Vineyard Theatre Names New Playwriting Award in Honor of Paula Vogel

Off-Broadway's Vineyard Theatre announced a new playwriting award in honor of Paula Vogel, whose Pulitzer-winning play, How I Learned to Drive, debuted there in 1997. The first Paula Vogel Playwriting Award recipient will be named on January 29, 2007 at a gala at New York's Rainbow Room, which will also honor Vogel and the Vineyard's 25th anniversary of developing and producing new work.

"They say a person is judged by the company they keep, and I am so honored by my association with the Vineyard Theatre—they are a company I always want to keep," Vogel said in a statement. "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."

The winning playwright will receive a staged reading of his or her work at the Vineyard and a cash prize. Future recipients of the annual award will be chosen by a rotating committee of Vineyard Theatre staff members and contributing artists.

Vogel's other plays include The Long Christmas Ride, which premiered at the Vineyard in 2001, as well as The Baltimore Waltz, The Mineola Twins, The Oldest Profession and Hot N Throbbing.