Sarah Blacher Cohen
Sarah Blacher Cohen (June 11, 1936 in Appleton, Wisconsin, – November 10, 2008 in Albany, New York) was a writer, scholar, and playwright, and a professor at SUNY Albany for 30 years. Her area of specialty was Jewish American fiction. Her published books include Comic Relief: Humor in Contemporary American Literature,[1] Saul Bellow's Enigmatic Laughter (1974),[2] and Cynthia Ozick's Comic Art: From Levity to Liturgy.[3][4] She edited From Hester Street to Hollywood: The Jewish-American Stage and Screen (Jewish Literature and Culture Series), Making a Scene: The Contemporary Drama of Jewish-American Women,[5] and Jewish Wry: Essays on Jewish Humor. Her plays include The Ladies Locker Room,[6] and Molly Picon's Return Engagement, a biographical play wiht music on teh star of Yiddish theater. She collaborated with Joanne Koch, starting in 1989 on Sophie, Totie, and Belle,[7] a musical on performers Sophie Tucker, Totie Fields, and Belle Barth. 'She and Joanne Koch also co-authored the plays Danny Kaye: Supreme Court Jester,[8] Soul Sisters, Henrietta Szold: Woman of Valor,[9] an adaptation of Saul Bellow stories entitled Saul Bellow's Stories Onstage: The Old System and a Silver Dish,[10] and the multicultural musical Soul Sisters.[11] Cohen and Koch co-edited an anthology of ten plays Shared Stages: Ten American Dramas of Blacks and Jews,[12] including Driving Miss Daisy, Fires in the Mirror, and Soul Sisters. She collaborated with Isaac Bashevis Singer on the off-Broadway play Schlemiel the First. Cohen also gave talks and delivered papers, including "The Unkosher Comediennes: From Sophie Tucker to Joan Rivers."[13] She was married to Gary Cohen. She died of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease on November 10, 2008 age 72.
References
- ↑ http://www.abebooks.com/Comic-Relief-Humor-Contemporary-American-Literature/451847202/bd
- ↑ http://www.abebooks.com/Saul-Bellows-Enigmatic-Laughter-Cohen-Sarah/2135363984/bd
- ↑ http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=sarah+cohen&osCsid=9i5n18t0k2fhqqki2q5qg4ogo5
- ↑ http://www.abebooks.com/Cynthia-Ozicks-Comic-Art-Levity-Liturgy/4210565399/bd
- ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Hester-Street-Hollywood-Jewish-American-Literature/dp/0253203708
- ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=vHlbi2gj-V0C&pg=PA130&lpg=PA130&dq=The+Ladies+Locker+Room+sarah+cohen&source=bl&ots=HowAvvMUdo&sig=2Bml6xvJ7XSsvDLlo5QUl65EtOo&hl=en&ei=NzmTTtuOD4Xf0QGVkq1a&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&sqi=2&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=The%20Ladies%20Locker%20Room%20sarah%20cohen&f=false
- ↑ http://palmbeachartspaper.com/sophie-totie-and-belle-brings-back-iconic-trio-in-fine-fashion/
- ↑ http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/dannykaye.html
- ↑ http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/szoldh.html
- ↑ http://www.midlandauthors.com/koch.html
- ↑ http://chicagotheaterbeat.com/2012/10/25/soul-sisters-clockwise-theatre/
- ↑ http://www.sunypress.edu/p-4528-shared-stages.aspx
- ↑ http://catskills.brown.edu/confSchedules/11conf.shtml
External links
- Plays by Joanne Koch & Sarah Blacker
- New York Times review of Sophie, Totie and Belle
- New York Times review of Schlemiel The First
- Ezra Cappell (University of Texas, El Paso) "Sarah Blacher Cohen's Comic Drama of Disability" Jewish Women's Writing of the 1990s and Beyond - Abstract
- Comments from Cohen from a Philadelphia Inquirer article "Is 'Borat' Funny or a Hate Film?" (November 14, 2006)
- Bookfinder.com listing of Sarah Blacher Cohen
- Times Union obituary notice for Sarah Blacher Cohen