Thomas Edward Cone (1947 – April 2012) was a Canadian-Americanplaywright andlibrettist.

Cone's work often presented provocative ideas about morality and art and it stretches existing forms through the integration of music and the visual arts. In many of his plays, characters are "riding a fault line, about to make a change which may result in tragedy",^[1] sharing an "evocative, somewhat taboo recollection of their common past".^[2] InTrue Mummy two former lovers who once crossed a dangerous line together, are reunited. The title of the play refers to a black, luminous glaze used by artists such asJ. M. W. Turner, that was made from the ash of cremated mummies.^[3] Visions of life and death of an Egyptian Princess form alternating scenes, and, as she is being prepared for mummification, towards the end of the play when a Turner painting is displayed, it becomes clear that she is on it.

Other plays includeHerringbone,Stargazing andLove at Last Sight and Cone wrote librettos for operasThe Architect (forVancouver Opera, 1993),The Gang (Vancouver New Music, 1997), andGame Misconduct (Vancouver Playhouse 2000).^[4] He also wrote adaptations ofMolière'sThe Miser andGoldoni'sThe Servant of Two Masters^[5] which were performed at theStratford Festival where he was a writer-in-residence between 1978 and 1980.

Cone adaptedHerringbone into a musical in 1981, with music by Skip Kennon and lyrics byEllen Fitzhugh. It premiered in Chicago followed by productions in New York atPlaywrights Horizons, in London atThe King's Head Theatre, at theEdinburgh Festival, at Hartford Stage starringJoel Grey, and in many cities throughout North America. From 2007 to 2009 it touredWilliamstown Theater Festival,McCarter Theatre (Princeton, NJ) and theLa Jolla Playhouse (CA) in a production starringBD Wong, directed byRoger Rees.^[6][7]Tom Cone lived inVancouver where he was an active curator and promoter of experimental music and the avant-garde.^[8] He died in April 2012 of cancer.^[9] He was survived by his wife Karen Matthews and child Ruby Cone.

• There (1972)
• The Organiser (1973)
• Cubistique (1974)
• Herringbone (1975)^[10]
• Whisper To Mendelsohn (1975)
• The Imaginary Invalid (1975)
• Beautiful Tigers (1976)
• Shotglass (1977)
• Stargazing (1978)
• 1792 (1978)
• The Writer's Show (1978)
• The Servant Of Two Masters (1980)
• The Architect (1993)^[11]
• True Mummy (1997)^[12]
• Donald and Lenore (2008)^[13][14][15]

1. Wallace, Robert and Zimmerman, Cynthia eds. The Work: Conversations with English-Canadian Playwrights. Toronto: Coach House, 1982.
2. Klobucar, Andrew: Do Play with your Food: Tom Cone,True Mummy. Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2004.The Rain 2:4 (July–August 2004): 2.[1]
3. Everybody on the Sidewalk: A Conversation with Tom Cone, TCR The Capilano Review 3.4/Winter 2008 Collaborations Issue, pp. 5–26
4. La Jolla Playhouse Presents Herringbone With BD Wong 8/1-30 In Sheila & Hughes Potiker Theatre. Broadwayworld.com, 2009.[2]
5. Saltzman, Simon: Herringbone.A CurtainUp New Jersey Review, 2008.[3]
6. Gates, Anita: Seeking Fortune and Finding Fame. New York Times, September 21, 2008.[4]
7. Richards, David: In a One-Man Show, Joel Grey Is a Crowd. New York Times, June 6, 1993.[5]
8. Wada, Karen: B.D. Wong's pursuit of 'Herringbone'. Los Angeles Times, August 2, 2009.[6]
9. Heatley, Stephen:Theatrical Rides. canlit.ca. Canadian Literature #187 (Winter 2005) Web. 31 Dec. 2011.[7]
10. Ledingham, Jo: Playwright eulogizes U.S. over Mai Tais; Despite sense of adventure, Theatre Replacement gets lost in America. Vancouver Courier, March 11, 2010.http://www.vancourier.com/story_print.html?id=2674609&sponsor=^{[permanent dead link]}

• In The Capilano Review, Winter 2008 / 3.4, The Collaborations Issue[8]
• Entry on the Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia[9]
• "Interview Herringbone Creators Tom Cone, Skip Kennon, and Ellen Fitzhugh" on mccarter.org[10]
• Short biography at Anvil Press[11]

• 1947 births
• 2012 deaths
• American male stage actors
• Canadian male stage actors
• 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights
• 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights
• American opera librettists
• Canadian librettists
• 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
• 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
• American male dramatists and playwrights
• Canadian male dramatists and playwrights
• 20th-century Canadian male writers
• 21st-century Canadian male writers
• 20th-century American male writers
• 21st-century American male writers

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