Buzz Cohen

Buzz Cohen is an American Production Stage Manager who has made a career stage managing over eightyplays for The Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival. Some of the plays she is known for as a stage manager and production stage manager are: CAN YOU HEAR VOICES? (1978), NED AND JACK (1981), THE FALSE MESSIAH (1983), TRIO (1984), CARMINA BURANA (1984), LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR & GRILL (1984-5), BLITHE SPIRIT (1984), THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY (1985), GOBLIN MARKET (1986), REAL ESTATE (1986), HAMLET (1987), MY GENE (1987), TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA (1987), JULIUS CAESAR (1988), CORIOLANUS (1988), THE WINTER’S TALE (1989), THE SECRET RAPTURE (1989), ICE CREAM AND HOT FUDGE (1990), OTHELLO (1991), INTERNATIONAL PUPPET THEATRE (1992-2000), RED DIAPER BABY (1992), JENNY KEEPS TALKING (1993), THE SWAN(1993), THE TRAGEDY OF RICHARD II (1994), A LANGUAGE OF THEIR OWN (1995), THE TEMPEST(1995), DANCING ON HER KNEES (1996), HENRY V (1996), GOLDEN CHILD (1996), BALLAD OF YACHIYO (1997), HENRY VIII (1997), CYMBELINE (1998), STOP KISS (1998), TWO SISTERS AND A PIANO (2000), LACKAWANNA BLUES (2001), OTHELLO (2001), THUNDER KNOCKING ON THE DOOR(2002), AS YOU LIKE IT (2003), THE STORY (2003), DIRTY TRICKS (2004), THE RUBY SUNRISE (2005), STUFF HAPPENS (2006), DURANGO (2006), THE WOOSTER GROUP HAMLET (2007), HAMLET (2008), ROAD SHOW (2008), COMPULSION (2011), ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (2011), MEASURE FOR MEASURE (2011), KING LEAR (2011), AS YOU LIKE IT (2012), NEVA (2013), THE COMEDY OF ERRORS (2013), A SECOND CHANCE (2014), MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (2014), BUZZER (2015), CYMBELINE(2015), BARBECUE (2015), SOUTHERN COMFORT (2016), TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (2016), PLENTY(2016), JULIUS CAESAR (2017), OEDIPUS EL REY (2017), MASCULINITY MAX (2018), FIRE IN DREAMLAND (2018), WHITE NOISE (2019), MOJADA (2019), A BRIGHT ROOM CALLED DAY (2019), PLAYS FOR THE PLAGUE YEAR (2023), DEEP HISTORY (2024), and TWELFTH NIGHT (2025). Cohen’s work on Broadway includes: Ned and Jack, The Queen and the Rebels, The Secret Rapture, and The Tempest. For her body of work, Cohen has been awarded the Del Hughes Award for Excellence in the Art of Stage Management (2017), and in 1997-1998 an Obie for Distinguished Stage Management: Special Citation.

Buzz Cohen is known as ‘The Raccoon Whisperer’ at the Delacorte Theater in New York’s Central Park. Early in her career, her working style, ‘be decent and look out for your people,’ was mentored into her by Joseph DePauw, the Production Manager/Production Stage Manager at Missouri Repertory Theatre, when Cohen was his assistant there. Initially Cohen had a passion for languages and a dream to work as an interpreter. She studied languages in school and spent time with a family in Spain learning the language. When she began her studies at Wesleyan University, a classmate asked her to devise a script for an experimental theater piece and Cohen found she loved theater. She then tested her commitment to theater by selecting the least glamorous, most strenuous position of stage management, and discovered that that was her true vocation. Later, her language skills enabled her to be even more supportive of the bi-lingual productions being done at the International Festival of Puppet Theater (Henson Foundation) as well asThe Joseph Papp Public Theater. Her tenure at the Public Theater started with founder ‘Mr. Papp’ (Joseph Papp) and continued to subsequent leaderships following his death: JoAnne Akalaitis, George C. Wolfe, and currently Oskar Eustis with whom she had formerly worked at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island. To this day, in the rehearsal room, she sets out a box of mint tea to honor the memory of Mr. Papp since that was his preferred beverage.

