In this volume, Lee Brewer Jones examines Paula Vogel as both a playwright and renowned teacher, analyzing texts and early reviews of Vogel's major plays-includingIndecent,Desdemona,How I Learned to Drive, andThe Baltimore Waltz-before turning attention to her influence upon other major American playwrights, including Sarah Ruhl, Lynn Nottage, and Quiara Alegr?a Hudes. Chapters explore Vogel's plays in chronological order, consider her early influences and offer detailed accounts of her work in performance. Enriched by an interview with Lynn Nottage and essays from scholars Ana Fern?ndez-Caparr?s and Amy Muse, this is a vibrant exploration of Paula Vogel as a major American playwright.
By the time Paula Vogel made her Broadway debut with her 2017 Rebecca Taichman collaborationIndecent, she was already an accomplished playwright, with a Pulitzer Prize forHow I Learned to Drive(1998) and two Obie Awards.She had also enjoyed a brilliant career as a professor at Brown and Yale with students such as Sarah Ruhl, a MacArthur Genius Grant winner, Pulitzer Prize winners Nilo Cruz, Quiara Alegr?a Hudes, and the only woman to win two Pulitzers for Drama, Lynn Nottage. Vogel's theatre draws upon Russian Formalist Viktor Shklovsky and uses devices such as defamiliarization and negative empathy to challenge conventional definitions of protagonists and antagonists.
A comprehensive account of the Pulitzer-winning career of Paula Vogel and her influence upon major playwrights Nilo Cruz, Quiara Alegria Hudes, Sarah Ruhl, and Lynn Nottage.
Lee Brewer Jonesis Professor of English at Georgia State University, USA.
Jones's volume will be a useful resource for teachers, students, and Vogel enthusiasts alike for its sheer breadth and contemporary relevance. Theatre Topics
The volume is exceptionally well researched and notated CHOICE
Brewer Jones's writing style is hl£b