Solo Theatre Actor & Playwright.
Composer. Producer.

Shelley Cooper is a two-time Off-Broadway award-winning solo actor/playwright. Her original solo works have received national and international acclaim.

Shelley is a performer for Musical Theatre/Opera and a SDC Associate Director and Choreographer. She is also an Associate Professor of Musical Theatre at Augustana College in Illinois.

Her acclaimed one-woman shows—La Divina, Jenny Lind Presents P.T. Barnum, and Rag Doll on a Bomb Site—have been featured at Hollywood Fringe, United Solo Off-Broadway, and international festivals, earning honors such as Best One-Woman Show, Pick of the Fringe, and Best Biographical Show. Rag Doll premiered in Bangkok, Hollywood, and was praised by The Hollywood Reporter as “weaving a poetic spell.” Shelley also made her recording debut with its original soundtrack.

“Shelley is an accomplished actor and vocalist, whose stage presence is captivating.”

-The Hollywood Times
“Shelley Cooper is a strong beautiful, and insanely powerful presence.”

-Noho Arts
“Every person in the audience was captivated by Cooper’s stunning voice.”

-All About Solo
“Cooper delivers on every level.”

-Theatre Pizzazz
“Shelley Cooper captures La Divina perfectly. Her dry humour, her poise, her power and her beautiful beautiful voice."

-Noho Arts
"Strong, pure and infused with a magic that cannot be explained.”

-Noho Arts
"Cooper does not disappoint."

-Larchamont Buzz
'Shelley is a STAR!"

-Sam Labrecque
"Cooper brough Lotte Lenya's raw humanity and her painful past."

-Noho Arts

One Women Shows

In the Works…

Poet. Recluse. Visionary. This solo musical brings Emily Dickinson to life through original songs and poetry inspired by her most celebrated works. This intimate solo musical explores her fierce meditations on hope, love, heartbreak, death, and nature—revealing a woman who felt the world in magnitudes far beyond the ordinary.