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Bruce Adolphe, Noa Ain, JoAnne Akalaitis, Luis Alfaro, Karen Armstrong, Leslie Ayvazian, Steven Berkoff, Anne Bogart, Jo Bonney, Teagle F. Bougere, Andre Braugher, Jonathan Butterell, Joe Cacaci, Thomas Caruso, Michael Cerveris, Julia Cho, Caryl Churchill, Rocco R. Cisco, Steven Cohen, Nilo Cruz, Graciela Daniele, Keith David, Kate David, Colleen Dewhurst, MacIntyre Dixon, John Doyle, David Drake, Apollo Dukakis, Olympia Dukakis, Jennifer Dundas, Elizabeth Egloff, Richard Elkow, Aunjanue Ellis, Andre Ernotte, Raul Esparza, Oskar Eustis, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, William Finn, David Finnigan, Risa Bramon Garcia, Kent Gash, Barbara Gelb, Alexander Gemignani, Daniel Gerroll, Peter Michael Goetz, Philip Kan Gotanda, Loretta Greco, Richard Greenberg, Jane Greenwood, Rinne Groff, David Hare, Anne Hathaway, David Kerry Heefner, Beth Henley, Gregg Henry, Jim Henson, Edward Herrmann, Douglas Hughes, Mary Beth Hurt, David Henry Hwang, Felix Ivanov, Judith Ivey, John Jeter, Francis Jue, Raul Julia, Michael Kahn, Anne Kauffman, Josh Kornbluth, Brian Kulic, Tony Kushner, Mark Lamos, James Lapine, James Latus, Elizabeth LeCompte, Eugene Lee, Ming Cho Lee, Hamish Linklater, Santo Loquasto, Susan Lori-Parks, James G. MacDonald, Peter Maloney, Theodore Mann, Alec Mapa, Ken Marsolais, Elizabeth Marvel, Audra McDonald, James McDonald, John McMartin, Kathryn Meisle, Josh Mostel, John Nassivera, Richard Nelson, Jack O’Brien, Sandra Oh, Robert O’Hara, Ken-Sen Ong, Sharon Ott, Al Pacino, John Pankow, Joseph Papp, Mandy Patinkin, Christopher Reeve, Lanie Robertson, Howard E. Rollins Jr., Sheldon Rosen, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jay O. Sanders, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Erica Schmidt, Doug Schultz, Campbell Scott, Andre Serban, Ted Shen, Martin Sheen, Bill Sims, Jr., Nigel Smith, Diana Son, Stephen Sondheim, Patrick Stewart, Corey Stoll, Michael Stuhlbarg, Daniel Sullivan, Richard Thomas, John Douglas Thompson, Rosemarie Tichler, Stanley Tucci, Stuart Vaughan, Diane Venora, Christopher Walken, Les Waters, Sam Waterston, John Weidman, Margaret Whitton, Dustin Willis, Tracey Scott Wilson, George C. Wolfe, B. D. Wong, Alfre Woodard, Irene Worth, Chay Yew, Louis Zorich, The American Shakespeare Theatre (Washington, D. C.), Anspacher Theater, Brooklyn Opera/Arts at St. Ann’s, Circle in the Square, Carnegie Hall, Delacorte Theater, Festival Latino New York, Hartford Stage Company, Hudson Guild Theatre, International Festival of Puppet Theatre (Henson Foundation), Long Wharf Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Martinson Hall, Minetta Lane Theater, Missouri Repertory, Newman Theater, NYSF/Joseph Papp Public Theater, NYU Graduate Department of Theatre, Park Royal Hotel, Second Stage Theater, South Coast Repertory Costa Mesa (California), Susan Stein Shiva Theater, Trinity Repertory Company, Vineyard Theatre, The Westport Country Playhouse, Whole Theatre Co., ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, AS YOU LIKE IT, BALLAD OF YACHIYO, THE BANANA BOX, BARBECUE, BLITHE SPIRIT, A BRIGHT ROOM CALLED DAY, BUZZER, CAN YOU HEAR VOICES?, CARMINA BURANA, THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, COMPULSION, CORIOLANUS, THE CRUCIBLE, THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY, CYMBELINE, DANCING ON HER KNEES, DEEP HISTORY, DIRTY TRICKS, DRACULA, DURANGO, FIRE IN DREAMLAND, GOBLIN MARKET, GOLDEN CHILD, THE FALSE MESSIAH, HAMLET, HENRY V, HENRY VIII, ICE CREAM AND HOT FUDGE, INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PUPPET THEATRE (HENSON FOUNDATION), JENNY KEEPS TALKING, JULIUS CAESAR, KING LEAR, LACKAWANNA BLUES, LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR & GRILL, A LANGUAGE OF THEIR OWN, MASCULINITY MAX, MEASURE FOR MEASURE, MOJADA, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, MY GENE, NED AND JACK, NEVA, OEDIPUS EL REY, OTHELLO, THE PENULTIMATE PROBLEM OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, PLAYS FOR THE PLAGUE YEARS, PLENTY, REAL ESTATE, RED DIAPER BABY, ROAD SHOW, THE RUBY SUNRISE, A SECOND CHANCE, THE SECRET RAPTURE, STOP KISS, THE STORY, STUFF HAPPENS, SOUTHERN COMFORT, THE SWAN, THE TEMPEST, THUNDER KNOCKING ON THE DOOR, THE TRAGEDY OF RICHARD II, TRIO, TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, TWELFTH NIGHT, TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, TWO SISTERS AND A PIANO, WHITE NOISE, THE WINTER’S TALE, THE WOOSTER GROUP HAMLET.

The primary Stages Off-Broadway Oral history Project

Mentioned in Interview