Theater

Ryan Hayes and Paul Rodrigues in “Two for One,” at Repurposed Theatre, 2015. (Photo: Ted Davis.)

Playwright Megan Cohen has welcomed over 100 productions, workshops, and readings of her plays.

Artistic homes in her 20-year career include Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, Southbank Centre in London, American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, and Melbourne International Comedy Festival in Australia.

Cohen is a recipient of Theatre Bay Area’s “Keep An Eye On” emerging artist award and a recent alumni of the Resident Playwrights Initiative (2018-22) at Playwrights Foundation in San Francisco, a 4-year artistic residency for exciting regional voices.

A dedicated actor and performance artist before turning her professional emphasis to writing, she continues to occasionally create ensemble-based and solo work as a writer-performer.

Critics have called her plays “wildly imaginative,” “refreshing,” “fantastically joyful,” and “tortuous,” and awarded her work “San Francisco’s Best of the Bay” and “Most Memorable Food Fight.”


Plays

Julie (Stacy Ross) skis down Nob Hill in "Free For All."
Stacy Ross in “Free For All” at Cutting Ball Theater, 2019. (Photo: Ben Krantz.)
Two women with dirty faces, messy hair, and fierce expressions stand shoulder-to-shoulder.
Eliza Shea and Karen Johal in “Truest” at American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 2016.

All the roles in all her plays are written for Madeline Kahn.


Performance Art and Acting

Performance Artist Megan Cohen poses in a formal white dress with plastic inflatable swimming floaties on her arms, carrying a massive nautical anchor larger than her.
Solo performer Megan Cohen in “Take Me Home: A One-Woman Odyssey,” 2014. (Photo: Quincy Cardinale.)

Called “a ruthless innovator” (SF Weekly) and “one insightful and confident woman with a devilish sense of humor” (HuffPo), Megan Cohen (b. 1983) is also a fairly friendly playwright, opera librettist, consultant, and writing coach.


want to write more?

Megan Cohen, a pale white woman with a dark pompadour haircut, smiles at the camera.

tell the truth.
don’t give up.
have fun.

I coach writers with respect. In a sliding scale private Zoom session, we can talk frankly about your writing goals, challenges, and strengths.

If you’d rather hire me to write for you, shoot me an email.


Julie (Stacy Ross) in "Free For All," flanked by house puppeteers Miyaka P. Cochrane and Charlie Gray. (Photo: Ben Krantz, 2019.)

More than one hundred scripts by Megan have been performed live onstage, from Midtown Manhattan to small-town Montana to…

Go on…
Poster for an opera festival featuring a wide open mouth in bright colors against a minimalist background.

Megan doesn’t speak Italian so she writes opera libretti in English, and it’s how she met Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the legendary rodeo champ…

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The menu screen for the iPad game Fashion Tale, featuring the title in whimsical white letters against a blue sky.

Games

While writing and ghostwriting for games and interactive/digital media, Megan learns the weirdest stuff. Did you know that Ryan Gosling…

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Playwright Megan Cohen, a pale white woman with a dark pompadour haircut, sits at a writing desk surrounded by balloons and glowing lamps.

Megan loves to support and create community through writing. When she held a 24-hour Writing Marathon..

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“In the sui generis mind of theater artist Megan Cohen, silliness intermingles with oh-no-she-didn’t moxie; searing smarts blend seamlessly with surreal reverie and a bottomless capacity for feeling.” San Francisco Chronicle

Megan Cohen, a pale white woman with a dark bob haircut, looks directly at the camera. She smiles with a closed mouth.

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Thank you for coming to my website! I made it myself, but put most of it in third-person to sound more “professional” since that is industry standard. Do you think it should be industry standard? I have mixed feelings about the idea of “professionalism.” I like that “professionalism” shows respect, but dislike that it creates distance.


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