DANA COEN is the director of the UNC Writing for the Screen and Stage program, a two-year interdisciplinary minor, in which selected students study the craft of dramatic writing in preparation for careers in theatre, film, and television. He is the creator, artistic director, and producer of Long Story Shorts and Activated Art, an ekphrastic theatre festival presented in collaboration with the Ackland Art Museum.
A former New York actor and director, Dana has written extensively for both television and the theatre. He was co-executive producer and writer on the Fox prime-time series Bones, and co-executive producer on the CBS prime-time series JAG, where he spent eight seasons and wrote thirty-seven episodes. Other credits include a comedy development deal for Walt Disney Studios; story editor on the comedy Room for Two, starring Linda Lavin and Patricia Heaton; and staff writer on Carol and Company, starring Carol Burnett. He has also written pilot scripts for ABC, NBC, Fox, Paramount Television, and MCA/Universal Television. Screenwriting awards include the 2003 Jewish Image Award and the 1999 Templeton Prize.
As a playwright, Dana’s produced work includes Property at the Carr-boro Arts Center’s Redbird Play Festival, Los Angeles productions of Internal Bleeding at the Pacific Repertory Theatre, Tinkle Time at Show-time’s Act One Festival, Bunches of Betty at the West End Playhouse, and Sympathy, which was produced at both the Burbank Theatre Guild and Off Broadway at the Manhattan Punchline Theatre.