Deen Kogan Receives Special Recognition Award from Theatre Alliance

The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia presented a Special Recognition Award to Deen Kogan, and posthumously, to her husband Jay Kogan, at an annual Membership Meeting and press conference announcing the nominations for the 2009 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre. The Kogans were spotlighted this year in honor of the 50th anniversary season of Society Hill Playhouse, which they founded.

"We are pleased to recognize Deen Kogan and her husband Jay Kogan for their pioneering vision of a theatre community for Philadelphia and their ongoing commitment to that vision. As an arts institution functioning as much more than a presenter of plays, Society Hill Playhouse has encouraged interaction from Philadelphians, not only as spectators but in every aspect of making theatre, reinforcing Society Hill Playhouse's expanding role in the community," said Taylor Williams, Chair of the Barrymore Oversight Committee.

Deen Kogan founded Society Hill Playhouse with her husband Jay, in 1960. Together they created the first professionally operated theatre in Philadelphia to showcase the contemporary repertoire, both American and European, and this theatre has served as the model for the younger theatres which have prospered in Philadelphia since the late seventies.

During its forty-nine year history, Society Hill Playhouse has produced hundreds of area premieres on its Main Stage (from Brecht/Weill's Threepenny Opera in 1962 to Jean Genet's The Blacks in 1965 to Brian Friels' Volunteers in 1978 and Freedom of the City in 1979 to Eduardo Manet's The Day Mary Shelley Met Charlotte Bronte in 1992 to James Sherman's Beau Jest in 1993 to Rachel Wyatt's Crackpot in 1996). The Second Space Theatre (also known as The Red Room & Cabaret Theatre) opened in 1986 with William Gibson's Handy Dandy and counts among its premieres the Manuel Puiz drama, The Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1987, Christopher Durang's Laughing Wild in 1988, and the commissioned work, Lafferty's Wake by Susan Turlish in 1996 which ended a five-year run in 2001. It now serves as home to BCKSEET Productions, an emerging theatre company, and provides space for many cabaret attractions.

Over the years, many experiments initiated by the Kogans at Society Hill Playhouse were later adopted by other theatres of the world: public script-in-hand readings, playwrights' workshops, one-act play marathons, and Philadelphia's first Street Theatre. Major productions were presented city-wide in cooperation with the City of Philadelphia in parks and playgrounds. For five years, material was presented at Independence Hall in cooperation with the National Park Service and in 1987 The Great American Soapbox was structured as part of the Constitutional celebration.

The Kogans also pioneered areas of experimental Theatre Projects, educational outreach, and public service programs. They developed Philadelphia's first Writer's Project, which produced new plays by area playwrights. The first Street Theatre was produced by the Kogans and performed in the neighborhoods of Philadelphia during the summers of 1968, 1969 and 1970. The Philadelphia Youth Theatre which was patterned after the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain was initiated by the Kogans in 1970 and worked in cooperation with the School District of Philadelphia, serving thousands of young people for twenty-five years. In the late seventies, working with the federal government via the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, Mrs. Kogan recruited, trained and developed a company of performers to take theatre to senior and institutionalized populations throughout the Delaware Valley.

Outside of the theatre, Deen has a strong secondary interest: Detective and Crime Fiction, and has often been called ‘the first lady of mystery'. She has produced four BOUCHERCONS, the World Mystery Convention attended by 2,000 people; ten Mid Atlantic Mystery convocations and two conventions, Goodiscon 2006 and Noircon 2007, which attracted an international membership. She reviews for the Philadelphia Inquirer and mystery fiction publications; writes on crime fiction for the Philadelphia Irish Edition; judges for the Independent Publishers Association and chairs the International Association of Crime Writers' Dashiell Hammett Award Committee. She has a personal collection of more than 40,000 volumes of detective fiction.

The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia strengthens and leads the region's richly diverse theatre community, by promoting awareness and serving as a resource for information, professional development and advocacy. More information is available online at www.theatrealliance.org or by calling (215) 413-7150.

 

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