
A Louisville, Kentucky playwright, director, and dramaturge. Prior to Louisville, he spent three years in Bermuda and four years teaching playwriting at The American University in Cairo, Egypt. Coash was a Co-founder of the Offstage Theatre in Charlottesville, VA and has worked for such theatres as the Manhattan Theatre Club, Stageworks/Hudson, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Coash has won numerous playwriting awards including Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Hammerstein Award, The Kennedy Center’s Lorraine Hansberry Award, and a Jerome Playwriting Fellowship. His plays have been produced at such theatres as: Portland Stage, the InterAct Theatre, Abingdon Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Bailiwick Theatre, West Coast Ensemble, and many more. Coash was the recipient of a CT. State Artist Fellowship. His play CRY HAVOC was recently produced in the South African National Arts Festival where he was an artist-in-residence. His new play VEILS was recently named winner of the American Theatre Critics Association's "M. Elizabeth Osborn Award" as well as being named a Finalist for the Steinberg/ATCA Award. VEILS was also the Clauder Competition for New England Playwrights Winner and a recipient of the Edgerton Foundation National New Play Award. Coash has an MFA in Playwriting from the University of California at Davis.
Marta Praeger
Robert A. Freedman Dramatic Agency, Inc.
1501 Broadway – Suite 2310
New York, NY 10036
(212) 840-5766
Plays
Intisar, a veiled African-American Muslim student, thought she might finally fit in when she enrolled for a year abroad at the American Egyptian University in Cairo. Samar, her Egyptian, non-veiled roommate, enlists Intisar’s help in creating an internet blog about the controversial practice of wearing veils..or not and hopefully helping to bridge the gap between the West and the Middle-East. They and their project, however, are overtaken and in danger of being overwhelmed by events leading up to and including the beginnings of the recent Egyptian revolution. In struggling with events such as a university ban on wearing burkas, an anti-American protest/riot, and Samar’s arrest and forced virginity test, Intisar and Samar are surprised to find themselves on opposite sides of a bitter cultural divide. Will the violent events and emotions leading up to the revolution salvage their friendship or shatter it?
Set in present day Cairo, CRY HAVOC explores the troubled relationship between the western world and the Islamic Middle East. Cultural imperialism, religious fundamentalism, political repression, and personal sexuality are deftly unfolded in this tender and shocking play about the dissolution of a loving relationship between a British expatriate writer and his young Egyptian lover. Both men are forced to examine the fine line between conviction and obsession as they confront a repressive government and their own identities.
Successes
UKIWMI by Tom Coash was Co-Winner of the Bijou Theatre Playwriting Competition, Bridgeport, CT. Judges were Terrence McNally and Tom Kirdahy! UKIMWI is one of three one-acts in Coash's CAIRO STORIES.
VEILS by Tom Coash will be produced as part of the Pear Theatre's 2016/17 season, Aug. 26 - Sept. 18 in Mountain View, CA. Link to site:http://www.thepear.org/201617-plays
VEILS by Tom Coash will be produced as part of the terrific "Women and War Festival" in London, UK, July 6-30, 2016. Link to site: http://www.womenandwar.co.uk/#!veils/uod2l
Tom Coash's two one-acts, UKIMWI and VEILS, are being produced in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival under the title, LUNCH IN CAIRO. Aug. 14-31 at the Assembly Checkpoint: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/big-bite-size-lunch-hour-lunch-in-...
Tom Coash's play CRY HAVOC is in production at the Rosebank Theatre, Cape Town, South Africa Aug. 12 - Sept. 5. http://rosebanktheatre.com