Beverley Cooper

Beverley’s writing for theatre includes Thin Ice (co-written with Banuta Rubess – Dora/Chalmers Awards), Clue in the Fast Lane (co-written with Ann-Marie MacDonald), The Eyes of Heaven and The Woman in White (adapted from the novel by Wilkie Collins).  Her play Innocence Lost: A Play about Steven Truscott was a sold out hit at the Blyth Festival in both 2008 and 2009 and was a finalist for the 2009 Governor General’s Literary Award. Innocence Lost was on the Globe and Mail bestseller list, a first for a Canadian playwright. Innocence Lost has had highly acclaimed productions at the National Arts Centre, the Centaur Theatre and Soulpepper Theatre. Other plays include; The Lonely Diner: Al Capone in Euphemia Township (Blyth Festival, Vertigo Theatre); Janet Wilson Meets the Queen (nominated for a Prix Rideaux award, GCTC); and If Truth Be Told (Blyth Festival). In 2024 Beverley had two new plays premiere back to back: The Trials of Maggie Pollock (Blyth) and Jim Watts Girl Reporter (4th Line Theatre). Her newest play, Humour Me, just had a sold-out run at Here for Now Theatre in Stratford. 

Beverley holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and has presented her plays 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. Beverley's writing is represented by Colin Rivers at Marquis Literary: colin@mqent.ca

Beverley currently directs audio books for Penguin Random House. She has directed over fifty titles, including books by Margaret Atwood, Miriam Toews, Tanya Tagaq, David A. Robertson, Marina Endicott and many others.

She has written extensively for CBC radio drama; both original dramas and adaptations. Her adaptation of Rohinton Mistry’s epic novel A Fine Balance and her original drama It Came from Beyond!  both earned her nominations for a Writer’s Guild of Canada Award. Beverley worked as the story editor on the award winning radio series Afghanada, as well as producing the second season and directing five episodes.

Beverley has dramatized the following books for radio: Alias Grace,Away, The Secret World of Og (Silver Medal Award Winner, New York Festival - International Radio Awards) and The Englishman’s Boy. Other original dramas includes the hugely popular series The Super Adventures of Mary Marvelous.

Megan Follows has recorded an audiobook presentation of the Lucy Maud Montgomery classic, Emily of New Moon. This new adaptation, by Dave Carley and Beverley Cooper, is available, in a Voices in the Wind Audio Theatre Production from Blackstone/Audible.Here’s a link to a CBC interview with Megan about the project.

Beverley trained as an actor at Studio 58 in Vancouver. She has performed in theatres across Canada including the premieres and tours of Nothing Sacred by George F. Walker and Goodnight Desdemona, Good-Morning Juliet by Ann-Marie MacDonald. She has worked frequently with Video Cabaret, including The Cold War and City for Sale. Beverley has also acted in TV, radio and film including the feature film Zombie Dearest and the TV movie Crossing the Line. While not actively pursuing acting work, she is still occasionally asked to bring her skills to tread the boards, which she happily does.

Beverley has taught playwriting at the National Theatre School, Toronto Metropolitan University’s Chang School of Continuing Studies (Act II) and is currently on the faculty of the Humber School for Writers. Beverley has taught numerous workshops in both playwriting and writing for audio drama and has presented her work at Women Playwrights International conferences in Mumbai, Stockholm, Cape Town and Santiago. Beverley also works regularly as a dramaturge and was a dramaturge for the Ergo Arts Pink Fest from 2018-2021. She has given presentations in research-inspired theatre, often does readings of her work and has presented key-note speeches. Most recently she was invited to be part of the York University conference: Fascism Then and Now, on the panel: The Spanish Civil War and Canadian Culture.  

I’m very excited to be heading off to a two week writing retreat at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Retreats are a wonderful way to focus on the early writing of a play. Last year I attended two retreats. One was on the primitive but lovely Halls Island in Haliburton. In late August, my poet friend Barb Barnes and I were dropped off with all our food and my dog, Phoebe, and we wrote for ten days in amongst immense beauty and chilly nights. For the second retreat, I was one of nine playwrights invited to the Stratford Festival’s three week Playwrights’ Residency. Both retreats were very productive.

I’m working on a few new plays. One is a commission from the Blyth Festival called Discords with music to be written by Loreena McKennitt.

I am also co-writing, along with Dave Carley, an adaptation of the delicious LM Montgomery novel, Emily of New Moon. I hope to be able to announce a premiere production very soon.

I'm teaching Playwriting Basics through Act II this fall: Monday mornings, starting Nov 2. Act II is a theatre school for people over 50 and classes take place on the TMU campus. Here’s a link for more information.

In January I will be teaching Playwriting I - this is a seven week course that guides playwrights towards writing a ten minute play.

Here’s a link for more info.

For information about writing work and rights contact  Colin Rivers at Marquis Literary <colin@mqent.ca>

For all other information contact  Beverley Cooper <beverleycooperwriter@gmail.com>

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A note about this photo of August Strindberg's desk. The playwright used  high quality writing materials: British steel nibs, French ink and hand-made paper. The arrangement in the photo is exactly as it was at the time of his death, in meticulous order.