THE STORY: When Anna, an unmarried schoolteacher, is diagnosed with ATD, Acquired Toilet Disease, a fatal new malady with a high risk factor for elementary school teachers, she and her brother Carl take flight to Europe. Anna decides she wants to d

“Brilliant . . . even more ambitious than Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive . . . it covers more ground and is bolder in its storytelling. Vogel’s language is at its most poetic, eloquent and elegiac. In fact, its vivid imagery rivals the prose style of any great American short story writer. The play sounds like it might have been adapted from a beautiful, undiscovered novella.”—New Haven Register “One of the most absorbing evenings of theatre to come along in some time.”—Variety Past and present collide on a snowy Christmas Eve for a troubled family of five. Humorous and heart-wrenching, this beautifully written play proves that magic can be found in the simplest breaths of life. Combining the elements of No theatre and Bunraku with contemporary Western sensibilities, Vogel’s Ride is a mesmerizing homage to the works of Thornton Wilder, including Our Town. A moving and memorable study of the American family careening near the edge of oblivion. Paula Vogel’s plays include The Baltimore Waltz, Mineola Twins, Hot ‘n’ Throbbing, Desdemona, And Baby Makes Seven, among others. Ms. Vogel will be the resident playwright during the Signature Theatre’s 2004–05 season dedicated to her works. She has taught at Brown University in the MFA playwriting program since 1985.

THE STORY: Having slept with Othello's entire encampment, Desdemona revels in her bawdy tales of conquest. Her foils and rapt listeners are the other integral and re-imagined women of this Shakespeare tragedy: Emilia, Desdemona's servant and the wi

Set in the impoverished and bustling Lower East Side of Manhattan at the turn of the 20th century, The God of Vengeance is a memorable urban drama of intrigue and romantic liaisons. The God of Vengeance is a gritty, unflinching yet deftly written play, wherein the complexities of human existence and flaws are explored to their fullest. A brothel owner lives with his family above his place of business, and strives to keep his young daughter innocent of what goes on in the establishment that provides their livelihood. However, the girl's curiosity gets the better of her; upon witnessing the sordid goings on, she rapidly develops a fascination for one of the working girls. First published in 1906, and sporadically staged in the decades to follow, the play is unique for featuring a lesbian love affair - a matter shocking and taboo for its era. After one performance in English in 1923, the entire cast was placed under arrest for indecency. Critics of the time were divided; many noted its artistic qualities, but roundly condemned its frank and unabashed depiction of female homosexuality. Others proclaimed it a great drama, and a culturally significant product of the Yiddish diaspora of New York City.

THE STORY: As Ronald Reagan enters the White House, five aging practitioners of the oldest profession are faced with a diminishing clientele, increased competition for their niche market, and aching joints. With wit, compassion, and humor, they str

THE STORY: Anna, Ruth and Peter await the arrival of their newborn child, but first they must rid the crowded apartment of their three imaginary children.

Chronicles the relationship between Li'l Bit and Uncle Peck through a series of flashbacks as it progresses from friendship to something darker during a series of driving lessons.

THE STORY: It's 1864, and Washington, D.C. is settling down to the coldest Christmas Eve in years. In the White House, President and Mrs. Lincoln plot their gift-giving. On the banks of the Potomac, a young rebel challenges a Union blacksmith's mer

THE STORY: Take Charlene, a suburban mother who writes erotic screenplays for women in order to support her children; add Clyde, her funny, dangerously obsessive and estranged husband; toss in hormonally overcharged teenagers; and layer it all with

In this volume, Lee Brewer Jones examines Paula Vogel as both a playwright and renowned teacher, analyzing texts and early reviews of Vogel's major plays-including Indecent, Desdemona, How I Learned to Drive, and The Baltimore Waltz-before turning attention to her influence upon other major American playwrights, including Sarah Ruhl, Lynn Nottage, and Quiara Alegría Hudes. Chapters explore Vogel's plays in chronological order, consider her early influences and offer detailed accounts of her work in performance. Enriched by an interview with Lynn Nottage and essays from scholars Ana Fernández-Caparrós and Amy Muse, this is a vibrant exploration of Paula Vogel as a major American playwright. By the time Paula Vogel made her Broadway debut with her 2017 Rebecca Taichman collaboration Indecent, she was already an accomplished playwright, with a Pulitzer Prize for How I Learned to Drive (1998) and two Obie Awards. She had also enjoyed a brilliant career as a professor at Brown and Yale with students such as Sarah Ruhl, a MacArthur “Genius” Grant winner, Pulitzer Prize winners Nilo Cruz, Quiara Alegría Hudes, and the only woman to win two Pulitzers for Drama, Lynn Nottage. Vogel's theatre draws upon Russian Formalist Viktor Shklovsky and uses devices such as “defamiliarization” and “negative empathy” to challenge conventional definitions of protagonists and antagonists.