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  • Norwich Playwright’s Work Selected for US Theatre Festival

    PRESS RELEASE

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Contact: Marie Cooper

    Norwich Playwright’s Work Selected for US Theatre Festival

    A ten-minute play by Norwich writer Marie Cooper will be performed in Miami, Florida this month as part of City Theatre’s Summer Shorts – America’s Short Play Festival.

    Best Day Ever has been selected by City Theatre, Miami for their 30th Anniversary Festival, performing at the Westchester Cultural Arts Center on Saturday 13 June 2026. 

    City Theatre Miami’s Summer Shorts is one of the longest-running short play festivals in the United States, having run every June since 1996. Past festivals have featured world premieres by writers who have gone on to win the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony Award, and the Academy Award. This year’s 30th Anniversary Festival features a live band on stage alongside a curated programme of new short plays.

    Best Day Ever is a warm and sharply comic two-hander about a couple whose lives are transformed by an unexpected piece of luck. The play captures something universal about how much the small mercies of ordinary life can mean.

    Cooper, who is based in Norwich, participated in HighTide’s Writers Group in 2024, mentored by playwrights Juliet Gilkes-Romero (The Whip) and Tim Price (Nye), with work performed at HighTide Rising. The programme included a session with Dennis Kelly (Matilda the Musical). She is also a fiction writer whose short story The Weave was shortlisted for the International Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2025 and is published in the Aesthetica 2026 anthology. She is currently developing The Weave as a stage play.

    Marie Cooper said:

    “I’m still in shock that a play I wrote is being performed across the ocean in Miami and at such an amazing theatre. Best Day Ever is a play about joy, the unexpected, ridiculous joy of a small piece of luck, and I hope it makes the audience laugh as much as I did when I wrote it. I wish I could be there.”

    Best Day Ever by Marie Cooper is performed at the Westchester Cultural Arts Center, Miami, on Saturday 13 June 2026 as part of City Theatre’s Summer Shorts 30th Anniversary Festival. 

    For more information, please contact Marie Cooper at https://empathic.org.uk/contact/

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    Notes to Editors:

    • Attached Image: High-resolution headshot showing Norwich playwright Marie Cooper. Photo credit: Nic Skerten.
    • About the Author:
      Marie Cooper is an actor, playwright and fiction writer, born and raised in Thorpe Hamlet, Norwich. Her work is deeply rooted in the landscape, history, and atmosphere of Norwich and East Anglia.
    • Themes and Genres: Her writing spans a wide range of genres, from character-driven contemporary drama to speculative fiction and fantasy. She focuses on writing stories with high emotional impact, exploring contemporary themes such as ecological grief, systemic medical dismissal, loss and universal human resilience.
    • Track Record: Marie participated in the HighTide Writers Group in 2024, mentored by playwrights Juliet Gilkes-Romero and Tim Price, with work performed at HighTide Rising 2024. The programme included a session with Dennis Kelly (Matilda the Musical). Her short story The Weave was shortlisted for the international Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2025 and is published in the 2026 Aesthetica anthology. She is currently adapting The Weave into a full-length stage play.
    • Website: empathic.org.uk