Tatiana Kouguell-Hoell ’18

Tatiana Kouguell-Hoell is a writer, producer, and educator. She is passionate about storytelling through playwriting and screenwriting.

Kouguell-Hoell wrote and produced the film New York, Letters of War, an award winner at Berlin Indie Film Festival, as well as official selection for New York Short Film Festival, New York Shorts International Film Festival, and the International New York Film Festival.

Through her work she examines the world of women+ today through a blend of socio-political rigor, whimsical magical realism, and stylized poeticism.

She graduated with an MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University and is currently a Senior Project mentor for the Playwriting and Screenwriting Department at Purchase College.

Excerpted from tatianakougellhoell.com

Q+A

Did the work you did at Purchase contribute to what you are doing today?

I believe the work that I developed in Making New Plays, which Christina Anderson was teaching at the time, along with the playwriting classes with Peggy Stafford, MJ Kaufman, Lenora Champagne and Bess Rowen, informed what I continue to write today. The themes I started to explore during that time I’ve been able to build upon, and the writing exercises, plays and performances that these professors shared with us continue to be material that I still utilize and look back on when creating new work.

What did you find best about your studies in PWSW?

While studying at Purchase I took an amazing course that focused specifically on female-identifying playwrights with Bess Rowen. This class exposed me to some of my favorite playwrights who continue to inspire my work: Suzan Lori Parks, Caryl Churchill, Lynn Nottage and Sarah Ruhl.

Reading and studying Sarah Ruhl’s work and the way she magically personalized stage directions in a way that creates a conversation with the reader and audience, has been and continues to be a major influence for me. When I was reading her work, there was one line that Eurydice says that always stayed with me, “ I was not lonely, only alone with myself, begging myself not to leave my own body…but I was leaving,” and at the time it made me feel like I wasn’t alone, and that’s what I aspire to do in my own writing.

I know you’ve continued to write (congrats on everything - so great) – so…What are you working on these days?

I am currently developing my thesis play at Columbia University, the play will run at Lenfest Center for the Arts June 16 and 18. Bleecker Street Brides follows the story of Emmy who is getting married today…right? While getting stoned with her grandmother in a bathtub on her wedding day, Emmy’s grandmother warns her that two old family friends might be coming to the wedding: Sex and Death.

—2022