Bio
Beverley Cooper is an award-winning playwright, dramaturge and teacher. She has written for TV, film and extensively for CBC radio drama, twice being nominated for Writers’ Guild of Canada Awards. Her plays have been produced widely across Canada. They include Thin Ice (co-written with Banuta Rubess, Chalmers/Dora Award), Clue in the Fast Lane (co-written with Ann-Marie MacDonald), The Eyes of Heaven, The Lonely Diner, Janet Wilson Meets the Queen (nominated for Prix Rideau Award) and If Truth Be Told. Innocence Lost: A Play about Steven Truscott was a sold out hit at the Blyth Festival in both 2008 and 2009, finalist for the 2009 Governor General’s Literary Award, was on the Globe and Mail bestseller list, a first for a Canadian playwright, and has had highly acclaimed productions at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, The Centaur Theatre in Montreal and Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto. In the summer of 2024, she will have two premieres of her plays: The Trials of Maggie Pollock (the Blyth Festival) and Jim Watts: Girl Reporter (4th Line Theatre).
Beverley trained as an actor and has performed in TV, film and in theatres across Canada. Beverley is a frequent director of audio books for Penguin Random House, including titles by Margaret Atwood, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Miriam Toews, Tanya Tagaq, Roméo Dallaire, Alicia Elliot and Harold R. Johnson. Beverley holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and has presented her work at Women Playwrights International conferences in Mumbai, Stockholm, Cape Town and Santiago. Beverley has taught playwriting at the National Theatre School, Toronto Metropolitan University’s Chang School of Continuing Studies and is on the faculty of the Humber School for Writers. Beverley was the coordinator of The CASA Project, a charitable arm of the Playwrights Guild of Canada that supports women playwrights in South Africa and is the 2022 recipient of the Bra D’or Award: an award that recognizes an individual for their efforts in supporting women playwrights. Beverley’s plays are published by Scirocco Drama. Learn more about Beverley at her website: beverleycooper.com
