Cori Thomas
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Cori Thomas is an award winning playwright. She is the daughter of former Liberian Ambassador, David Thomas and Brazilian attorney, Zuleika Thomas. Cori is the eldest of four children. She was born in New York City but grew up and attended school in the countries where her father was posted: Cameroun, Holland, Switzerland, Italy and the United States. She graduated from the United Nations International School in New York City and received a B.A in Acting from Marymount Manhattan College.
Cori has been married twice. FIrst, to poet Wade Newman author of "Poisoned Apples" and "Final Terms/East and West" Pivot Press with whom she has one daughter, Natasha (Newman) Diaz. That marriage ended in divorce. In 1994 Cori met and began a personal and professional relationship with Actor/Director Chuck Patterson that spanned 19 years and included marriage. Chuck died December 23, 2013. Chuck directed the World Premiere of her play When January Feels Like Summer in PIttsburgh at City Theater Company.
Career
The world premiere of Thomas's When January Feels Like Summer was directed by Chuck Patterson at the Pittsburgh City Theatre in 2010 and won the American Theatre Critics Association Elizabeth Osborn New Play award for an emerging playwright.[1] It was subsequently co-produced by the Ensemble Studio Theatre and [Page73 Productions] in the Summer of 2014 in New York and directed by Daniella Topol. It was a New York Times Critics Pick and was brought back in October 2014 as a co-production between the Ensemble Studio Theatre and the Women's Project Theater also directed by Daniella Topol. Other plays include: "Pa's Hat" World Premiere Pillsbury House Theatre, MN 2010 directed by Marion McClinton "My Secret Language of Wishes" Mixed Blood Theatre 2011 directed by Marion McClinton;
Fellowships and Residencies: Sundance Theatre Lab 2008 MacDowell Fellow 2009 New Dramatists Class of 2022