Artistic Development
“The Vineyard gives you everything you need to fly.” — Colman Domingo
Through readings, workshops, residences, and developmental “lab” productions, we tailor our programs to best serve the needs of artists and their work and to guide projects at all stages of development. Many of the plays and musicals we help to develop go on to full production on our stage or at other theatres in New York or around the country.
Each season, Vineyard Theatre creates opportunities for more than 150 playwrights, directors, composers, and actors to create new plays and musicals and develop artistic skills. We work with artists at all stages of their careers, tailoring development to best serve the needs of their work and process. The majority of our productions have emerged from these programs.
PAULA VOGEL PLAYWRITING AWARD
The cornerstone of Artistic Development at The Vineyard is the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, given annually to an exceptionally promising early career writer. The award includes a cash prize, a yearlong residency to develop new work, as well as writing space, readings, workshops, and ongoing dramaturgical support. The recipients of the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award are Tarell Alvin McCraney (2008), Rajiv Joseph (2009), Kara Lee Corthron (2010), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (2011), Erika Sheffer(2012), Christopher Chen (2013), Clare Barron (2014), Boo Killebrew(2015), Kate Tarker (2016), Antoinette Nwandu (2017), Jeremy O. Harris(2018), Charly Evon Simpson (2019), John Caswell Jr. (2020), Ryan Haddad (2021), T. Adamson (2022), Mara Nelson-Greenberg (2023), and Jake Brasch (2024).
SUSAN STROMAN DIRECTING AWARD
The Vineyard grants the Susan Stroman Directing Award biennially to a gifted early-career director. Resources for this two-year residency include a cash prize, the opportunity to initiate and develop new projects, and to work intensively with actors and designers. Previous recipients include Liesl Tommy (2014), Lee Sunday Evans (2016), and Whitney White (2018), Tyler Thomas (2020), and Josiah Davis (2023).
COLMAN DOMINGO AWARD
Seeded in 2019 from the longtime collaboration between The Vineyard and Colman Domingo, the Colman Domingo Award is bestowed annually to a multi-faceted Black male or male-identifying theatre artist to provide support and resources to create new work. Recipients include York Walker (2020), Reggie D. White (2022), Rudi Goblen (2023), and Kameron Neal (2024).
STUDIO RESIDENCIES AND COMMISSIONS
Studio residences enable us to invest in an artist and their work with ongoing resources over a longer period of time. The Commissary’s Lessons in Survival and Lessons in Survival: 1971 were created in their two-year residency. Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Michael R. Jackson developed a new musical, White Girl in Danger, as part of his multi-year residency. In 2022, The Vineyard created the new annual Roth-Vogel Commission in partnership with Daryl Roth and Paula Vogel, for a mid-career playwright to create a new work. Eisa Davis is the inaugural recipient. From 2020-22, TheVineyard commissioned five daring artists to create new works of alternative theatre:Kirsten Childs’ Aunt Lillian, an autobiographical musical podcast; Maybe Dorothy Was Right, a short film by Ngozi Anyanwu, directed by Anfonso Johnson; On the Beauty of Loss, by Jared Mezzocchi, a live video project; a new musical, 56 Flowers, by Polly Pen,; and The Fish, a one-act play by Madeline Sayet.
SUBMISSION POLICY
The Vineyard does not accept unsolicited scripts for consideration. Playwrights may submit full-length scripts through a literary agent or accompanied by a letter of recommendation from a theatre professional (i.e. an artistic director or literary manager at a professional theatre).