Abe Koogler
Abe Koogler is an Obie Award-winning playwright whose work has premiered at Playwrights Horizons, Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Clubbed Thumb/the Public Theater.
Biography
Koogler writes symphonic, surprising, and darkly comedic plays about ordinary people whose lives are shaped by larger political, economic, and environmental forces. His plays include Deep Blue Sound (Clubbed Thumb / The Public Theater, Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Play), Staff Meal (Playwrights Horizons), Fulfillment Center (Manhattan Theatre Club), Kill Floor (Lincoln Center Theater), Aspen Ideas (Studio Theatre), Lisa, My Friend (Kitchen Dog), and Blue Skies Process (Goodman Theatre). Koogler has won an Obie Award in Playwriting, the Weissberger Award, the Dramatists Guild鈥檚 Lanford Wilson Award, and Theater Master鈥檚 Visionary Playwright Award, among other honors.
Koogler's individual plays are published by Broadway Licensing, and a collection of his plays was recently published by Bloomsbury/Methuen Drama. He earned an MFA in playwriting from UT-Austin's Michener Center, as well as an Artist Diploma in playwriting from Juilliard. His plays have been directed by Arin Arbus, Morgan Green, Daniel Aukin, Lila Neugebauer, Les Waters, and Will Davis. With fellow playwrights Katie Bender and Gab Reisman, he co-founded the Austin-based theatre company Underbelly, which produced immersive journey plays in found spaces. He has also worked for many years as a political speechwriter.
Koogler was a visiting faculty member at Bennington for Spring 2021 and joined the Bennington faculty in Fall 2025.