CAMILLE CYPHER
Me as one of the bluemen, artwork by the wonderful Gemma Lippman
Camille Cypher is a writer from Oakland, California, majoring in Creative Writing, Public Policy, and Theater and Performance Studies. While she originally planned to study Economics, she quickly fell in love with comedy through Off-Off Campus. Over the last four years and alongside her dear friends, she’s put up sketch shows at the Second City, directed ripaway pants montages, and even created a short film! She also writes literary nonfiction, is the head editor for Viewpoints, and is a columnist for Firebird. Her work is informed by interviews, her background in creative nonfiction, and the wacky things she doesn’t quite understand about the world (aka politics and investment bankers). When she’s not writing, she’s playing soccer, tending to her many plants, and making faces with and at her friends, her family, and babies on the train.
RESUME
EDUCATION
The University of Chicago, 2022 - current
Bachelor's Degree in Creative Writing, Theater and Performance Studies, and Public Policy
PUBLICATIONS
Literary
"Reflections on Collections," The Saturday Evening Post, 2025.
"Why November 1 is the Best Day of the Year," The Saturday Evening Post, 2024.
Humor
"My Love-Love Relationship with the TSA," The Saturday Evening Post, 2024.
"In Search of the Turducken," The Saturday Evening Post, 2024.
Interviews
"Food for Thought: An Interview with TikTok Balladist Jake Schroeder," Firebird, 2025.
"DIY and the Preservation of Artistic Agency," Firebird, 2024.
"Exploring the abstract and the intimate in Teeth: an interview with Jeni Magaña," Firebird, 2024.
Op-Eds
"College Writing is Fundamental to Deep Learning," The Maroon, 2025.
"AI Professor," The Maroon, 2025.
"Queer at the Heteronormative Apex," The Maroon, 2024
"A Deficit Without Communication," The Maroon, 2024.
"Grub, Not Hub: Losing Social Connection at Hutch Dining Commons," The Maroon, 2024.
"UChicago's Place in the Migrant Crisis: From Articulation to Action," The Maroon, 2024.
"The Pros and Cons of Pros and Cons," The Maroon, 2024.
"As a Swiftie, I'm not enthused with the Academy," Firebird, 2024.
Articles
"The Aces at Thalia Hall," Firebird, 2025.
"Gay couple set to wed 2 days before their 50th anniversary," Bay Area Reporter, 2024.
"LGBTQ wellness festival returns to Northern California," Bay Area Reporter, 2024.
"At the 2024 Congressional Baseball Game Division and Protest Abound," The Gate, 2024.
"The Rest: not just a shadow of The Record," Firebird, 2023.
"District Councils: A New and Hopeful Experiment For Police Reform," The Gate, 2023.
Other
"Our Fellows' Advice on Applying to Fi Labs: Spotlight Your Story," Film Independent Blog, 2025.
"The Meaning of 'Your Words' on Capitol Hill," Victory Institute Blog, 2024.
THEATER and FILM!
INVESTED. - 90-minute play (writer): When a cutthroat group of investment bankers in a weekly improv workshop is asked to put on a show at the company holiday party, they must risk embarrassing themselves in front of their colleagues to build genuine relationships.
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Production history
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Staged reading, Spring 2026
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The Council - 90-minute play (writer): When a collapsing college council is anonymously accused of harassment, they must rush to uncover the perpetrator among them before their friendships, relationships, and careers collapse before them.
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Production history
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Developed by UChicago TAPS for a reading, Winter 2026
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Independently produced/staged, Spring 2026
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Homage to Cable - sketch show (co-writer and director): In this fast-paced, 1-hour sketch show, we bring cable television back to its birthplace: the theater. Watch as Chris Hansen takes down yet another predator. Then change the channel to see Jerry Springer backflip onto the cameraman. Disturbed? Tune into the local news, revealing text messages between a concerned wife and a nonchalant husband in the midst of a hurricane. That’s the joy of cable: experiencing the kind of whiplash that inspired The Hunger Games.
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Production history
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Produced at the Second City, Fall 2025
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Speech and Debate - Short Film (writer/director/producer): All is well right before a major speech and debate tournament when suddenly an accusation throws a high school team into chaos. Friendships are tested, suits are pressed, and blunts are literally consumed.
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Production history
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Full short on YouTube
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Comedy Show - pilot script (writer): When a wannabe-late-night-writer with an uncanny ability to predict the American news cycle loses all job prospects and is forced to take a position at the nation’s least reliable news source, she must regain political comedy’s trust while questioning her everything-is-a-joke mentality in the form of a once-prominent, now-mistrusted politics editor whose faith in the system is unyielding.
