Kathleen Chalfant & Kate Mulgrew Host Vineyard Theatre's Emerging Artists Luncheon Today

Kathleen Chalfant and Kate Mulgrew will host the Vineyard Theatre's annual Emerging Artists Luncheon today, Oct. 3 from noon to 2 p.m. at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South) in Manhattan. The event will feature the presentation of the 2013 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award to Christopher Chen, a San Francisco-based playwright whose works include THE HUNDRED FLOWERS PROJECT and other plays. Ms. Vogel will be in attendance and present the award.

Ms.Chalfant and Ms. Mulgrew will share the role of emcee, having starred together last season in The Vineyard's world-premiere of Jenny Schwartz's play SOMEWHERE FUN.

Mr. Chen is the sixth recipient of the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, named in honor of playwright and teacher Paula Vogel, whose plays HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE (Pulitzer Prize for Drama) and THE LONG CHRISTMAS RIDE HOME premiered at The Vineyard. The residency-based award -- made possible through the generosity of the
Tournesol Project -- comes with a cash prize and artistic support over the 2013-14 season.

Just last week, the recipient of the very first Paula Vogel Award -- Tarell Alvin McCraney in 2008 -- was selected for a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship. Previous recipients of The Paula Vogel Playwriting Award are Erika Sheffer (2012), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (2011), Kara Lee Corthron (2010) and Rajiv Joseph (2009).

Mr. Chen's THE HUNDRED FLOWERS PROJECT -- a kaleidoscopic play-within-a-play about Mao Tse-Tung and social media -- was presented last year by San Francisco's Crowded Fire, receiving the Will Glickman Award and Rella Lossy Playwrights Award, and was short-listed for the James Tait Black Award. Mr. Chen's other plays include INTO THE NUMBERS, THE WINDOW AGE and AULIS: AN ACT OF NIHILISM IN ONE LONG ACT. His work has been produced and developed by American Conservatory Theatre, Central Works Theatre Ensemble, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Beijing Fringe Festival, The Lark Play Development Center, hotINK Festival, Theatre Mu, Silk Road Theatre Project, Fluid Motion, and Asian American Theater Company. Mr. Chen is a Resident Playwright at the Playwrights Foundation, a member of the Magic Theatre Artist's Lab and Just Theater New Play Lab, and is co-director of the Asian American Theater Company New Works Incubator Program. He is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, and holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from S.F. State.

When the Paula Vogel Award was established, Ms. Vogel said, "They say a person is judged by the company he or she keeps, and I am so honored by my association with the Vineyard Theatre -- they are a company I always want to keep. I am doubly honored: honored by having the award in my name from The Vineyard, and honored to be blessing a new generation of rising playwrights. The Vineyard fulfills the promise of its name: in planting the seeds of new plays, we as audiences reap the harvest."

Paula Vogel's long and cherished relationship with the Vineyard began with the theatre's acclaimed production of HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE, directed by Mark Brokaw; the play won the Pulitzer Prize, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards for Best Play, and was recently revived with its original cast at a one-night-only reading presented as part of The Vineyard's recently-concluded 30th anniversary season. Ms. Vogel's play THE LONG CHRISTMAS RIDE HOME, also directed by Mark Brokaw, premiered at The Vineyard in 2001. Her other plays include THE BALTIMORE WALTZ, THE MINEOLA TWINS, THE OLDEST PROFESSION, HOT N THROBBING and A CIVIL WAR CHRISTMAS.

The Vineyard Theatre (located at 108 East 15 Street) has been one of the nation's leading non-profit theatre companies for over 30 years. Dedicated to the creation and production of daring new plays and musicals, The Vineyard has consistently premiered provocative, groundbreaking works, including Nicky Silver's THE LYONS; Marx, Lopez and Whitty's Tony Award-winning musical AVENUE Q; Kander and Ebb's THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS; Bell and Bowen's [title of show]; Paula Vogel's HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE (1998 Pulitzer Prize), Edward Albee's THREE TALL WOMEN (1994 Pulitzer Prize); Tarell Alvin McCraney's WIG OUT!; Will Eno's MIDDLETOWN; and many more. The Vineyard's productions have been honored with two Pulitzer Prizes, three Tony Awards, and numerous Drama Desk, OBIES, Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards.

This season, The Vineyard will produce the world premieres of the musical THE LANDING by John Kander and Greg Pierce, directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Josh Rhodes, with a cast featuring David Hyde Pierce, Julia Murney, Paul Anthony Stewart and Frankie Seratch (previews begin October 3, opens October 23), and Nicky Silver's play TOO MUCH SUN, directed by Mark Brokaw, along with the New York premiere of the musical ARLINGTON by Polly Pen and Victor Lodato.

The Vineyard Theatre's leadership includes Douglas Aibel (Artistic Director), Sarah Stern (Co-Artistic Director), and Jennifer Garvey-Blackwell (Executive Producer).

Photo Credit: Walter McBride