"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 TV PILOT LA FEMME INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, WINNER VAN GOGH AWARD AMSTERDAM FILM FESTIVAL, BEST SCREENPLAY PINNACLE FILM AWARDS and QUEEN PALM FILM FESTIVAL, among others.

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NEWS: FILM & TV

THE COPELAND KIDS
WINS BEST DRAMATIC FEATURE SCREENPLAY
FEMALE EYE FILM FESTIVAL
Script Development Program

THE COPELAND KIDS
by Cecilia Copeland

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

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)

NEWS: THEATRE ​

Cecilia Copeland’s “R Culture” is being produced by EnCompass Theatre in the MN Fringe Festival. Directed by Casey Holmes.

“Copeland’s work stands out for its demanding, blunt, truth telling, in the tradition of Lenny Bruce, which is in sharp contrast to the prevalent bland tone of much of today’s political humor. It is definitely in your face... R Culture is a probing and entertaining work that dazzles while making the audience uncomfortable for good reasons." -Darryl Reilly in Off-Broadway, Plays
​
TIX AVAILABLE HERE
​Aug 2, 3, 4, 9, & 10

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

​Upcoming Production
Safety Off
Phoenix Theater
September 14-23
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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

​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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