Cynthia Kaplan

Biography

Cynthia Kaplan (she/her) has been performing comedy and music in clubs and theaters in New York and beyond for three decades, including The Knitting Factory, Joe’s Pub, City Winery, The Cutting Room, and the Bitter End, among many others. She has recorded two albums with her award-winning band, The Cynthia Kaplan Ordeal. She is the writer/composer/lead performer of the musical Cindy of Arc, a 2023 finalist for the Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater. Cindy of Arc began its journey in 2021 as a pandemic film at the Cinequest Film Festival, followed in 2022 by limited Off-Broadway runs at Dixon Place and Five Angels Theater in New York City. It opened Seattle's Intiman Theatre's 50th anniversary season in November, 2023 and will go next to Baltmore Theatre Project in May, 2024. Kaplan is the author of two acclaimed collections of comic essays, “Why I’m Like This: True Stories” and “Leave the Building Quickly,” and her work has appeared in many anthologies and publications including the New York Times, New York Magazine, and The Week. Kaplan also writes for film, TV, and the 52nd Street Project, and is co-host of the long-running Ruthless Comedy Hour at Stand Up New York. She is an alumna of Circle in the Square Theatre School and has appeared in many plays and some films. She has never appeared on Law & Order. Follow @cindyofarc on TikTok for her broadcast Today In the History of the Patriarchy, @cindyofarc on Instagram, and www.cindyofarc.com and www.cynthiakaplan.com on the interweb.