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

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

, founder of Tectonic Theater Project based in New York City, and co-founder of Miami New Drama at the Colony Theatre. He was awarded the 2016

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 ...

by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. He is best known for creating '' The Laramie Project'' (2000) with other members of Tectonic Theater Project. 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 (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 northern p ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, he moved as a young man to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1987.

Biography

Kaufman is of Romanian-Jewish and Ukrainian-Jewish descent, and was born in

Caracas, Venezuela Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (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 northern p ...

. He is an alumnus of Venezuela's Universidad Metropolitana, where he began to study theatre. After immigrating to the United States, he went to college in New York and graduated from NYU. In 2005 he described himself in an interview by saying, "I am Venezuelan, I am Jewish, I am gay, 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 Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 2002, following the premiere of '' The Laramie Project'', 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. He made his Broadway directing debut in the 2004 production of '' I Am My Own Wife'' by Doug Wright, for which he received a

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

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

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

. He is the first Venezuelan to receive the honor. In 2022, Kaufman was included in the book ''50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre'', profiled in a chapter written by theatre scholar Bess Rowen.

Stage credits

As playwright

* '' Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde'' (1997) * '' The Laramie Project'' (2000) * '' 33 Variations'' (2009) * ''One Arm'' (2011) (adaptation) * ''London Mosquitoes'' (2011) * '' Here There Are Blueberries'' (2018) * ''Greed'' (2021)

As director

* ''Women in Beckett'' (1991) * ''The Nest'' (1994) * ''Marlowe's Eyes'' (1996) * '' Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde'' (1997) * '' The Laramie Project'' (2000) * '' I Am My Own Wife'' (2003, his Broadway debut) * '' Master Class'' (2004) with Rita Moreno * '' Lady Windermere's Fan'' (2005) * '' This Is How It Goes'' (2005) (Donmar Warehouse) starring Ben Chaplin * ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'' (2006) ( The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park) starring Liev Schreiber * '' 33 Variations'' (2009) (Broadway) starring Jane Fonda * '' Into the Woods'' (2009) * ''Puss in Boots (El Gato con Botas)'' (2010) * '' Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo'' (2011) (Broadway) starring Robin Williams * ''One Arm'' (2011) * ''The Nightingale'' (2012) * '' The Heiress'' (2012) (Broadway) with Jessica Chastain * '' Torch Song'' (2018) (Broadway) * '' Paradise Square'' (2018) (Berkeley Rep, Chicago, Broadway) * '' Here There Are Blueberries'' (2018) * ''Seven Deadly Sins'' (2021)

Film and television credits

* '' The Laramie Project'' (2002) * '' The L Word'' (2006–07, 2 episodes)

Awards

* 1997 Joe A. Callaway Award for excellence in directing: ''Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde'' * 1998 Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Play: ''Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde'' * Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award: ''Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde'' * 2002

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

Nomination Best Director: ''The Laramie Project'' (HBO) * 2002

Nomination Best Writing (with the members of Tectonic Theater): ''The Laramie Project'' (HBO) * 2002 Golden Bear Award from the Berlin Film Festival: ''The Laramie Project'' (HBO) * 2002 National Board of Review Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie: ''The Laramie Project'' (HBO) * 2002 Humanitas Prize: ''The Laramie Project'' (HBO) * 2002 GLAAD Media Award: ''The Laramie Project'' (HBO) * 2004

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

Best Director: ''I Am My Own Wife'' * 2004

Nomination Best Director: ''I Am My Own Wife'' * 2004 Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Director: ''I Am My Own Wife'' * 2007 2007 Edgerton New American Play Award ''33 Variations'' * 2008 Harold and Mimi Steinberg / American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award. 0 ''33 Variations'' * 2009

Nomination Best Play: ''33 Variations'' * 2016

given by President Barack Obama * 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Nomination: ''Here There Are Blueberries'' *

* Lambda Book Award * Venezuela's Casa del Artista * American Library Association's LGBT Literature Award * Matthew Shepard Foundation's "Making A Difference Award" * Artistic Integrity Award from the Human Rights Campaign * Carbonell Award * 2024 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Drama: ''Here There Are Blueberries'' * 2024 Helen Hayes Award: Best Direction ''Here There Are Blueberries'' Shakespeare Theater Company * 2024 Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors: Outstanding Achievement in Directing ''Here There Are Blueberries'' * 2024 Carbonell Award: "Las Aventuras de Juan Planchard" * 2024 37th Annual Erwin Piscator Award * 2025 Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Play: Here There Are Blueberries

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 Jews Venezuelan gay writers 1963 births Living people Lambda Literary Award for Drama winners Stonewall Book Award winners Venezuelan emigrants to the United States Gay dramatists and playwrights Male dramatists and playwrights New York University alumni Venezuelan dramatists and playwrights United States National Medal of Arts recipients Universidad Metropolitana alumni Venezuelan theatre directors