Cathy Sarkisian is a writer, teacher and show director based in Northern California. She obtained a BA in Literature from Muhlenberg College, PA, and a MA in Literature from Lehigh University, PA. She currently runs Studio Fourth Street, a community arts space in San Rafael, CA. She has been the show director for the Mayflower Chorus in San Rafael since 2018. Sarkisian spent 33 years teaching high school English, focused on instilling appreciation for the written word and encouraging students to add their own ideas to the living canon. Now retired from professional teaching, she has begun developing new written works. Sarkisian is inspired by the interplay of ideas, stories, language and humor, and most interested and experienced in how this manifests through playwriting. Topics of interest in works produced to date include mining towns, birds, Zorastrianism, death, music and the buried life.