"Copeland’s writing is sharp and effective... an inspiration to playwrights everywhere." 5 Stars DC Metro Arts

Writer | Director | Producer
Founding Artistic Director NYMadness

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 1999 she wrote her first futuristic sci-fi short film about a female bomber blowing up amusement parks brought down by a female cop. That script answered the nagging call of uncertainty over her life's path. She is still writing sci-fi and strong female protagonists all these years later. 
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Copeland is a Graduate of the Stella Adler Acting Conservatory Studio in New York, an Alumna of the Writers Workshops at University of Iowa BA with Honors and a Minor in Dance and Ohio University MFA. 
Copeland is a Member of the New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT), League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW), an inductee into the Indie Theater Hall of Fame, WINNER BEST DRAMATIC SCREENPLAY Female Eye Film Festival, BEST TV PILOT La Femme Int. Film Festival, WINNER VAN GOGH AWARD Amsterdam Film Festival, BEST SCREENPLAY Queen Palm Film Festival, and a National New Play Network Featured Writer among others.

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NEWS: FILM & TV

13th ST SCARE
WINNER
Toronto Int. Women Film Festival
FINALIST
Oaxaca FilmFest PitchFest
OFFICIAL SELECTION
HorrorHaus Film Festival
Underground Indie Film Festival
QUATER FINALIST
Creative World Awards Screenwriting Competition
SEMI-FINALIST
Filmmatic Horror Screenplay Awards

“Clara arrives in New York City as an aspiring acting intern at the 13th St Scare Theater, longest running horror theatre in America, where she is offered the role of lifetime, but the starring part comes with a permanent pair of fangs.”

Currently in Development

CAST
NATASHA COPPOLA-SHALOM
GUILLERMO IVAN


CREATIVE TEAM
Executive Producer Perla Martínez (Formerly Netflix)
Director Cecilia Copeland
Academy Award Winning Art Director Brigitte Broch
Emmy Nominated Producer Tiffany Fisher-Love
VFX Carlos Arguello

In the long tradition of vampire legends, 13th Street Scare is a combination of old lore with a modern twist. The seductive vampiress, Zilla who leads The 13th St Scare Theater was cursed to darkness in 576 BC.

Now that Zilla lives in the new world where she can hide in plain site, she takes on a fresh crop of interns each year hoping to find the best, brightest, most brutal and beautiful. Clara dreams of being a star, but in order to achieve her dreams it will cost more than just her talent and dedication. Zilla demands her eternal soul.

Cecilia Copeland Named
​National New Play Network Featured Writer!

THE COPELAND CASE

by Cecilia Copeland
Executive Producer Perla Martínez (Formerly of Netflix)
Based on the true story of the Copeland kidnappings, origins of the Uniform Child Custody Act.

WINNER BEST DRAMATIC FEATURE SCREENPLAY
FEMALE EYE FILM FESTIVAL

QUARTER-FINALIST PAGE
INTERNATIONAL SCREENWRITING AWARDS

QUEEN SUPREME WINNER
BEST FEATURE SCRIPT QUEEN PALM INT FILM FESTIVAL

WINNER VAN GOGH AWARD BEST FIRST TIME WRITER
​AMSTERDAM FILM FESTIVAL

FINALIST SIDEWALK FILM FESTIVAL
SIDEWRITE
​SCREENPLAY COMPETITION
​
FINALIST INROADS SCREENWRITING FELLOWSHIP

FINALIST FILMMATIC DRAMA SCREENPLAY COMPETITION

FINALIST THE GREAT AMERICAN SCRIPT CONTEST
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​FINALIST SCREENCRAFT PUBLIC DOMAIN COMPETITION

WINNER PINNACLE FILM AWARDS​

FINALIST LA LIVE FILM FESTIVAL

FOR MORE INFO GO TO COPELAND CASE PAGE IN HEADER

WINNER BEST TV PILOT

TALTRIX

by Cecilia Copeland

LA Femme International Film Festival
Logline:
In 5515, ​RT, begins her first day at school on the space cruiser TALTRIX, and must navigate her classmates,
teachers, and the history that tore apart her world,
while learning to control her powers.

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TALTRIX
by Cecilia Copeland
Sci-Fi TV Pilot Script
WINNER BEST TV PILOT
LA FEMME INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
SEMIFINALIST CREATIVE WORLD AWARDS
WINNER PRESENTED BY NYWIFT
New York Women and TV (NEW WORKS LAB)
SEMI-FINALIST NEXT TV WRITING & PITCH COMPETITION
QUARTER FINALIST SCREEN CRAFT SCREENWRITING FELLOWSHIP
QUARTER FINALIST MADE IN NY FELLOWSHIP
FINALIST LA INDIE FILM FESTIVAL
WILDSOUND FESTIVAL (BEST SCENE TV SHOW)

THE NEXT TIME
by Cecilia Copeland
Published in
24 Gun Control Plays
Available on Amazon
​

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MORE SCREENWRITING NEWS

INDIAN BILLY ICE
by Jerry Ice
Script Contributor
​Cecilia Copeland
WINNER BEST HISTORICAL SCREENPLAY LA LIVE FILM FESTIVAL
WINNER BEST SCREENPLAY EIFA AWARDS 
WINNER BEST SCREENPLAY LOS ANGELES FILM AWARDS
WINNER BEST SCREENPLAY GLOBAL FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS
WINNER BEST SCREENPLAY PINNACLE AWARDS
WINNER BEST SCREENPLAY ROYAL WOLF FILM AWARDS
FINALIST BEST SCREENPLAY MOONDANCE INT. FILM FESTIVAL
​FINALIST IMAGINARIUM AWARD
FIRST RUNNER UP BEST SCREENPLAY SNOWDANCE FILM AWARDS
OFFICIAL SELECTION QUEEN PALM

The story of a real life American Hero....
Forest Gump meets Last of the Mohicans. 
More script information available HERE

United Solo Fest
WINNER BEST PREMIERE

ONE WOMAN
by Cecilia Copeland
directed by Joan Kane
​PRODUCED BY EGO ACTUS (photos and info available at link)

​STARRING POOYA MOHSENI

Description
​We are virgins or whores, good or bad, cis or trans. If you're good you have to dress like it, act like it, and you better not swear or have sex! If you're bad, then you deserve every bad thing that happens to you! Choosing which kind of woman to be is the precarious path women walk before seeing we are all One Woman.

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 (Download Resume)

Photo by Emily Lerer




Caption  
Participating in Write Out Front in the Drama Bookshop in Times Sq. Featured in the NYTimes and Time Out.











Contact details: ceciliacopeland(at)gmail.com

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Audio Excerpt: Light of Night Produced by Necessary Exposure

Featuring Cecilia Copeland as Isabelle and
Jody Christopherson as Stephanie 
Directed and Designed by Natalie Johnsonius Neubert

Excerpt Available Here on ITunes
Excerpt Available Here on Soundcloud

From BroadwayWorld.com
The lack of gender diversity in American theatre has been a controversial topic for decades. While non-profit Off-Broadway companies have seen a steady rise in the number of plays produced that are written by women, there is a definite lack of equal representation in commercial Broadway.

A new art installation at Dixon Place, NECESSARY EXPOSURE: THE FEMALE PLAYWRIGHT PROJECT, aims to bring visibility to playwrights who identify as female in a series of portrait and sound installations created by Jody Christopherson, with sound design by
Natalie Johnsonius Neubert.

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Video: Inside by Cecilia Copeland, Directed by Leta Trembly 
Produced by Caps Lock Theatre

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