“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.”
PRESS
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
Most of my stories put deliciously complex female antiheroes at the heart of lively, high-octane comic worlds that swirl catastrophically around them.
I am a shoestring maximalist and political activist in love with energetic language, disgusted by exploitation, obsessed with equality, and motivated to create work that delights, surprises, and challenges audiences.
MEGAN COHEN
Called “a ruthless innovator” (SF Weekly) and “one insightful and confident woman with a devilish sense of humor” (HuffPo), Megan Cohen (b. 1983) is a playwright and opera librettist based in San Francisco, CA. She was the inaugural playwright for Cutting Ball Theater’s annual commissioning initiative with her play FREE FOR ALL: A NEW MISS JULIE FOR A NEW WORLD, lauded as “The Best Party At The End of the World” in KQED’s Best Bay Area Theater of 2019. She is currently under commission for Houston Grand Opera’s HGOco “Song of Houston” initiative to write the libretto for TURN AND BURN, a new full-length chamber opera about cowgirl culture and the lives of female athletes in contemporary rodeo (World Premiere 2023 in Houston, TX). Raised in San Francisco, Cohen dropped out of high school before going on to become a proud graduate of Stanford University (BA, Drama with Honors). As an adult, more than one hundred of her original texts for performance have been developed or produced onstage in the US, UK, and Australia. Her conspirators, commissioners, and artistic homes have included Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC, the San Francisco Neo-Futurists (where she was a founding member), and Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center. She is a recipient of Theatre Bay Area’s “Keep An Eye On” emerging artist award and a current Resident Playwright at Playwrights Foundation.