Cusi Cram
Cram at the June 2015 Lilly Awards
Cram at the June 2015 Lilly Awards
Born (1967-09-22) September 22, 1967
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
OccupationPlaywright, screenwriter, actress, model, director, educator
EducationBrown University (BA)
Juilliard School (GrDip)
Years active1980–present
SpousePeter Hirsch
ParentsLady Jeanne Campbell (mother)
RelativesKate Mailer (half-sister)
Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll (maternal grandfather)
Janet Gladys Aitken (maternal grandmother)
Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (great-grandfather)

Cusi Cram (born September 22, 1967) is an American playwright, screenwriter, actress, model, director, educator, and advocate for women in the arts.[1]

Early life

Cusi Cram was born in Manhattan, New York,[2] on September 22, 1967,[3] to Lady Jeanne Campbell, daughter of Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll and Janet Gladys Aitken, and granddaughter of Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook; Lady Jeanne was married at the time to John Cram III, a descendant of railroad developer Jay Gould.[2] Her biological father, however, was Bolivian[4] and worked at the United Nations.[4][5] She identifies as Latina and has written extensively about her Latin roots in her plays.[6][7][8][9]

Cram's first foray into the world of theater came at age six when she played the role of Moth in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.[10] Campbell had previously been married to Norman Mailer, with whom she remained friends after their divorce.[2] Mailer's later wife Norris Church, a former actress and model, suggested that Cram try out modelling.[2] At age 13, she did, becoming the youngest model ever to sign with Wilhelmina Models, Church's former agency.[2] At the time, Cram attended the Chapin School in Manhattan.[2] Of her modeling days she has said, "And at the time—and I think times have changed a lot—[the look] was very blonde and blue eyed, so I was considered very, very ethnic looking ..."[5]

Career

While working with Wilhelmina, Cram modeled for a variety of publications including Interview, Seventeen, Brides, and Young Miss.[2] While still 13, she joined the cast of the soap opera One Life to Live on ABC.[2] She originated the role of Cassie Callison,[11] a job that required her to leave the Chapin School for the Professional Children's School which allowed her time to both study and participate in filming.[2] She eventually transitioned from acting to playwriting during her twenties, graduated from Brown University in 1990, and landed a job writing for the animated PBS show Arthur.[4][12]

Cram worked in regional theaters in Massachusetts, California, and Colorado, and had some of her work produced Off-Off-Broadway.[13] Her work on Arthur inspired her 2009 play Dusty and the Big Bad World.[14] The Arthur spinoff Postcards from Buster was subject to a controversy that eventually involved United States Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings after an episode depicted a Vermont family with two lesbian mothers.[14] Dusty, which premiered at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, was a comic retelling of the controversy.[14] Cram's Off-Broadway debut also came in 2009 when her play A Lifetime Burning, based on the experiences of author Margaret Seltzer and the discovery of her partially fictitious memoir Love and Consequences, was produced at 59E59 Theaters by Primary Stages.[13]

Aside from Arthur, Cram has also written for the Cbeebies children's television series The Octonauts,[15] and contributed two episodes to the Showtime comedy-drama The Big C.[16] As of January 2014, she teaches playwriting as part of the joint Fordham University – Primary Stages Master of Fine Arts program.[17]

Production history

Title Date premiered Theater Notes Ref.
Landlocked November 11, 1999 Miranda Theatre [18]
The End of It All June 15, 2000 South Coast Repertory Part of the Pacific Playwrights Festival [19]
Normal March 1, 2003 Actors Theatre of Louisville One-act play, anthologized in Trepidation Nation [20]
Corduroy January 11, 2004 Theatreworks USA Musical, with book by Cram and music by Scott Davenport Richards

Based on the children's book of the same name by Don Freeman

 [21]
Predator June 29, 2004 Echo Theater Company One-act play [22]
Fuente July 9, 2005 Barrington Stage Recipient of the 2004 Herrick Theater Foundation New Play Prize

Previewed beginning June 30

 [23][24]
All the Bad Things February 15, 2006 The Public Theater Produced by LAByrinth Theater Company [25]
Lucy and the Conquest July 12, 2006 Williamstown Theatre Festival [26]
Dusty and the Big Bad World January 29, 2009 Denver Center Theater [14]
A Lifetime Burning August 11, 2009 59E59 Theaters Produced by Primary Stages [27]
Fuente Ovejuna: A Disloyal Adaptation November 11, 2011 Lewis Center for the Arts Based on Lope de Vega's Fuenteovejuna [28]
Radiance November 16, 2012 Bank Street Theater One-act play

