Cusi Cram

Cusi Cram was born in Manhattan, New York,^[2] on September 22, 1967,^[3] to Lady Jeanne Campbell, daughter of Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll and Janet Gladys Aitken, and granddaughter of Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook; Lady Jeanne was married at the time to John Cram III, a descendant of railroad developer Jay Gould.^[2] Her biological father, however, was Bolivian^[4] and worked at the United Nations.^[4][5] She identifies as Latina and has written extensively about her Latin roots in her plays.^[6][7][8][9]

Cram's first foray into the world of theater came at age six when she played the role of Moth in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.^[10] Campbell had previously been married to Norman Mailer, with whom she remained friends after their divorce.^[2] Mailer's later wife Norris Church, a former actress and model, suggested that Cram try out modelling.^[2] At age 13, she did, becoming the youngest model ever to sign with Wilhelmina Models, Church's former agency.^[2] At the time, Cram attended the Chapin School in Manhattan.^[2] Of her modeling days she has said, "And at the time—and I think times have changed a lot—[the look] was very blonde and blue eyed, so I was considered very, very ethnic looking ..."^[5]

While working with Wilhelmina, Cram modeled for a variety of publications including Interview, Seventeen, Brides, and Young Miss.^[2] While still 13, she joined the cast of the soap opera One Life to Live on ABC.^[2] She originated the role of Cassie Callison,^[11] a job that required her to leave the Chapin School for the Professional Children's School which allowed her time to both study and participate in filming.^[2] She eventually transitioned from acting to playwriting during her twenties, graduated from Brown University in 1990, and landed a job writing for the animated PBS show Arthur.^[4][12]

Cram worked in regional theaters in Massachusetts, California, and Colorado, and had some of her work produced Off-Off-Broadway.^[13] Her work on Arthur inspired her 2009 play Dusty and the Big Bad World.^[14] The Arthur spinoff Postcards from Buster was subject to a controversy that eventually involved United States Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings after an episode depicted a Vermont family with two lesbian mothers.^[14] Dusty, which premiered at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, was a comic retelling of the controversy.^[14] Cram's Off-Broadway debut also came in 2009 when her play A Lifetime Burning, based on the experiences of author Margaret Seltzer and the discovery of her partially fictitious memoir Love and Consequences, was produced at 59E59 Theaters by Primary Stages.^[13]

Aside from Arthur, Cram has also written for the Cbeebies children's television series The Octonauts,^[15] and contributed two episodes to the Showtime comedy-drama The Big C.^[16] As of January 2014, she teaches playwriting as part of the joint Fordham University – Primary Stages Master of Fine Arts program.^[17]

Additionally, Cram's one-act West of Stupid was anthologized in The Best American Short Plays 2000-2001.^[30] She has also performed two one-woman shows, Bolivia and Euripidames, at New Georges in New York City.^[30]