School Notes: David Geffen School of Drama
March/April 2008

Prizewinning author to chair playwriting department

Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel, author of How I Learned to Drive and The Baltimore Waltz, among other plays, has been appointed the Eugene O'Neill Professor (Adjunct) and chair of the Department of Playwriting at the School of Drama, effective July 1. Vogel comes to Yale from Brown University, where she has served as the director of MFA and undergraduate playwriting since 1984.

"Paula Vogel has distinguished herself as a unique and profoundly accomplished playwright and teacher," said Dean James Bundy ’95MFA. "Her artistic achievements are matched only by her tireless commitment to, and remarkable track record in, the training and mentoring of young writers." Vogel added that she is "delighted and honored" to join the drama school faculty. "My two decades of teaching have convinced me that we have one of the most exciting generations in playwriting now emerging," she said. "Yale is well positioned to launch, sustain, and inspire the paths of American artists in the theater through its dedication to a rigorous, passionate, and communal inquiry and practice of theater."

Alumni on stage from coast to coast

Yale Repertory Theatre's world-premiere production this winter of The Evildoers by David Adjmi featured YSD alumni in a number of key production roles. Directed by Rebecca Bayla Taichman ’01MFA, the production featured sets by Tony nominee Riccardo Hernandez ’92Dra, costumes by Tony winner Susan Hilferty ’80MFA, and lighting by Stephen Strawbridge ’83MFA (cochair of the YSD design department).

In California, South Coast Repertory recently presented the West Coast premiere of A Feminine Ending by Sarah Treem ’05MFA, which was directed by Timothy Douglas ’86MFA and featured lighting design by Peter Maradudin ’84MFA and original music by Vincent Olivieri ’01MFA. The cast included Amy Aquino ’86MFA, Peter Katona ’01MFA, and Jedadiah Schultz ’05MFA. A Feminine Ending was produced in association with Portland Center Stage, where it plays through March 23.