On June 2, 2013 I interviewed Cecilia Copeland about her theatre company,
New York Madness. New York Madness just completed its third season and will be launching into its fourth come Fall, so I felt this was an exciting time to begin following its growth.
New York Madness is an exciting theatre company with an even more exciting premise which Cecilia talks about throughout the interview. I was lucky enough to be a part of their Occupy Sandy Madness at HERE Arts Center, a night which raised over $200 for Sandy Relief.
Cecilia is a powerhouse of an artistic director, a wonderful playwright and an inspirational woman in the way she is able to both take charge of situations and nurture those artists who are involved. I hope you enjoy learning about the in's and out's of creating and maintaining a theatre company in New York City .
Cecilia Copeland is a Midwestern, Latin-American, Israeli, Non-Princess and legal resident of Australia who chooses to live in her adopted home, New York.
She climbed Masada at five years old, studied classical ballet and martial arts, was a dancer for MTV and owned her own cafe. She wrote her first short story in kindergarten about a snowflake, her first poem about hating vacuum cleaners, and in writing her first play she answered the nagging call of uncertainty over her life’s path. She is still writing plays some 13 years later.
As a Graduate of the Stella Adler Acting Conservatory Studio in New York, she is also an Alumna of the Writers Workshops at University of Iowa BA with Honors and a Minor in Dance and Ohio University MFA.
Cecilia’s plays have been Produced or Presented at the Culture Project, Cherry Lane Theatre, Ensemble Studios Theatre, HERE Arts Center, INTAR Theatre, The Anarchist Theatre Festival of Montreal, Stage Left Productions, 13th Street Repertory, CAPS LOCK PRODUCTIONS, The Disreputables, The Glass Eye’s Fresh Produced, Metro Screen Australia, and soon to be IATI Theatre among others. She’s been commissioned by The Drilling Co, Overturn Theatre Ensemble, The Pink Ribbon Project, The Private Theatre, and The Performing Arts High School.
She is the recipient of the Lennis J. Holm Playwriting Scholarship from University of Iowa for her Honors Thesis, One Woman which was produced in SWAN Day 2008. She is a Semi-Finalist for The O’Neill Playwrights Conference, The David Calicchio Emerging Playwright’s Prize at The Marin Theatre Co, Seven Devil’s Playwright’s Conference and a Finalist for Mabou Mines Artist Residency.
Her Full Length, “The Wicked Son” was named one of the Top Three Best New Jewish Plays by the Jewish Plays Project. Other full length works include Light of Night, BIOLIFE, COURTING, Tiene Duende (It Has Soul), Riptide, and Atlantis Unearthed. She was awarded a Special Effects Grant from Metro Screen Australia for her One Act that she adapted into a Screenplay, Amusement Bomber. Her works have been published by PM Press, The International Center for Women Playwrights, and NoPassport Press for The Gun Control Plays.
Cecilia is the Founder and Artistic Director of New York Madness. She is a Member of the Women’s New Works Playlab at New Perspectives, the Dramatists Guild of America, The Cimientos Playlab at IATI Theatre, and The League of Professional Theatre Women.
