Moisés Kaufman is an award-winning director and playwright, whose plays have engrossed audiences around the world. He is also the founder and artistic director of the New York-based Tectonic Theater Project, the group that traveled to Wyoming to help research the play The Laramie Project (2000).

Kaufman was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. He attended a business school for a while but grew bored with that subject and joined a local dramatic group, Thespis. At the age of twenty-three, Kaufman decided he wanted to become a director. It was around this same time, writes American Theatre's Don Shewey, that Kaufman also came "to grips with his homosexuality" and decided to move to New York. While in the States, Kaufman continued his studies in the dramatic arts at New York University.

Kaufman's homeland, however, has not forgotten him. Venezuela demonstrated its pride for its...