Moisés Kaufman (born November 21, 1963) is a Venezuelan theater

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

, filmmaker,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, founder of

Tectonic Theater Project Tectonic Theater Project is a stage and theatre group whose plays have been performed around the world. The company is dedicated to developing works that explore theatrical language and form, fostering dialogue with audiences on the social, pol ...

, based in New York City, and co-founder of

Miami New Drama Miami New Drama is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit professional theater company located in Miami Beach, Florida, Miami Beach, Florida, founded in 2014. Since October 2016 it has been the resident theater company and operator of the historic Col ...

at the

Colony Theatre The Colony Theatre is a performing arts venue located on Lincoln Road in Miami, Florida. The theatre first opened as a Paramount Pictures movie house in 1935 with a capacity to sit 1,200 people. From the 1950s - 1990s, it functioned back and forth ...

. He was awarded the 2016 National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama. He is best known for creating ''

The Laramie Project ''The Laramie Project'' is a 2000 play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project (specifically, Leigh Fondakowski, writer-director; Stephen Belber, Greg Pierotti, Barbara Pitts, Stephen Wangh, Amanda Gronich, Sara Lambert, ...

'' (2000) with other members of

. He has directed extensively on Broadway and Internationally, and is the author of numerous plays, including '' Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde'' and '' 33 Variations''. Born and raised in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, he moved as a young man to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1987.

Biography

Kaufman is of

Romanian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...

and

Ukrainian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Some of the most important Jewish religious and ...

descent, and was born in

Caracas, Venezuela Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

. He is an alumnus of Venezuela's

Universidad Metropolitana The Metropolitan University ( es, Universidad Metropolitana) (Unimet) is a Venezuelan university founded in 1970 by a group of entrepreneurs led by Eugenio Mendoza Goiticoa in the terrains donated by the businessman Pius Schlageter, father of ...

, where he began to study theatre. After immigrating to the United States, he went to college in New York and graduated from

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. In 2005 he described himself in an interview by saying, "I am Venezuelan, I am Jewish, I am

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, I live in New York. I am the sum of all my cultures. I couldn't write anything that didn't incorporate all that I am." Kaufman was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 2002, following the premiere of ''

'', which was based on extensive interviews with residents and commentators in and around Wyoming who were involved with the aftermath of the murder of gay student

Matthew Shepard Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was a gay American student at the University of Wyoming who was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie on the night of October 6, 1998. He was taken by rescuers to Pou ...

. He made his

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

directing debut in the 2004 production of ''

I Am My Own Wife ''I Am My Own Wife'' is a play by Doug Wright based on his conversations with the German antiquarian Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. The one-man play premiered Off-Broadway in 2003 at Playwrights Horizons. It opened on Broadway later that year. The p ...

'' by

Doug Wright Douglas Wright (born December 20, 1962) is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2004 for his play ''I Am My Own Wife''. Early years Wright was born in Dallas, Texas. He attended and ...

, for which he received a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

nomination for Best Direction of a Play. On September 22, 2016, Kaufman was awarded the

National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...

and Humanities in a ceremony conducted by U.S. president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

. He is the first Venezuelan to receive the honor.

Awards

* 2016

given to him by President Barack Obama * Obie Award - (Best Director) I AM MY OWN WIFE * Guggenheim Fellowship * Tony Award Nomination (Best Director) I AM MY OWN WIFE * Tony Award Nomination (Best Playwright) 33 VARIATIONS (with Jane Fonda) * National Board of Review Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie - THE LARAMIE PROJECT FILM (HBO) *

Humanitas Prize The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...

* Emmy Nomination (Dest Director) The Laramie Project Film (HBO) * Emmy Nomination (Best Screenwriter - with the Members of Tectonic Theater) THE LARAMIE PROJECT FILM (HBO) * Golden Bear Award from the

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

THE LARAMIE PROJECT FILM (HBO) * Steinberg/ATCA Best New Play Award—2008: ''33 Variations'' *

Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newspa ...

BEST DIRECTOR: GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE. *

Lucille Lortel Award The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatre ...

BEST DIRECTOR: GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE. *

GLAAD Media Award The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their live ...

* Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE *

Lambda Lambda (}, ''lám(b)da'') is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiced alveolar lateral approximant . In the system of Greek numerals, lambda has a value of 30. Lambda is derived from the Phoenician Lamed . Lambda gave rise ...

