LOS ANGELES: UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT) has named Paula Vogel as the school’s inaugural Hearst Theater Lab Initiative Distinguished Playwright-in-Residence for the 2018-19 academic year.
The Hearst Theater Lab Initiative is made possible by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, which gifted $250,000 to UCLA TFT. The initiative funds the annual undergraduate and graduate student playwriting season, and will give an established playwright an opportunity to develop and showcase new works. During her residency, Vogel will conduct master classes and special workshops for the students and present public lectures. Two plays by Vogel will be presented as part of UCLA TFT’s 2018-19 season: A Long Christmas Ride Home (Nov. 14-18) and The Mineola Twins (Dec. 4-8).
“Paula’s works explore and illuminate the deepest aspects of our human condition, all created with her searing intelligence, tremendous warmth, and extraordinary humanity,” said Teri Schwartz, dean of UCLA TFT, in a statement. “She is the consummate theatre artist. I’m so happy for our students that they will have this rare opportunity to be in the midst of a modern American master, receiving remarkable insights and ideas from Paula’s brilliant master classes, staged readings and other special workshops. Having Paula Vogel with us at UCLA TFT brings our vision and mission to life as the storytelling school in the most wonderful way imaginable.”
Vogel’s play How I Learned to Drive received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and numerous other distinctions including a Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Obie, Outer Critics Circle, and New York Drama Critics’ Circle awards. Her most recent work, Indecent, was nominated for Best Play at the 2017 Tony Awards. Her other plays include The Long Christmas Ride Home, The Mineola Twins, The Baltimore Waltz, Hot ’N Throbbing, Desdemona, And Baby Makes Seven, The Oldest Profession, and A Civil War Christmas. Vogel founded and directed the playwriting program at Brown University from 1984 to 2008. She also started a theatre workshop for women in maximum security at the Adults Correction Institute in Cranston, R.I. She was the O’Neill Chair at Yale School of Drama from 2008-2012, and a playwright-in-residence at New York’s Signature Theatre during the 2004-05 season. She conducts playwriting intensives across the globe.
