Paula Vogel
Playwright Vogel made history as the first out lesbian to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1998 for How I Learned to Drive, a play that deals with child sexual abuse and incest. She picked up an Obie Award for The Baltimore Waltz, a play about a man dying of AIDS who takes his sister on a trip to Europe. Vogel said it is important to write about these topics and to be openly lesbian as a playwright, “because we must be vigilant about our rights. I remember what the closet looked like, what it felt like, and at my age, I can’t go back there. If we are not out, we can’t pursue our ambitions, our happiness and our wholeness.” Vogel said her proudest accomplishment was “getting married, legally, in Massachusetts to my partner of 17 years,” Anne Fausto-Sterling. Vogel is currently working on A Civil War Christmas, to be produced at Arena Stage this November.
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