Michael Cochran grew up in Kenosha, Wis., and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater with a bachelor’s in theatre. He attended graduate school at the University of Alabama and received his master’s in theatre from Southern Illinois University, where he studied design and playwriting. Cochran worked professionally in Chicago and Kansas City theatre as a lighting and scenic designer until 1983 when he was hired by the Market House Theatre in Paducah, Ky. Since then, he has directed and designed hundreds of productions with Market House Theatre and has served as artistic and managing director from 1996 to the present. He has worked with other playwrights on original works as a director and also worked with the West Kentucky Playwrights group to develop two of his short plays and historical pieces. He has written several historical and short plays that were produced by the Market House Theatre and other local groups. Cochran has written some short children’s scripts in collaboration with his wife and long-time creative partner, April, who is the education director of the Market House Theatre. The play Eternity was a script he wrote more than 20 years ago that sat in a box of scripts until Kathy Pingel, a directing friend of his, saw it one day and encouraged him to dust it off and polish it up. Cochran is extremely grateful to Kathy Pingel for her encouragement and help in getting his script ready for production. Eternity was selected as a winner of the 2018 AACT NewPlayFest.