Produced by LAByrinth Theater Company

 [29]

Additionally, Cram's one-act West of Stupid was anthologized in The Best American Short Plays 2000-2001.[30] She has also performed two one-woman shows, Bolivia and Euripidames, at New Georges in New York City.[30]

Personal life

Cram lives with her husband, Peter Hirsch, also a writer on Arthur, in Greenwich Village, New York.[14][30]

References

  1. ↑ "Cusi Cram". Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Small, Michael (August 3, 1981). "At 13, Cusi Cram Doesn't Kid Around; Already a Cover Girl, Now She's Scrubbing Up for the Soaps". People. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  3. ↑ Tallmer, Jerry (August 5–11, 2009). "Cusi Cram's fictional siblings spar, jab amid suspicions, sex". The Villager. Archived from the original on September 1, 2013. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 Simonson, Robert (August 14, 2009). "Cusi Cram's Lifetime of Learning". Playbill. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
  5. 1 2 Myers, Victoria (Aug 4, 2014). "An Interview with Cusi Cram".
  6. ↑ "Cusi Cram (@cusicram) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  7. ↑ "Lucy and the Conquest". www.samuelfrench.com. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  8. ↑ "Fuente". www.samuelfrench.com. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  9. ↑ Cram, Cusi (2018). "Cusi Cram". In Uno, Roberta; Calhoun, Kristen Adele; Alvarez, Daniela; Khalil, Kassandra L. (eds.). Contemporary Plays by Women of Color: An Anthology (2nd ed.). Routledge. pp. 403–404. doi:10.4324/9781315641584-37. ISBN 978-1-315-64158-4.
  10. ↑ "Up Close: Radiance Playwright Cusi Cram". Inside Labyrinth. LAByrinth Theater Company. August 31, 2012. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  11. ↑ Terrace, Vincent (1985). Encyclopedia of Television Series, Pilots and Specials 1974-1984. New York City: New York Zoetrope. p. 308. ISBN 0918432618.
  12. ↑ Goodman, Lawrence (September–October 2009). "Girl Interrupted". The Brown Alumni Magazine. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  13. 1 2 Cote, David (July 21, 2009). "Cusi Cram on A Lifetime Burning". Time Out New York. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Jones, Kenneth (January 29, 2009). "Controversial PBS Cartoon Is Focus of Denver World Premiere, Dusty". Playbill. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Octonauts And The Amazon Adventure". Big Cartoon DataBase. 2013. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Cusi Cram". Hollywood.com. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Cusi Cram". Faculty. Primary Stages. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  18. ↑ McBride, Murdoch (November 15, 1999). "Miranda Theatre Runs Cusi Cram's Comedy, Landlocked, Thru Dec. 4". Playbill. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Best Bets Thursday 6/15". Los Angeles Times. June 15, 2000. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Normal by Cusi Cram". Playscripts, Inc. 2014. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  21. ↑ Rawson, Christopher (January 12, 2004). "Stage Review: 'Corduroy' is short and sweet". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  22. ↑ Schreiber, Brad (June 30, 2004). "The Echo One Acts: 2004, Evening A". Backstage. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  23. ↑ Sommer, Elyse (2005). "Fuente". Berkshires Review. CurtainUp. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
  24. ↑ "Cusi Cram". Literary. MCC Theater. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  25. ↑ BWW News Desk (February 14, 2006). "LAB's All the Bad Things Begins Performances Tomorrow". Broadway World. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  26. ↑ Sommer, Elyse (2006). "Lucy and the Conquest". Berkshires Review. CurtainUp. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  27. ↑ Isherwood, Charles (August 12, 2009). "A Memoir So Compelling It Just Has to Be Phony". The New York Times. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
  28. ↑ "The Program in Theater announces the Fall Show... Fuente Ovejuna: A Disloyal Adaptation". Arts at Princeton. Princeton University. 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
  29. ↑ Thielman, Sam (November 20, 2012). "'Radiance' Drops a Bomb". Backstage. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  30. 1 2 3 Glubke, Mark, ed. (2002). The Best American Short Plays 2000-2001. New York City: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. p. 85. ISBN 1-55783-480-6.
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