in the middle, but not the whole time, and will make your audience fall in love with each other. excerpt.}
Up To The Moment
Produced April 2008, Pianofight, SF CA
10 minutes, 2 people
{learn the truth about what acting means. all you need is two performers and a copy of the New York Times. the play is different every single night that you do it, and it's even funny to boot.}
Action-Packed!
Unproduced script-- currently in revision/development.
2010 finalist for BAPF at the Playwright's Foundation
90 minutes, 2 female, 2 male
{the story of four people. plus, what happens when we live and when we die. plus, some jokes. info and excerpt.}

Not Exactly Scripts Exactly
...And There's Nothing You Can Do About It!
Produced June 2005, Prosser Theatre, Stanford CA
70 minutes
{devised and rowdy.}
Awfully Nice
Produced April 2009, The Garage, SF CA
10 minutes, 4 people
{a short scenario devised and presented with the support of Performers Under Stress. text.}

(Site was redesigned recently and is still in progress, so not all plays have excerpts and full info posted yet. Give me a break-- I have a job and a boyfriend, and the back episodes of Burn Notice on hulu.com aren't going to watch themselves. Anyway, all new additions to this site will show up on the homepage, so for hot new content fresh outta the oven, you can just look there, you don't have to check back here.)