Susan Cinoman (born 1960) is an American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

from

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Background

Cinoman attended

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

where she studied theater and acting, and then

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

to study English. Aside from her work as a playwright, in early 2008 Cinoman was teaching English and drama at Middlebrook Middle School in Wilton, Connecticut, and by December 2008, she had become theater director at

Woodland Regional High School Woodland Regional High School is a high school located in the western part of Beacon Falls, Connecticut, near the town line shared with Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its ...

Beacon Falls, Connecticut Beacon Falls is a town in western New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. It lies in the southwestern part of the state, and is bisected by the Naugatuck River. The population was 6,000 at the 2020 census, down from 6,049 at the 2010 ...

. She would work there until June 2019 when she announced her retirement. She first began writing while at Temple University, with the comedy group ''The Soubrettes'', created by herself, Michael Ladenson, Patrick Tranter, and Drucie McDaniel and co-starring Lennie Daniels and Jill Tarnoff. She is a mother of two daughters and an animal advocate and horseback rider, as well as an active member of Woodland Worldwide, an international organization that seeks to create opportunities for young girls in impoverished circumstances.

Career

Theater

Cinoman wrote her first play in 1991, and throughout the 1990s her works were produced by such theater companies as Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Miranda Theatre, Circle Repertory, Six Figures Theatre and Creative Voices Theatre. Many of Cinoman's plays were directed by founder of the

Actors Studio The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded ...

Jane Hoffman and

theater professor Jan Silverman. Recently her play ''Beds'' was produced in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

by the 'Secret Rose Theatre' starring

Paige Howard Paige Carlyle Howard (born February 5, 1985) is an American actress. She is a sister of actress Bryce Dallas Howard and daughter of director and actor Ron Howard. Education Howard attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Career ...

, and subsequently at

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

's nationally recognized summer play festival. Most recently Cinoman's play, "Love and Class in Connecticut" has been directed by Karen Lynn Carpenter, Interim Artistic Director of the William Inge Theatre Festival and director of Drama Desk winning play, "Love, Loss and What I Wore" by Nora Ephron. The play is being developed for a Broadway production currently led by Douglas Denoff (Nice Work if you Can Get It, Handle With Care.) Additionally, Cinoman's play "All Me, All the Time" has been directed by

Barbara Bain Barbara Bain (born Mildred Fogel; September 13, 1931) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Cinnamon Carter on the action television series '' Mission: Impossible'' (1966–1969), which earned her three Primetime Emmy Awar ...

of the Actors Studio in Los Angeles and Temple Beautiful, another play about the true story of 1970's dietary cult "Temple Beautiful" is set for a reading in Paris at The Moving Parts Theatre. Her published plays include ''Fitting Rooms'' (included in ''The Best American Short Plays 1995-1996'' published by Hal Leonard Corporation), and ''Little Sins'' and ''Truth and Sex'' (included in ''25 in 10: twenty-five ten-minute plays'' published by Dramatic Publishing). Her play "Sweet Sand" was recently published by Next Stage Press. Most recently, Cinoman's story, "Drama Mama", was featured on ABC-TV's '' The Goldbergs'' featuring herself (played by Ana Gasteyer), as the drama teacher of

Adam F. Goldberg Adam Frederick Goldberg (born April 2, 1976) is an American television and film producer, and writer. Goldberg is best known as the creator and showrunner of '' The Goldbergs'', a television sitcom based on his childhood in which he is portrayed ...

, the series' creator. Cinoman's plays are published by Applause Books, Dramatic Publishing and Next Stage Press.

Screenwriter

Cinoman has written two independent films both directed by her husband, Doug Tenagalia. Her first film, adapted from one of her plays, ''Love and Class in Connecticut'' (2007), starring Joanna Keylock, Bill Phillips, Carole Schweid, Theresa Rose, and Steve Garbett, won 'Best Narrative' at the 'New England Film and Video Festival', and 'Judges'Choice for Best Connecticut Filmmaker' at the 'Connecticut Film Festival' of 2008, and was official selection at both the

Berkshire International Film Festival The Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) was founded in 2005 by Kelley Vickery in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. The four-day festival features independent films for filmmakers and film aficionados, with showings of features, documentar ...

Official Selection and the 'Somewhere North of Boston Film Festival'. Her second film, ''All Me, All the Time'' (2007), starred John Augustine, Siri Baruc, Janine Barris, Sachi Parker,

Keir Dullea Keir Atwood Dullea (; born May 30, 1936) is an American actor. He played astronaut David Bowman in the 1968 film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' and its 1984 sequel, '' 2010: The Year We Make Contact''. His other film roles include '' David and Lisa ...

and his real life wife,

Mia Dillon Mia Dillon (born July 9, 1955) is an American actress. Early life Born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Dillon graduated from Marple-Newtown Senior High School in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. Career Dillon made her Broadway debut as an unde ...

Recognition

Of her 1994 evening of one acts, ''Cinoman and Rebeck'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote "Ms. Cinoman gets the evening off to an intriguing start with ''The Bull'', a mordant twist on the bullring's classic dance of seduction and death," and made note of her additional offerings, ''The Sineater of Cork'', ''Hysteria'', and ''Truth and Sex'', noting that "Like many such collections, this one has shortcomings as well as talent and promise."

Awards and nominations

Cinoman won an Aristos Award in 2009, given for objectivity in arts criticism, scholarship, or commentary, for a comment she made on the weblog "Community Perspectives: Riffing with John Clinton Eisner". Maxwell Anderson Playwright Award Theatre Ariel Women in Playwrighting Award Publication: Fitting Rooms Applause Book; Best Plays 1995096, 25 in 10, "Truth and Sex", "Little Sins", Dramatic Publishing, Etens, "The Bull", 2019 Guilford Prize in Drama Ellie Award in Playwrighting, Ivoryton Playhouse Connecticut Literary Journal

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cinoman, Susan Living people 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 1960 births Writers from Philadelphia People from Woodbridge, Connecticut Screenwriters from Pennsylvania Place of birth missing (living people) Temple University alumni Bryn Mawr College alumni Screenwriters from Connecticut