Vineyard Theatre Reveals 2023-24 Award Recipients

This year, the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, Susan Stroman Directing Award and Colman Domingo Award will be given during the company's annual Emerging Artists Celebration, to be held on Friday, December 1 at 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South, New York, NY 10003). The Vineyard awards the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award and Colman Domingo Award annually, and the Susan Stroman Directing Award biennially.

Mara Nelson-Greenberg will receive the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, Josiah Davis will receive the Susan Stroman Directing Award, and Rudi Goblen will receive the Colman Domingo Award.

The Vineyard Theatre Council is hosting this intimate event which will include the presentation of the awards in addition to conversation with Vineyard artists and friends including Vogel, Stroman and Domingo, who will be in attendance. Sponsored by Armanino LLP And Morgan Stanley, tickets for this year's Emerging Artists Celebration are available at vineyardtheatre.org/shows/eac-2023. For more information about the event, please contact 212-353-0303 or email development@vineyardtheatre.org.

Scene Partners by John J. Caswell, Jr. (Wet Brain), a previous recipient of the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, directed by Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown) and starring Dianne Wiest is currently playing at Vineyard Theatre through December 17.

Mara Nelson-Greenberg's work has been developed at Playwrights Horizons, Clubbed Thumb, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Berkeley Rep, and ACT Theatre, among others. Her play, Do You Feel Anger?, premiered at the 2018 Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville and was produced at Vineyard Theatre in 2019. She is an alum of Youngblood at Ensemble Studio Theater and Clubbed Thumb's Early Career Writers Group. She received her MFA from UC-San Diego under Naomi Iizuka.

Josiah Davis (he/him) is a director, choreographer, performer, designer whose work weaves expressive movement, live music, technology, and ritual into storytelling. He is the Associate Artistic Director of On The Verge Theatre Company-Santa Barbara, a New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Fellow, Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow, and Soul Directing Resident with the National Black Theatre. He received an MFA from Brown/Trinity Rep in Directing and a BA from UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. Recent work: Mary Gets Hers (Playwrights Realm), Clyde's (Alabama Shakes & Arkansas Rep), AMANI (NBT/Rattlestick), The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical  (TheatreWorksUSA), Omar Offrendum's Little Syria (BAM), Associate Director of Mr. Saturday Night (Broadway). josiahdavis.net

Rudi Goblen is a playwright, educator, and performer who creates solo theater and devised theater work. As an acclaimed dancer, he has toured nationally, and internationally, competing, adjudicating, and teaching with his award-winning group Flipside Kings. Rudi is a three-time recipient of playwriting awards from the Kennedy Center, the distinguished achievement for the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, and an O'Neill Finalist; as well as the Future Aesthetics Artist Re-grant, two Miami-Dade County Choreographer Awards, a FEAST Award for his book of poetry “A Bag of Halos and Horns,” and a Theater Masters' Take Ten Playwright. He is a founding member of Teo Castellanos/D-Projects and Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre, and he has trained and worked with Cirque De Soleil and DV8 Physical Theater. Publications include Theater Magazine, Imagined Theatres: Writing for a Theoretical Stage, and Samuel French/Concord Theatricals. Rudi holds an MFA in playwriting from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University.  
 

Paula Vogel PLAYWRITING  AWARD

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, in 1997; the play won the Pulitzer Prize, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards for Best Play; premiered on Broadway in 2022 and received two Tony nominations including Best Revival of a Play. Her most recent production at The Vineyard, Indecent, moved to Broadway in 2017, marking Vogel's Broadway debut and winning two Tony Awards. Vogel's play The Long Christmas Ride Home, also directed by Mark Brokaw, premiered at The Vineyard in 2001. 

The Vineyard's Paula Vogel Playwriting Award is given annually to an exceptionally promising early career writer. The award includes a cash prize, a yearlong residency to develop new work, as well as writing space, readings, workshops, and ongoing dramaturgical support. 

Previous recipients of the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award are Tarell Alvin McCraney (2008), Rajiv Joseph (2009), Kara Lee Corthron (2010), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (2011), Erika Sheffer (2012), Christopher Chen (2013), Clare Barron (2014), Boo Killebrew (2015), Kate Tarker (2016), Antoinette Nwandu (2017), Jeremy O. Harris (2018), Charly Evon Simpson (2019), John J. Caswell Jr. (2020), Ryan Haddad (2021), and T. Adamson(2022).

The Vineyard's Paula Vogel Playwriting Award is made possible through the generosity of The Tournesol Project.
 

Susan Stroman DIRECTING AWARD

Susan Stroman began her professional career as a New York choreographer with The Vineyard's revival of Kander and Ebb's Flora, The Red Menace in 1988.  Her long and fruitful relationship with The Vineyard has continued with such productions as The Scottsboro Boys, Dot, and The Beast in the Jungle.

The Vineyard established the Susan Stroman Directing Award and residency in 2013, giving it biennially to a talented early or mid-career director to develop new work while in residence. Named after Tony Award-winning director Susan Stroman, the award provides recipients with space, time, and support to develop projects and strike new collaborations, while creating opportunities for them to become part of the life of the company in an ongoing way.

Previous recipients include Tyler Thomas, Whitney White, Lee Sunday Evans, and Liesl Tommy.

The Vineyard's Susan Stroman Directing Award is made possible through the generosity of The Tournesol Project. 
 

Colman Domingo AWARD

Colman Domingo's numerous collaborations with The Vineyard include A Boy and His Soul, The Scottsboro Boys, and Dot. Those celebrated productions span Domingo's work as an actor, singer, and playwright. Seeded in 2019 from that longtime collaboration, the Colman Domingo Award is bestowed annually to a multi-faceted Black male or male-identifying theatre artist to provide support and resources to create new work. Recipients are selected directly by The Vineyard and Mr. Domingo and receive a cash stipend, workshops and other developmental opportunities, access to writing and studio space, mentorship, and the ongoing support of The Vineyard. 

Previous recipients include York Walker and Reggie D. White.

The 2023 Colman Domingo Award is made possible through the generosity of Josef and Mary Ann Allen.

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