GLADD Media, Lucille Lortel and OBIE Award winner Colman Domingo - who last season was seen on The Vineyard stage twice, first in his Lucille Lortel Award-winning autobiographical play A BOY AND HIS SOUL and most recently in the Kander and Ebb musical THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, and who will play Billy Flynn in CHICAGO on Broadway this summer - will host Vineyard Theatre's 2010 Spring Luncheon and the presentation of the 3rd Annual Paula Vogel Playwrighting Award to emerging playwright Kara Lee Corthron on Thursday, June 17 from 12pm to 2pm at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South) in Manhattan.
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. Ms. Vogel will be in attendance at the June 17th luncheon.
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 SUNLIT 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.
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 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.
Colman Domingo - the OBIE, Lucille Lortel, and GLADD Media Award winning actor and playwright - will next be seen in the Broadway production of CHICAGO as Billy Flynn beginning Monday, June 14th for a 5 week run. Last season, Domingo appeared at The Vineyard twice - first in his Lucille Lortel Award-winning autobiographical play A BOY AND HIS SOUL and most recently as "Mr. Bones" in the Kander and Ebb musical THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS. His Broadway credits are PASSING STRANGE and WELL. His other credits include: THE WIZ (City Center), PASSING STRANGE and HENRY V (NYSF/The Public), BRIGHT IDEAS (MCC), COMING HOME (Long Warf), PEOPLE'S TEMPLE (Guthrie/Berkeley Rep), JOURNEY TO THE WEST (Huntington), THE LILY'S REVENGE (Sundance), etc. His film credits include: "Passing Strange," "Miracle at St. Anna," "King of the Bingo Game," "Freedomland," "Kung Phooey," "Around the Fire," "True Crime."
Vineyard Theatre 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. This past season, The Vineayard presented three enormously Popular Productions - Adam Rapp's THE METAL CHILDREN, the Kander and Ebb musical THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, and Colman Domingo's A BOY AND HIS SOUL.
Vineyard Theatre is under the guidance of Douglas Aibel, Artistic Director, and Jennifer Garvey-Blackwell, Executive Director.
Tickets for the Vineyard Theatre's 2010 Spring Luncheon range from $150-$250 and tables are $2,500. For reservations or more information, please contact Scott Pyne (Director of Development) at 212-353-3366 x242 or visit www.vineyardtheatre.org.
