Ryan J. Haddad Recieves Vineyard Theatre's 2021-22 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award

Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern announce that Ryan J. Haddad is the recipient of the 2021-22 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award. Haddad will be presented with the award at The Vineyard's Emerging Artists Celebration on Friday, November 12 at 5:00pm at Broken Shaker Cocktail Bar at Freehand (23 Lexington Avenue). Is This A Room's creator and director, Tina Satter and Emily Davis, who plays Reality Winner on Broadway, are set to host the event. Following the award presentation, and continuing with the tradition of a conversation with the previous year's recipient, John Caswell, Jr. (2020 Paula Vogel Award recipient) will sit down with Haddad for a Q and A.

Ryan J. Haddad is the 14th recipient of Vineyard Theatre's Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, named in honor of playwright and teacher Paula Vogel, whose plays Indecent, How I Learned To Drive (Pulitzer Prize for Drama), and The Long Christmas Ride Home premiered at The Vineyard. The residency-based award is given each year to an emerging writer of exceptional promise, and comes with a cash prize and artistic development support.

Ryan J. Haddad is an actor, playwright, and autobiographical performer based in New York. His acclaimed solo play Hi, Are You Single? was presented in The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival and subsequently produced at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in association with IAMA. His plays include Good Time Charlie (Berkeley Rep Ground Floor, Public Theater Emerging Writers Group), Dark Disabled Stories (in development with The Bushwick Starr), Hold Me in the Water (commissioned by Noor Theatre), and My Straighties (Ars Nova/ANT Fest). He recurs as Andrew on the Netflix series "The Politician." and has been seen in the cabaret show Falling for Make Believe at Joe's Pub/Under the Radar. He most recently wrote the libretto for an episode of Boston Lyric Opera's streaming miniseries desert in and contributed as a writer/performer to Signature Theatre's The Watering Hole, created by Lynn Nottage and Miranda Haymon. Haddad is a recipient of IAMA Theatre Company's Shonda Rhimes Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission and Rising Phoenix Repertory's Cornelia Street American Playwriting Award. His essays have been published in the New York Times, Out Magazine, and American Theatre. He is an alum of The Public Theater's Emerging Writers Group, a 2020 Disability Futures Fellow, and a former Queer|Art Performance and Playwriting Fellow, under the mentorship of Moe Angelos. Haddad can be found on social media @ryanjhaddad and ryanjhaddad.com.

Previous recipients of the award include John J. Caswell Jr., Charly Evon Simpson, Jeremy O. Harris, Antoinette Nwandu, Kate Tarker, Boo Killebrew, Clare Barron, Christopher Chen, Erika Sheffer, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Kara Lee Corthron, Rajiv Joseph, and Tarell Alvin McCraney.

The Vineyard's Paula Vogel Playwriting Award is made possible through the generosity of The Tournesol Project.

Paula Vogel's long and cherished relationship with The Vineyard began with the theatre's acclaimed production of How I Learned To Drive, directed by Mark Brokaw; the play won the Pulitzer Prize, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards for Best Play; and is premiering on Broadway in 2021. Her most recent production at The Vineyard, Indecent, moved to Broadway in 2017, marking Vogel's Broadway debut and winning two Tony Awards. Ms. Vogel's play The Long Christmas Ride Home, also directed by Mark Brokaw, premiered at The Vineyard in 2001. Her other plays include A Civil War Christmas, The Mineola Twins, Hot 'N' Throbbing, The Baltimore Waltz, Desdemona, Baby Makes Seven, and The Oldest Profession.

The Vineyard's artistic development and education programs provide artists with support and resources to develop new plays and musicals, as well as free in-school and after school theatre arts programs for public high school students that normally culminates in the REBEL VERSES Youth Arts Festival, in collaboration with Developing Artists. The theatre awards the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award and Colman Domingo Award annually, and the Susan Stroman Directing Award biennially.

Tickets for this year's Emerging Artists Celebration are $250 for VIP tickets, $150 for event tickets, and $75 for Early Bird (through 11/1/2021 only) tickets, sponsorship opportunities available at $5,000. Capacity is limited. Tickets to the event are available at https://www.vineyardtheatre.org/emerging-artists-celebration-2021/. For more information about the event, please contact Onastasia Ebright at 646-931-4719 or email oebright@vineyardtheatre.org.