Steven Cosson (born August 1968)[2] is a writer and director specializing in the creation of new theater work inspired by real life. He is the founding Artistic Director of the New York-based investigative theater company The Civilians.[3]
Cosson led The Civilians as the first theater company in residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[5] He wrote the first major American play about climate change, The Great Immensity, which generated significant controversy from Republicans in Congress and right-wing media,[6] and was featured as a TED Talk at the main TED conference in 2012.[7]
Cosson collaborated repeatedly with composer Michael Friedman on works with The Civilians and other companies, until Friedman's death in 2017. Other notable accomplishments include developing and directing Anne Washburn's Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, named the 4th Best American Play of the past 25 Years by The New York Times.[8]
co-writer and director of Brooklyn at Eye Level, produced at Brooklyn's Lyceum Theatre in 2008[17]
co-writer/director of Paris Commune produced in 2004 in The Public Theater's PublicLAB series
writer/director of the long-running hit Gone Missing which toured for several years throughout the U.S. and the U.K., culminating in 2007 in a seven-month Off-Broadway run at Barrow Street Theater (New York Times’ Top 10 of 2007 list)[citation needed]