Book Award * Venezuela's Casa del Artista *

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

's LGBT Literature Award *

Matthew Shepard Foundation The Matthew Shepard Foundation is an LGBT nonprofit organization, headquartered in Casper, Wyoming, which was founded in December 1998 by Dennis and Judy Shepard in memory of their son, Matthew. The Foundation runs education, outreach, and adv ...

's "Making A Difference Award" * Artistic Integrity Award from the Human Rights Campaign * Carbonell Award *

Joe A. Callaway Award The Joe A. Callaway Awards are administered by Actors' Equity Association. They were established in 1989 to honor a male and a female actor for the best performance in a classical play in the New York metropolitan area, selected by a panel of crit ...

for excellence in directing, given by The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers

Stage directing credits

* ''

Paradise Square (musical) ''Paradise Square'' is a stage musical, with music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Masi Asare and Nathan Tysen, and a book by Christina Anderson, Larry Kirwan and Craig Lucas. Set in New York City during the Civil War and the New York City draf ...

''. (Berkeley Rep, Chicago, Broadway). * TORCH SONG (Broadway) Tony Nomination - Best Revival of a Play. * THE HEIRESS - with Jessica Chastain (Broadway). * ''

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo ''Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo'' is a play by Rajiv Joseph. The show is about "a tiger that haunts the streets of present-day Baghdad seeking the meaning of life. As he witnesses the puzzling absurdities of war, the tiger encounters Americans ...

'' starring Robin Williams.(Broadway) * '' Puss in Boots (El Gato con Botas)'' * '' 33 Variations'' starring Jane Fonda. (Broadway) * ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'' (starring

Liev Schreiber Isaac Liev Schreiber (; born October 4, 1967) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and narrator. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s after appearing in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywo ...

) for

The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

's Shakespeare in the Park * ''

Lady Windermere's Fan ''Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman'' is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first performed on Saturday, 20 February 1892, at the St James's Theatre in London. The story concerns Lady Windermere, who suspects that her husband is ...

'' * ''

This Is How It Goes ''This Is How It Goes'' is a play by Neil LaBute set in small town America, about the repercussions of an interracial love triangle. The play premiered Off-Broadway in 2005 and also was produced in the West End in 2005. Plot and concept High ...

'' starring Ben Chaplin at the Donmar Warehouse. * ''

Into The Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story ...

'' * ''

Master Class A master class is a Class (education), class given to students of a particular Academic discipline, discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games, or on any other occasion where skills are b ...

'' (with

Rita Moreno Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano; December 11, 1931) is a Puerto Rican actress, dancer, and singer. Noted for her work across different areas of the entertainment industry, she has appeared in numerous film, television, and thea ...

) * ''One Arm'' by

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

* ''

'' (2004, his Broadway debut) * ''

'' (2000) * '' Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde'' * '' Marlow's Eye'' * '' The Nest'' * '' Women in Beckett'' * ''

Machinal ''Machinal'' is a 1928 play by American playwright and journalist Sophie Treadwell, inspired by the real-life case of convicted and executed murderer Ruth Snyder. Its Broadway premiere, directed by Arthur Hopkins, is considered one of the highp ...

'' * '' Coxinga'' * ''The Nightingale'' * ''The Heiress'' * ''

Torch Song Trilogy ''Torch Song Trilogy'' is a collection of three plays by Harvey Fierstein rendered in three acts: ''International Stud'', ''Fugue in a Nursery'', and ''Widows and Children First!'' The story centers on Arnold Beckoff, a Jewish homosexual, drag ...

'' * ''The Album: Here There are Blueberries'' at the

(in collaboration with

)

Film credits

* ''

Television credits

* ''

The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama that aired on Showtime from January 18, 2004 to March 8, 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated with Ilene ...

'' (2 episodes)

References

External links

Interview: Moisés Kaufman
The Jewish Theatre
Tectonic Theater Project
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaufman, Moises Jewish dramatists and playwrights Jewish theatre directors American theatre directors American people of Venezuelan-Jewish descent American people of Romanian-Jewish descent American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Venezuelan Jews Venezuelan people of Romanian-Jewish descent Venezuelan people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent People from Caracas Gay writers LGBT Jews LGBT writers from Venezuela 1963 births Living people Lambda Literary Award for Drama winners Stonewall Book Award winners Venezuelan emigrants to the United States LGBT dramatists and playwrights Male dramatists and playwrights New York University alumni Venezuelan dramatists and playwrights United States National Medal of Arts recipients

Biography

Awards

Stage directing credits

Film credits

Television credits

See also

References

External links