Cynthia Kaplan is a NYC based writer, musician and actress. She is the author of two acclaimed collections of comic essays, Why I’m Like This: True Stories, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers book and a Booksense bestseller, and Leave the Building Quickly. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Magazine, The Week, Playboy, the Huffington Post, and Tin House, among many other publications. She wrote and produced for Andrea Rosen's Take Me to Your Mother on Nickelodeon (including the theme song), and for A & E Biography. She co-wrote the comic short This Won't Hurt a Bit with director Mary Harron for Morgan Spurlock's We the Economy. Kaplan has appeared in many plays and some films, including the award-winning short Hold Up; indie features Work; Pipe Dream, which she co-wrote; Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same; and Wild Nights with Emily. Kaplan’s songs have won national and international song contests, her music videos have appeared in comedy film festivals, and she has written jingles for commercials and theme songs for TV shows. She plays regularly in clubs and music venues throughout the country with her band, The Cynthia Kaplan Ordeal. Their first album, Fangry, shot to #8 katrillion on the pop charts. Kaplan co-hosts the monthly show The Ruthless Comedy Hour with comedian Karen Bergreen and tours regularly with Sean Altman of Jewmongous. She is currently the writer on a documentary about the singer Lesley Gore, and her original film, Cindy of Arc, appeared at the 2021CineQuest Film Festival in San Jose. A four night, sold out theatrical workshop of Cindy of Arc was produced by Dixon Place in March 2022, appeared at the Five Angels Theater in October 2022, and will be seen regionally in 2023. Kaplan has never appeared on Law & Order.

BREAKING NEWS: CINDY OF ARC WAS A FINALIST FOR THE 2023 RICHARD RODGERS AWARD FOR MUSICAL THEATER!

Bob Garfield interviews Cindy on the Bully Pulpit Podcast: Cynthia’s Ordeal-Just another genius you’ve never heard of. “The perfect convergence of rock and roll trop and middle class Jewish psyche…Witty, angry, sparkling…Transcendence happens.”