Paula Vogel and Michael Maso Establish New Writers Retreat Bards on the Cape

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The new residential program will be based on Cape Cod, offering playwrights an immersive creative environment.

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Bards on the Bay is set to open in 2028 at The Nancy Nordhoff Theatre Center in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, it has been announced by the arts center's co-founders and two of the form's leading advocates, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel , the preeminent teacher of playwriting in the U.S.; and Michael Maso , the former Managing Director (for 41 years) of the Huntington Theatre in Boston. They are joined by Grace Nordhoff, a philanthropist whose family has a long history of supporting writers and the arts in the Pacific Northwest, thus making BARDS ON THE BAY a true coast-to-coast undertaking to support American Playwrights and their craft.

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BARDS ON THE BAY, set on a storied four-acre property where six Bauhaus-style cottages overlook Cape Cod Bay, will provide writers with a much-needed outlet that supports playwrights and theatrical composers and is tailored to their artistic needs with multiple week residencies, unfettered writing time, readings, and communal gatherings with fellow writers and mentors.

This new enterprise is subtitled: A SEEDBED FOR PLAYWRIGHTS IN AMERICAN THEATRE. Rosey Strub – currently VP of Artistic Strategy at Concord Theatricals – will serve as Strategic Adviser. She previously was one of the collaborators with Ms. Vogel on the pandemic-era virtual play series BARD AT THE GATE.

Ms. Vogel states, “We are in the most perilous time ever for writing and producing new plays. Major development centers including Sundance Theatre Lab, The Lark and Space at Ryder Farm have shuttered, along with the elimination of money from theatre budgets. We want to bring writers to Wellfleet, which teems with oysters and art. With BARDS ON THE BAY, emerging and senior writers can mingle, share ideas and write the next plays to enrich our stages. Their voices must continue to be heard during this turbulent time.”

THE NANCY NORDHOFF THEATRE CENTER resurrects the little-known history of the four-acre property -- locally known as The Colony at Wellfleet -- which dates back to 1948 when the Bauhaus cottages were designed and built -- each one distinctive in style from the others -- and eventually became hideaways for leading actors and artists of that era, including Paul Newman , Faye Dunaway , Bernard Malamud and Lionel and Diane Trilling. The striking mid-century modern Bauhaus-style cottages were designed by architects Nathaniel Saltonstall and Oliver P. Morton, with an emphasis in every cottage on one of the Cape's greatest commodities – light!!

When Ms. Vogel – a decades-long resident of Wellfleet – discovered two years ago that the property was for sale, she recruited Mr. Maso, a resident of nearby Truro, and Ms. Nordhoff, a philanthropist with a deep commitment to and understanding of writers' retreats. Ms. Nordhoff purchased the property a few months ago through her newly-formed Carry It On LLC, and is making it available to BARDS ON THE BAY for its programming. The founders are leading the effort minus compensation.

The recent transaction marked the first time in over 60 years that the property had been listed for sale. Ms. Nordhoff states, “I purchased this historic property to express gratitude to my mother Nancy Nordhoff, who started a retreat for women writers called Hedgebrook 40 years ago, a proposition unheard of at the time. I learned two things from Mom: the value of respecting the land and the value of creating a beautiful home for artists so they and the land can thrive, With this collective effort we will reclaim space and create a new playwright residency for theatre artists to make work that is equal measures of joy, defiance, insight and beauty.”

The BARDS ON THE BAY founders note that core programming beginning 2028 will offer one to three week stays. Composers, lyricists, playwrights are not obligated to end their residencies with a finished product. The selection of writers – by members of BARDS ON THE BAY advisory board along with leaders from regional theatres across the U.S. – will include consideration of intergenerational creatives.

The founders expect the summer retreats will be book-ended by spring and fall community programming – adding to the already-robust year-round life on the Outer Cape.

Mr. Maso adds, “An important aspect of programming will occur off-season, focused on the year-round community of Wellfleet and the Outer Cape. Since Paula is one of the theatre's great teachers, she will be the driving force in the creation of programs that extend our services to our adopted community. We are honored to be part of the remarkable legacy of artists and writers who have thrived and created indispensable work for over a century in Wellfleet, Truro and Provincetown.”

BARDS ON THE BAY is inspired by the success of Ms. Vogel's bold Covid shutdown series, BARD AT THE GATE, which presented 12 new works performed by actors on Zoom. Works by such celebrated writers Eisa Davis , Jose Rivera , Kermit Frazier and Lloyd Suh were presented online, playing to an audience of over ten thousand viewers. BARD AT THE GATE proved a balm to playwrights, directors and actors -- along with a theatre audience starved of in-person theatre.

Grace Nordhoff, a former small business owner in Durham, NC, and a Seattle-based non-profit and community volunteer, hails from two notable business families in Seattle. Her mother co-founded HEDGEBROOK, a retreat for women writers, on an old dairy farm on an island in Puget Sound. Ms. Nordhoff is a past President of the Seattle Public Library Foundation board, a seasoned veteran of the Hedgebrook board and a current public member of the Urban Libraries Council board.

Playwright Sarah Ruhl , one of the scores of playwrights mentored by Paula Vogel through the years, adds: “This brand new refuge for playwrights could not be needed more urgently. Writers of all ages need to dream, collaborate and write. They also need to breathe outside the pressures of production and this gorgeous haven will be a sanctuary and a beacon.”

Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Quiara Hudes adds, “ Paula Vogel has stewarded generations of playwrights as they develop ferocious and singular voices. In addition to Vogel's form-expanding body of work, her decades-long teaching is a major legacy that expands now with a retreat center for playwrights in Wellfleet. Huge plays, important plays will be born there. American theater, get ready: you about to grow, girl.”

Paula Vogel received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her searing play HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE, directed by the late Mark Brokaw . A recent revival of DRIVE was nominated for a Tony Award, along with her plays INDECENT and MOTHER PLAY. Other works for the stage include THE LONG CHRISTMAS RIDE HOME, THE BALTIMORE WALTZ and CIVIL WAR CHRISTMAS. She was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2013. A longtime teacher, she oversaw the playwriting program at Brown University from 1984 to 2008, and until 2012 she was Yale School of Drama's Eugene O'Neill Professor of Playwriting and department chair, and was also playwright in residence. In addition to her work in the classroom, Paula has led enormously popular Boot Camps for playwriting - open to the public - in theatres, auditoriums and public spaces across the country for many years.

Michael Maso led The Huntington's administrative and financial operations as managing director from 1982 to 2023, producing more than 260 productions alongside four artistic directors. He is one of the most respected executives in the theatre community, having received numerous honors including the Commonwealth Award and the Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence. Under his stewardship, Huntington received over 150 Elliot Norton and Independent Reviewers of New England Awards, as well as the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. He spearheaded the 10-year drive to build the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts and the recent renovation of the Huntington Theatre, and was the president of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) - winner of a 2026 Special Tony Award – from 1997 to 2005.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/boston/article/Paula-Vogel-and-Michael-Maso-to-Launch-New-Writers-Retreat-BARDS-ON-THE-CAPE-20260622)._