David Mark Cohen (October 2, 1952 – December 23, 1997) was an influential playwriting Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, who was affiliated with the Michener Center for Writers.
[3] Subsequently, others of his plays – among them Joshua's Miracle, Where Credit is Due, Slice and Dice, Baby Grand, and Nantasket – were staged by theaters throughout the United States.
[4] From 1986 to 1993, he was a key member of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/American College Theatre Festival's Playwriting Awards Committee, which seeks to identify and reward talented young writers.
[5] In addition to his work at the University of Texas, he served as resident playwright and director of new play development at the Capitol City Playhouse from 1991 to 1995, and in 1997 was one of the founders of Austin Script Works, an organization whose mission is to assist writers of new plays.
Cohen's success as a teacher of playwrights and promoter of new plays is indicated by the large number of scripts by his students that have been accepted for development or performance by theatres and workshops throughout the United States, including John Walch, Clay Nichols, Emily Cicchini, P. Seth Bauer, Catherine Rogers, Joseph Skibell, Hank Schwemmer, C. Denby Swanson, Dan Dietz, and Lisa D'Amour.