DOUG COONEY is a playwright/novelist based in South Florida and Los Angeles. THE VERY PERSISTENT GAPPERS OF FRIP, book and lyrics by Cooney, music by David O, premiered this spring at the Mark Taper Forum’s new Kirk Douglas Theater, following workshops at the Kennedy Center’s New Visions New Voices program and the University of Texas at Austin. Cooney and O previously collaborated on THE LEGEND OF ALEX, a musical produced by the Mark Taper Forum’s P.L.A.Y. and Powerhouse Theatre.

THE FINAL TOUR, Cooney’s play on the life of Vladimir Horowitz, was developed at Sundance Institute Theater Lab 2003 with director Moises Kaufman and received a staged reading at the New Theatre in Miami in February 2005. His youth musical, THE BELOVED DEARLY, directed and composed by Elizabeth Swados, was produced and toured by Lincoln Center Institute.

Cooney recently finished INNOCENT UNTIL, a play about the juvenile justice system in Florida, supported by a TCG/MetLife Collaboration grant with Florida Stage. He is currently writing IMAGINE, a play commissioned by South Coast Rep and is developing a musical about Civil War Drummer Boys for Ruth Eckerd Hall.

In addition, Cooney has a series of novels for young readers for Simon & Schuster including THE BELOVED DEARLY and I KNOW WHO LIKES YOU. He recently embarked on a series on novels with actress Marlee Matlin, starting with NOBODY’S PERFECT, due to be released next year.

Cooney is a teaching artist with the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s VOICES WITHIN, an outreach program that teaches songwriting and collaboration to middle school students and has resulted in the creation of more than 120 songs. He is also a teaching artist with THE GRAFFITI PROJECT, a program that puts a playwright-in-residence at troubled high schools under the auspices of Florida Stage.

Cooney is a member of the Dramatists Guild and represented by Harden-Curtis Associates.

Click on the links below to read excerpts from some of Doug's work:

Astronauts, PDF

The Final Tour, PDF

Innocent Until, PDF

Related Links:
www.dougcooney.com