Sarah Blacher Cohen

Sarah Blacher Cohen (June 11, 1936 in Appleton, Wisconsin, – November 10, 2008 in Albany, New York) was an American writer, scholar, and playwright, and a professor at SUNY Albany for 30 years. Her area of specialty was Jewish American fiction. Her published books include ''Comic Relief: Humor in Contemporary American Literature'', ''Saul Bellow's Enigmatic Laughter'' (1974), and ''Cynthia Ozick's Comic Art: From Levity to Liturgy''. She edited ''From Hester Street to Hollywood: The Jewish-American Stage and Screen'' (Jewish Literature and Culture Series), ''Making a Scene: The Contemporary Drama of Jewish-American Women'', and ''Jewish Wry: Essays on Jewish Humor''. Her plays include ''The Ladies Locker Room'', and ''Molly Picon's Return Engagement'', a biographical play with music on the star of Yiddish theater. She collaborated with Joanne Koch, starting in 1989 on ''Sophie, Totie, and Belle'', a musical on performers Sophie Tucker, Totie Fields, and Belle Barth. 'She and Joanne Koch also co-authored the plays ''Danny Kaye: Supreme Court Jester'', ''Soul Sisters'', ''Henrietta Szold: Woman of Valor'', an adaptation of Saul Bellow stories entitled ''Saul Bellow's Stories Onstage: The Old System and a Silver Dish'', and the multicultural musical ''Soul Sisters''. Cohen and Koch co-edited an anthology of ten plays ''Shared Stages: Ten American Dramas of Blacks and Jews'', including ''Driving Miss Daisy'', ''Fires in the Mirror'', and ''Soul Sisters''. She collaborated with Isaac Bashevis Singer on the off-Broadway play ''Schlemiel the First''. Cohen also gave talks and delivered papers, including "The Unkosher Comediennes: From Sophie Tucker to Joan Rivers." Her husband was Gary Cohen. She died of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease on November 10, 2008 age 72. Provided by Wikipedia