Vineyard Theatre announces Winner of Paula Vogel Playwriting Award

The Vineyard Theatre will present its 3rd annual Paula Vogel Playwriting Award to emerging playwright Kara Lee Corthron - whose plays include HOLLY DOWN IN HEAVEN, which received a workshop production at the Vineyard, and the forthcoming ETCHED IN SKIN ON A SUNLESS NIGHT -- it has been announced by Vineyard Theater's Artistic Director Douglas Aibel and Associate Artistic Director Sarah Stern.

Named in honor of playwright and teacher Paula Vogel -- whose play HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE debuted at the Vineyard Theatre in 1997, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama -- the award comes with a cash prize, artistic development support, and a staged reading of the recipient's work. Launched three years ago, The Vogel Award is presented annually by The Vineyard to an emerging playwright of exceptional promise.

The award will be presented to Ms. Corthron on June 17 at a luncheon at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South) in New York, with Ms. Vogel in attendance.

The Award's first recipient was playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, whose play WIG OUT! was a popular and critical success when it debuted at the Vineyard in 2008, and whose most recent works include the THE BROTHERS/SISTERS PLAYS presented in NY last fall.

Rajiv Joseph - author of the play BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO (a 2010 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama), ANIMALS OUT OF PAPER and HUCK AND HOLDEN -- was the recipient of the Paula Vogel Award during the 2008-09 season.

Kara Lee Corthron's commissioned play ETCHED IN SKIN ON A SUNLESS NIGHT will premiere at the Interact Theatre in May, 2011. She is currently working on commissions from South Coast Rep, Naked Angels, New Georges and EST/Sloan. Her short play LADYBUG GONNA GETCHA was performed as part of The River Crosses Rivers festival at EST. WILD BLACK-EYED SUSANS was produced at University of Washington. HOLLY DOWN IN HEAVEN has been workshopped by the Vineyard Theatre and Horizon Theatre (in Atlanta). She was a staff writer for the critically-acclaimed NBC drama, "Kings." Kara's honors include the Princess Grace Award, the Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, Lincoln Center's Lecomte du Nouy Foundation Award (three-time recipient), the Theodore Ward Prize and the New Professional Theatre Writers Award. She has participated in residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Skriðuklaustur (Iceland), the Millay Colony for the Arts and Ledig House. Kara is an alumna of the Juilliard School and Interstate 73 (Page 73's inaugural writers group), a member of the 2010 Play Group at Ars Nova, the Dramatists Guild, 'Wright On! Play Group (co-founder), BMI/Lehman Engel Librettist Workshop, Blue Roses Theatre, the Writers Guild of America and is a New Georges Affiliated Artist.

About The Vineyard's award, Mr. Aibel and Ms. Stern note, "We are delighted to announce Kara Lee Corthton as this year's Paula Vogel Award winner. Kara is a young playwright of prodigious talent - witty, imaginative, with a distinctive voice all her own. Her plays evince a truly empathetic writer, who approaches her characters with grace, charm, and a bittersweet and touching sensibility. We had the pleasure of working with Kara on a workshop last season and look forward to continuing to support her process at this stage of her work and career. Like her predecessors in this award - Tarell Alvin McCraney and Rajiv Joseph - she is a most promising new writer for the American theatre."

When the Paula Vogel Award was launched three years ago, 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. THE LONG CHRISTMAS RIDE HOME, also directed by Mark Brokaw, premiered at the Vineyard in 2001, and was praised by Ben Brantley of The New York Times as "The most visually exquisite production of the season. It's enough to make even diehard agnostics believe in the mystical powers of drama." Subsequent to their productions at the Vineyard, both DRIVE and LONG CHRISTMAS RIDE have gone on to numerous productions at U.S. theatres and around the world. Ms. Vogel's other plays include THE BALTIMORE WALTZ, THE MINEOLA TWINS, THE OLDEST PROFESSION, HOT N THROBBING and most recently A CIVIL WAR CHRISTMAS.

After more than 20 years heading the MFA Playwriting program at Brown University, Ms. Vogel is presently the Chair of the MFA Playwriting Program at the Yale School of Drama.

Vineyard Theatre - whose world-premiere production of the musical THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS by John Kander and Fred Ebb, book by David Thompson, with direction and choreography by Susan Stroman -- is the recipient of the Tony Award for the musical AVENUE Q and continues as producer of the musical's current production at New World Stages in New York. The Vineyard has also produced the musical [title of show] on Broadway. One of the nation's leading non-profit theatre companies dedicated to new plays and musicals and bold programming, The Vineyard has produced the Pulitzer Prize-winning productions of Edward Albee's THREE TALL WOMEN and Paula Vogel's HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE. The Vineyard has consistently premiered provocative, groundbreaking works and developed innovative educational collaborations. Recent productions include Tarell Alvin McCraney's acclaimed WIG OUT!. The Vineyard opened its 2009-2010 season with the enormously popular play A BOY AND HIS SOUL, written and performed by Colman Domingo, and this spring, will produce the world premiere of Adam Rapp's THE METAL CHILDREN and the new musical THE BURNT PART BOYS by Mariana Elder, Nathan Tysen and Chris Miller, directed by Joe Calarco, in co-production with Playwrights Horizons.

Vineyard Theatre is under the guidance of Douglas Aibel, Artistic Director, and Jennifer Garvey-Blackwell, Executive Director.

The Vineyard Theatre is located at 108 East 15th Street and is one of the most popular cultural destinations in the thriving Union Square area. For performance and ticket information, call The Vineyard Theatre box office at 212-353-0303 or visit www.vineyardtheatre.org.