Program areas at Vineyard Theatre
FY22 marked Vineyard Theatres 39th Season, and our 33rd year at the 138-seat Gertrude and Irving Dimson Theatre in New York Citys Union Square. As we returned to producing live theatre following the pandemic shutdown, Vineyard artists enjoyed a level of success and industry recognition unprecedented in our 40 year history. PRODUCTIONSThe Off-Broadway Vineyard Theatres season in FY22 included three productions on Broadway: Is This A Room, conceived and directed by Tina Satter; Dana H. by Lucas Hnath (Tony Award winner for Best Actress and Best Sound Design in a Play); and Paula Vogels Pulitzer-winning How I Learned to Drive (3 Tony nominations). In addition, The Vineyard produced two productions at our own Union Square venue: Charly Evon Simpsons sandblasted and Lessons in Survival: 1971 (New York Times Critics Pick) by 2022 Vineyard resident company, The Commissary, a 72-member intergenerational artist collective. Combined audiences for this work totalled 82,609, more than four times the average attendance of The Vineyards typical seasons at our 138-seat theatre. Our work also included the Fall Forward Festival of readings and digital work commissioned during the pandemic that include the chamber opera 56 Flowers by Polly Pen; Madeline Sayets play, The Fish; Ngozi Anyanwus short film, Maybe Dorothy Was Right; Kirsten Childs podcast Aunt Lillian, and Jared Mezzocchis groundbreaking On the Beauty of Loss, a work of live digital theatre. Our commitment to innovative work has earned The Vineyard, our artists, and productions two Pulitzer Prizes, five Tony Awards, 29 Obie Awards, two Oppenheimer Awards, and numerous New York Drama Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel, and Drama Desk awards. The Vineyard is proud to have been honored with a special Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, a Drama Desk Award for Artistic Excellence, and the first-ever Ross Wetzsteon Obie Award for support of artists and creativity in the theatre.ARTISTIC RESIDENCIES AND DEVELOPMENTOur Artistic Development programs and Artist Residencies enable us to invest in an artist and their work with ongoing resources over a longer period of time. Eisa Davis was recipient of our first Roth-Vogel New Play Commission for a mid-career playwright to create a new work. Our artist residencies expanded from 3 to 7 this year and all include a $4,000 stipend, a residency to develop new work, access to space, introductions to collaborators, readings and workshops and ongoing dramaturgical support. In FY22, we supported playwright Ryan J. Haddad as our Paula Vogel Playwriting Award winner. Tyler Thomas was the recipient of our Susan Stroman Directing Award. Reggie D. White as winner of the Colman Domingo Award for a Black male generative artist. Additional artist residencies were given to Michael R. Jackson, a duo residency for Sarah Gancher and Jared Mezzocchi, and a space residency for Lightning Rod Special. The Commissarys Lessons in Survival and Lessons in Survival: 1971 were created in their two-year residency and the company is continuing their exploration of found interviews as theatrical texts with a 2022-2023 space residency. EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY OUTREACHWe continued to offer vital opportunities to support the next generation of artists and audiences in NYC. While the pandemic limited our ability to interact face-to-face with students, in spring 2022, we welcomed 140+ students and educators to see the world premiere production of sandblasted by Charly Evon Simpson at our first student matinee in two years. Student Matinee Performances of our mainstage season are bookended by in-class contextualizing lessons with a teaching artist. Additionally, our Housewarming Ticket Initiative enabled students to attend our Broadway productions free of charge. Partner institutions include the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Bronx Community College, Brooklyn College, Columbia University, Duke University, Fordham University, Hunter College, Marymount Manhattan, Molloy College, NYU, Princeton University, St. Johns University, Syracuse University, and Wesleyan University. While our partnering public schools gradually phased back to an in-person curriculum this season, The Vineyard launched the Good Neighbor Program, subsidizing 500 student tickets for our full season, including our works on Broadway. The Vineyard Theatre Student Ensemble (VTSE) continued with an intimate group of 6, one of whom has accepted a full-ride scholarship to the NYU/Stella Adler Studio, where she will pursue training as a professional performing artist. Two of our VTSE members also represented The Vineyard in a citywide 24-Hour Plays Project August 9 and 10, 2021. The Vineyard hosted 8 professional internships in FY22.