BARDS ON THE BAY
at the Nancy Nordhoff Center
Introducing America’s newest artist retreat in Wellfleet, MA dedicated to new and established playwrights and composers
Let’s create something meaningful together
A SEEDBED FOR PLAYWRIGHTS IN AMERICAN THEATRE
Bards on the Bay at the Nancy Nordhoff Center is a new residency and development center for playwrights and theatrical composers, opening in 2028 in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Founded by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel and longtime Huntington Theatre managing director Michael Maso, the organization is being created to give writers the time, space, and artistic community needed to develop new work for the American stage.
Set on a historic four-acre property overlooking Cape Cod Bay, the Nancy Nordhoff Center will provide multiple-week residencies, readings, and shared gatherings for theatre makers in an inspiring coastal environment. The center draws on the teaching legacy of Paula Vogel and the producing and nonprofit leadership of Michael Maso, whose decades at the Huntington helped shape one of the country’s leading regional theatres.
The organization also honors a broader tradition of artist-centered retreat spaces through the support of Grace Nordhoff and her family’s longstanding commitment to writers and the arts. Together, the founders are creating a home where new voices can emerge, established artists can deepen their practice, and the next generation of theatre can take root.
Champion the Future of American Theatre
Donate today to make a difference
Bard At The Gate, Inc. DBA Bards On The Bay is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation and your donation is tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.
Donations may be made in honor or in memory of a loved one. We will happily send a card to the honored person, or family of the loved one remembered. Please include their information in your email to Info@BardsOnTheBay.org
History
Designed in 1948 by architects Nathaniel Saltonstall and Oliver P. Morton, this remarkable property sits amid the rolling hills overlooking Wellfleet Harbor. It first opened as the Mayo Hill Colony Club, a private enclave and gallery for artists and their patrons. Each Bauhaus-inspired cottage was conceived with elegant functionality in mind and furnished with works by leading modernist designers of the era.
In 1963, Loris and Eleanor Stefani acquired the cottages and reimagined them as a public retreat, renaming it The Colony. From the beginning, they infused the property with their own creative vision, incorporating Loris’s artwork and cultivating a distinctive artistic atmosphere. Their stewardship, continued by their son Jeffrey and his wife Mihae since 2019, shaped The Colony into a cherished summer destinations.
Over the years many guests have visited and enjoyed this beautiful property and its charming cottages including Paul Newman, Faye Dunaway, Lionel and Diana Trilling, Bernard Malamud, William Shirer, and Margaret Mahler, among many others. Artists, writers, scholars, and generations of returning visitors have all found inspiration here, drawn by the same sense of calm, and creativity.
And now a new chapter begins with Bards On The Bay.
Leadership
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Paula Vogel
CO-FOUNDER
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 to 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
CO-FOUNDER
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.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Eisa Davis
Brian Herrara
Grant A. Rice
Sam Rudy
Rosey Strub
Paula Vogel
Chay Yew
ADVISORY COUNCIL
May Adrales
Jill Dolan
Sasha Emerson
Brian Eugenio Herrera
Quiara Hudes
Gregg Mozgala
Valerie Curtis-Newton
Lynn Nottage
Sarah Ruhl
KJ Sanchez
Regina Victor
Pirronne Yousefzadeh
Bards On The Bay
at the Nancy Nordhoff Center
640 Chequessett Neck Road
Wellfleet, MA 02667
Copyright © 2026 Bard at the Gate, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved. Photography by Nauset Media.