Aston Cooke

Aston Cooke
Born	Kingston, Jamaica
Occupation	playwright, writer

Aston Cooke is one of Jamaica's leading playwrights. The recipient of nine national Actor Boy Awards for outstanding achievement in various categories of theatre, Cooke is an inductee to the Caribbean Hall of Fame for Arts and Culture for his contribution to Jamaican theatre over the years. Aston Cooke served as Chairman of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (2013-2016).

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Aston Cooke attended All Saint's Primary School in Jones Town, Kingston, and later won a Common Entrance place to enter Wolmer's Boys' School. He began writing plays as a student at Wolmer's as an active participant in the Schools' Drama Festival of Jamaica. His first one-act play, Pickle‚ won several awards for Wolmer's Boys’ School in the Jamaica Secondary Schools Drama Festival.

Cooke read for B.A. Mass Communications (1984) and M.A. Communications Studies (2001) at the University of the West Indies and for a B.Comm. in Hospitality and Tourism Management (1993) at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was the recipient of the Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship in 1989.

In 1985, Cooke was responsible for writing the first episodes of Oliver at Large for Jamaica's "King of Comedy" Oliver Samuels‚ which became Jamaica's most successful scripted television series to date. The once-popular radio series Home Runnings‚ presented by the Jamaica National Housing Trust on RJR and LOVE FM, was also written by Cooke.

In 2004, Cooke joined up with young playwright Sabrena McDonald to write the television drama High Grade, which aired on TVJ, CVM and CTV in Jamaica.

Cooke's full-length drama Concubine? (2007) won the Best Actress Award for Dahlia Harris. The play has been performed in Kingston, Montego Bay, Florida, New York City, Cayman Island, Toronto and UK.

In 2009, Aston Cooke won the Best Play award for his entry in the 2009 National Literary Competition staged by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) at a ceremony held at the Rex Nettleford Hall at the University of the West Indies. Cooke's entry was a full-length manuscript entitled "Jonkanoo Jamboree". The judges' report read: "Where there was understanding of stage craft, use of space and natural dialogue, the characters and story emerged, as in 'Jonkanoo Jamboree', a pantomime script."

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