Paula Vogel Founds New Writers’ Retreat, Bards on the Bay

The Colony at Wellfleet.

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June 24, 2026 American Theatre Editors Leave a comment

Paula Vogel Helps Launch New Writers’ Retreat, Bards on the Bay

The new center on Cape Cod plans to host writers for one- to three-week summer stays.

By American Theatre Editors

WELLFLEET, MASS.: Pulitzer-winning playwright Paula Vogel , former Huntington Theatre managing director Michael Maso , and philanthropist Grace Nordhoff are working together to launch a new center for playwrights and theatrical composers that will open in Wellfleet in 2028. The center will be called Bards on the Bay .

The program will take place in six Bauhaus-style cottages on a four-acre property. The center will offer multiple-week residencies, readings, and other gathering opportunities for both writers and mentors. Rosey Strub, the current vice president of artistic strategy at Concord Theatricals , will serve as the program’s strategic advisor.

“We are in the most perilous time ever for writing and producing new plays,” Vogel said in a statement. “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.”

Vogel, a Wellfleet resident, got the idea for Bards on the Bay when she learned that the property, known locally as the Colony, was for sale. The Colony dates back to 1948 and has served as an artistic haven for artists ranging from Paul Newman and Faye Dunaway to Bernard Malamud and Lionel and Diane Trilling. The compound, designed by architects Nathaniel Saltonstall and Oliver P. Motion, emphasizes natural surroundings and light. Indeed, the writer’s dwellings overlook Cape Cod Bay.

The program will offer one- to three-week stays to participants, without an obligation to complete a product during the time of their stay. Participants will be selected by an advisory board of writers and leaders from U.S. regional theatres. There will be an emphasis on selecting participants inter-generationally. The summer programs will be bookended by spring and fall community programming for the public.

“An important aspect of programming will occur off-season, focused on the year-round community of Wellfleet and the Outer Cape,” explained Maso in a statement. “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.”

“This brand-new refuge for playwrights could not be needed more urgently,” said playwright Sarah Ruhl , one of Vogel’s mentees, in a statement. “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.”

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Bards on the BAy Grace Nordhoff Michael Maso Paula Vogel Rosey Strub Sarah Ruhl Showcase The Colony

_Originally reported by [American Theatre](https://www.americantheatre.org/2026/06/24/paula-vogel-helps-launch-new-writers-retreat-bards-on-the-bay/)._