PLAYS
LITTLE UNIVERSE
Sean Weisman is living in his own little universe; haunted by his past and unable to distinguish it from the present. Loan shark, Lorenzo Salvatore's little universe of crime and violence no longer sustains him. A mutilated body is discovered on the railroad tracks in Hell's Kitchen. Can the mysterious link that binds these two men prove a path to salvation, or a descent into the abyss?
BERTRAND PRIEST
Dreams, fate, chance, spirituality and hints of magic swirl together in this dark, cutting-edge comedy.
VATTAGO
The demon, Vattago, infiltrates the home of Matt Ross, resulting in chaos and death. A comedy. In development at the Lark Play Development Center.
"Vattago is wild and surprising. Cohen tackles a lot and he does so with skill - the loss of faith and meaning, the disconnection between the sexes, the absurdity of work in a capitalist/consumer culture - all within a very compelling, and dangerous, urban fairytale."
- Literary Manager-Actors Theatre of Louisville
LENNY & LOU
World premiere, 8/29/04 at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington DC. Read the rave reviews! New York premiere, 2/2/06 at the 29th St. Rep. Also a finalist in the 2003 HBO Comedy Festival and presented by the Lark Play Development Center, February 2001. LENNY & LOU is a dark comedy about sex, sibling rivalry and perverse maternal love.
"...comedy gone mental ....an entertaining, boundary-pushing comedy"
- Peter Marks, The Washington Post
"deliriously decadent, dark and disturbing... will have you laughing until you cry"
- Lisa Traiger, Washington Jewish Week
"Playwright Ian Cohen creates a modern Shakespearean tragicomedy in his New York premiere of LENNY & LOU with his hilarious take on sibling rivalry, sex and debauchery."
- Maya Avrasin, Show Business Weekly
GOD'S CREATURES
From the bedroom to the boardroom; upper-class, middle-class, lower-class, race, sexual preference and spiritualism collide as a handsome doctor, a hot Latina, a womanizing mailroom attendant and others crash and burn as they try to come to grips with their uncontrollable passions.
Finalist, 2000 International Playwrights Competition. BareBones by the Lark Play Development Center
"I was taken by this ambitious weaving together of tales of loss, faith and regret. Each character has been crafted with humor and compassion. And they reveal their fears and vulnerabilities in quirky and surprising ways."
- Literary Manager-Actors Theatre of Louisville
THE DESERT
A young man's Search for God leads him to THE DESERT. Honorable Mention, Plays for the New Millennium Competition.
LUNA PARK
A Brutal father destroys his family as his eldest son finds himself. Runner-up, 1996 Jewish Ensemble Theatre's Spring Festival.
THE CHEMISTRY CLUB
An over-30 rock and roll band; sex, drugs, rock and roll, disillusion and denial.
ONE-ACTS
FANTASY
A young couple explores role-playing to enhance their sex life. Featured in The WorkShop's Summer One Act Festival, is now a film directed by Ian Cohen & Joe Leonard for Blatantly Subtle Productions.
FUCKIN WORK
Two men go through employee files; learning about the changes in the workplace and each other. A ten-minute play. FUCKIN WORK was featured in The WorkShop's Summer One-Act Festival.
GOING
A play in one act.
Alex Lewis' family of five journey via subway from Manhattan to Brooklyn to
pay an SOS visit to his ailing mother.
GOING as
a semi-finalist in The Chutzpah Festival. To be published, fall 2006 by Playscripts.