Cosson led The Civilians as the first theater company in residence at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. He wrote the first major American play about climate change,
The Great Immensity, which generated significant controversy from Republicans in Congress and right-wing media, and was featured as a
TED Talk at the main
TED conference in 2012. Cosson collaborated repeatedly with composer
Michael Friedman on works with The Civilians and other companies, until Friedman's death in 2017. Other notable accomplishments include developing and directing
Anne Washburn's
Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, named the 4th Best American Play of the past 25 Years by
The New York Times. Credits include: • book-writer and director of
The Abominables at
Children's Theatre Company (2018) • writer and director of
The Undertaking at
BAM Next Wave Festival (2016), US tour, Theatre de la Ville, Paris • director of
José Rivera's
Another Word for Beauty, world premiere at the
Goodman Theatre (2016) • writer/director,
Rimbaud in New York at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music (2016) • director of
Michael Friedman and Bess Wohl's musical
Pretty Filthy (2015) • the
Off-Broadway revival of
The Belle of Amherst, starring
Joely Richardson (2014) With
The Civilians: • writer/director of
The Great Immensity (2014), music by
Michael Friedman, created in residence with the
Princeton Environmental Institute and the Princeton Atelier • co-writer and director of
This Beautiful City, which premiered in 2009 to excellent reviews at the
Humana Festival of New American Plays and then completed a critically acclaimed run at the
Vineyard Theatre (
Drama Desk,
Drama League,
Lortel nominations) • co-writer and director of
Brooklyn at Eye Level, produced at Brooklyn's
Lyceum Theatre in 2008 • co-writer/director of
Paris Commune produced in 2004 in
The Public Theater's PublicLAB series • writer/director of the long-running hit
Gone Missing which toured for several years throughout the U.S. and the U.K., culminating in 2007 in a seven-month Off-Broadway run at Barrow Street Theater (
New York Times’ Top 10 of 2007 list) • writer/director ''
(I Am) Nobody's Lunch'' (2006) (
Fringe First award) • director of the company's first show
Canard, Canard, Goose? (2002) Cosson has also directed
The Civilians’ work at
A.R.T.,
Actors Theatre of Louisville,
La Jolla Playhouse,
HBO's
Aspen Comedy Festival,
The Museum of Modern Art; London's
Gate Theatre, and the
Soho Theatre, among many others. As a freelance director of new plays, musicals, and classics, Cosson's other directing credits include ''Ethel's Documerica'' (
BAM Next Wave Festival);
Dael Orlandersmith's
Stoop Stories;
Spring Awakening (
Olney Theatre Center);
Bus Stop (
Kansas City Repertory Theatre);
Anne Washburn’s
A Devil at Noon (
Humana Festival of New American Plays);
Michael Friedman's
Adventures in Reality (
Lincoln Center Theater), and the U.S. premiere of
Attempts on Her Life; and new plays at theaters including Hartford Stage,
Soho Rep, O’Neill Conference, New Harmony Project, and others. His plays have been published by
Oberon Books in the UK,
Dramatists Play Service, and an anthology of his plays with
The Civilians was published by Playscripts, Inc. == Plays ==