COLUMBUS, OHIO: The Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute at the Ohio State University has named Paula Vogel the recipient of the 2018 Margo Jones Award. The annual award, established in 1961 and named for the woman often recognized as the founder of the American regional theatre movement, is given to a citizen of the theatre who has demonstrated a significant impact, understanding, and affirmation of the craft of playwriting.
Vogel will be presented with the honor on April 21 in a ceremony at Second Stage Theater in New York City. Scheduled speakers include Christina Anderson, resident playwright at New Dramatists; Jonathan Barlow Lee, son of playwright Robert E. Lee and production manager for the Mark Taper Forum; and Damon Jaggars, vice provost and director of the Ohio State University Libraries.
Vogel’s Indecent opened on Broadway last year and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. Her play How I Learned to Drive received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Lucille Lortel Prize, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, the New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Best Play, and a 1997 OBIE Award. Vogel’s other works include The Long Christmas Ride Home, The Mineola Twins, The Baltimore Waltz, Hot ‘N’ Throbbing, Desdemona, And Baby Makes Seven, The Oldest Profession, A Civil War Christmas, and Don Juan Comes Home from Iraq.
Three awards dedicated to celebrating emerging playwrights are given in her name: the American College Theatre Festival, the Paula Vogel Award, and the recent Paula Vogel Mentor’s Award by Young Playwrights of Philadelphia.
