Paula Vogel facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Paula Vogel
Vogel in 2025
Born	(1951-11-16) November 16, 1951 (age 73) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Occupation	Playwright, professor
Education	Bryn Mawr College Catholic University (BA) Cornell University (MA, PhD)
Notable awards	Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1998)
Spouse	Anne Fausto-Sterling ​ (m. 2004)​

Paula Vogel (born November 16, 1951) is an American playwright. A playwright writes plays for the theater. She is known for writing about important social and political topics. Much of her work explores how people deal with difficult experiences and the many ways human relationships work.

Paula Vogel has won the Pulitzer Prize, which is a very important award for writers. She has also been nominated for two Tony Awards, which celebrate the best of Broadway theater. In 2013, she was honored by being added to the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Her play How I Learned to Drive won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This play was brought back to Broadway in 2022 and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. She also wrote other plays like The Baltimore Waltz (1992), The Mineola Twins (1996), and The Long Christmas Ride Home (2003).

Paula Vogel made her Broadway debut with Indecent in 2017. This play was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. Her newest play, Mother Play, also opened on Broadway in 2024.

Paula Vogel has also been a teacher for a long time. She taught at Brown University from 1984 to 2008. There, she led the playwriting program and helped start the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium. From 2008 to 2012, she taught at the Yale School of Drama.

Early Life and Education

Paula Vogel was born in Washington, D.C.. Her father, Donald Stephen Vogel, worked in advertising. Her mother, Phyllis Rita (Bremerman), was a secretary. Her father was Jewish, and her mother was Roman Catholic.

She went to Bryn Mawr College. She also earned degrees from The Catholic University of America (in 1974) and Cornell University (in 1976). She later completed her PhD from Cornell in 2016.

Her Plays and Career

Early Works and Big Success

Paula Vogel started writing plays in the late 1970s. She became well-known with her play The Baltimore Waltz in 1992. This play won the Obie Award for Best Play.

She is most famous for her Pulitzer Prize-winning play How I Learned to Drive (1997). This play explores difficult family relationships and growing up. Other plays she wrote include Desdemona, A Play About A Handkerchief (1993), The Oldest Profession (1981), and And Baby Makes Seven (1984).

Her play The Oldest Profession was first read in New York City in 1981. It later premiered in Canada in 1988. It was also performed Off-Broadway in New York City in 2004.

And Baby Makes Seven first premiered Off-Broadway in 1993. It was produced by the Circle Repertory Company. Desdemona was first performed in New York in 1993.

In 2012, How I Learned to Drive was performed again in New York City. Another play, A Civil War Christmas, was shown Off-Broadway in 2012. It was nominated for several awards.

Broadway Debut and Recent Works

Paula Vogel's first play with music, Indecent, premiered in 2015. It was co-created with Rebecca Taichman. It was first shown at Yale Repertory Theatre.

Indecent then moved Off-Broadway in 2016. It was nominated for the 2016 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play. The play opened on Broadway at the Cort Theatre in April 2017. This was Paula Vogel's first play on Broadway.

The story of Indecent is inspired by a real event from 1923. It's about the controversy surrounding a Broadway play called God of Vengeance. Indecent was nominated for many awards in 2017, including the Tony Award for Best Play.

Paula Vogel's new play, Mother Play, premiered on Broadway in 2024.

Playwriting Style and Themes

Paula Vogel often writes about topics that can be challenging. She says her writing is guided by things that directly affect her life. She believes that if people feel strongly about her plays, it means the play is working.

Her family, especially her late brother Carl, has influenced her writing. Paula Vogel tries to include messages in her plays about fairness and acceptance for everyone. Her brother Carl appears in plays like The Long Christmas Ride Home (2003) and And Baby Makes Seven.

Theater experts say that Vogel chooses difficult topics and explores them in creative and honest ways. She uses many different theater techniques in her plays. These include characters talking directly to the audience, puppets, and fantasy scenes. Critics note that she likes to make each play different in style from her previous ones.

As a Teacher and Mentor

Paula Vogel is a famous playwriting teacher. Many of her former students have become successful playwrights themselves. Some of them include Sarah Ruhl, Nilo Cruz, and Lynn Nottage.

For 20 years, she led the playwriting program at Brown University. She helped create a well-known center for theater education there. In 2008, she moved to the Yale School of Drama. She was the Chair of the playwriting department until 2012. She also taught at Cornell University earlier in her career.

Currently, she is still a professor at Yale School of Drama. She is also an artistic associate at Long Wharf Theatre.

Personal Life

Paula Vogel had two brothers, Carl and Mark. Carl passed away in 1988. The Carl Vogel Center in Washington, D.C., is named after him. This center helps people living with serious illnesses.

Paula Vogel married Anne Fausto-Sterling, a professor and author, in 2004.

Theatrical Works

As a playwright

Awards and Honors

After winning the Obie Award in 1992 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1998, Paula Vogel received the Award for Literature in 2004. She also won the Robert Chesley Award in 1997 and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 1998 for How I Learned to Drive. In 1999, she received the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award.

In 2003, the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival created an annual Paula Vogel Award in Playwriting. This award is for student plays that celebrate diversity and encourage tolerance. In 2013, Paula Vogel was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

In 2016, she earned her PhD in Theatre Arts from Cornell University. In 2017, she received the Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement. Her work is also featured in the book 50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre (2022).

In 2015, Paula Vogel's writings and papers were acquired by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. She was the first female playwright to be included in their Yale Collection of American Literature.