Moisés Kaufman facts for kids

Moisés Kaufman (born November 21, 1963) is a Venezuelan theater director, filmmaker, playwright, founder of Tectonic Theater Project, based in New York City, and co-founder of Miami New Drama at the Colony Theatre. He was awarded the 2016 National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama. He is best known for creating The Laramie Project (2000) with other members of Tectonic Theater Project. He has directed extensively on Broadway and Internationally, and is the author of numerous plays, including Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and 33 Variations.

Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, he moved as a young man to New York City in 1987.

Biography

Kaufman is of Romanian-Jewish and Ukrainian-Jewish descent, and was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He is an alumnus of Venezuela's Universidad Metropolitana, where he began to study theatre. After immigrating to the United States, he went to college in New York and graduated from NYU.

In 2005 he described himself in an interview by saying, "I am Venezuelan, I am Jewish, I am gay, I live in New York. I am the sum of all my cultures. I couldn't write anything that didn't incorporate all that I am."

Kaufman was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002, following the premiere of The Laramie Project, which was based on extensive interviews with residents and commentators in and around Wyoming who were involved with the aftermath of the murder of gay student Matthew Shepard.

He made his Broadway directing debut in the 2004 production of I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright, for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Direction of a Play.

On September 22, 2016, Kaufman was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities in a ceremony conducted by U.S. president Barack Obama. He is the first Venezuelan to receive the honor.

In 2022, Kaufman was included in the book 50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre, profiled in a chapter written by theatre scholar Bess Rowen.

Awards

• 2016 National Medal of Arts given to him by President Barack Obama
• Obie Award - (Best Director) I AM MY OWN WIFE
• Guggenheim Fellowship
• Tony Award Nomination (Best Director) I AM MY OWN WIFE
• Tony Award Nomination (Best Playwright) 33 VARIATIONS (with Jane Fonda)
• National Board of Review Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie - THE LARAMIE PROJECT FILM (HBO)
• Humanitas Prize
• Emmy Nomination (Dest Director) The Laramie Project Film (HBO)
• Emmy Nomination (Best Screenwriter - with the Members of Tectonic Theater) THE LARAMIE PROJECT FILM (HBO)
• Golden Bear Award from the Berlin Film Festival THE LARAMIE PROJECT FILM (HBO)
• Steinberg/ATCA Best New Play Award—2008: 33 Variations
• Outer Critics Circle Award BEST DIRECTOR: GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE.
• Lucille Lortel Award BEST DIRECTOR: GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE.
• GLAAD Media Award
• Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE
• Lambda Book Award
• Venezuela's Casa del Artista
• American Library Association's LGBT Literature Award
• Matthew Shepard Foundation's "Making A Difference Award"
• Artistic Integrity Award from the Human Rights Campaign
• Carbonell Award
• Joe A. Callaway Award for excellence in directing, given by The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers

Stage directing credits

• Paradise Square (musical). (Berkeley Rep, Chicago, Broadway).
• TORCH SONG (Broadway) Tony Nomination - Best Revival of a Play.
• THE HEIRESS - with Jessica Chastain (Broadway).
• Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo starring Robin Williams.(Broadway)
• Puss in Boots (El Gato con Botas)
• 33 Variations starring Jane Fonda. (Broadway)
• Macbeth (starring Liev Schreiber) for The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park
• Lady Windermere's Fan
• This Is How It Goes starring Ben Chaplin at the Donmar Warehouse.
• Into The Woods
• Master Class (with Rita Moreno)
• One Arm by Tennessee Williams
• I Am My Own Wife (2004, his Broadway debut)
• The Laramie Project (2000)
• Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde
• Marlow's Eye
• The Nest
• Women in Beckett
• Machinal
• Coxinga
• The Nightingale
• The Heiress
• Torch Song Trilogy
• The Album: Here There are Blueberries at the Colony Theatre (in collaboration with Miami New Drama)

Film credits

• The Laramie Project

Television credits

• The L Word (2 episodes)

See also

• List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people: K