Playwright Eisa Davis is the first recipient of Vineyard Theatre's Roth-Vogel New Play Commission, given in partnership with 12-time Tony- and Olivier Award–winning producer Daryl Roth and Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Paula Vogel. Roth and Vogel previously teamed up on the premiere productions of How I Learned to Drive and Indecent.
Obie winner Davis' previous plays include Paper Armor, Six Minutes, and The History of Light. She has also written and performed her original music, releasing two albums, Something Else and Tinctures.
"We are honored to partner with Daryl Roth and Paula Vogel to launch the Roth-Vogel New Play Commission at The Vineyard. With this new annual commission, we hope to recognize and invest in writers whose voices need more prominence in our changing world, and to support them with the time, space, and attention to create the new work that they've hoped but not yet dared to write," shares Vineyard Artistic Directors Sarah Stern and Douglas Aibel.
"We have admired Eisa Davis as an artist and person for years. In her plays, she illuminates the complexities of her characters' inner lives with passion, humor, intelligence, and honesty. Her voice is an original and necessary one in the theatre, and we are thrilled by the prospect of more stories that only she can tell."
While Davis is the first recipient of the commission, Vineyard will name a recipient in the mid-to-late point in their career annually to create and develop an original play with the Off-Broadway company. The theatre just wrapped up performances of 2019 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award winner Charly Evon Simpson's sandblasted,and will next run a full production of the Tyler Thomas-directed play Lessons in Survival: 1971.
READ: Vineyard Updates Season to Include Lessons in Survival: 1971
