Vineyard Theatre Honors Christopher Chen with 2013-14 Paula Vogel Award Today

Christopher Chen -- a San Francisco-based playwright whose works include THE HUNDRED FLOWERS PROJECT and other plays - is the 2013 recipient of the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, presented annually by Vineyard Theatre to an emerging playwright of exceptional promise, it has been announced by Douglas Aibel, Vineyard Theatre's Artistic Director and Sarah Stern, Co-Artistic Director.

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 comes with a cash prize and artistic development support over the 2013-14 season.

The award will be presented today, October 3rd at a luncheon at the National Arts Club, hosted by Kathleen Chalfant and Kate Mulgrew, stars of the Vineyard's recent production of Jenny Schwartz' SOMEWHERE FUN. Ms. Vogel will also be on hand to help present the award.

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

Previous recipients of The Paula Vogel Playwriting Award are Erika Sheffer (2012), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (2011), Kara Lee Corthron (2010), Rajiv Joseph (2009) and Tarell Alvin McCraney (2008).

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 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.

For more information or to purchase tickets to the Emerging Artists Luncheon on Thursday, October 3 at the National Arts Club, contact Veronica Bainbridge at 212 353 3366 ext 242 or via email at vbainbridge@vineyardtheatre.org. Proceeds from the luncheon benefit The Vineyard's artistic and education programs.

For more info about the Vineyard Theatre, visit www.vineyardtheatre.org.

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