Caroline Jane Prugh, age 50, passed away at Weill Cornell Medical Center on May 13, 2024. She is survived by her wife, Paige van den Burg, her mother Jane, brother Russell, sister-in-law Katherine Prugh, and Amanda van den Burg  and by her nieces and nephew Marin Prugh, Elizabeth, Zofia and Hugh van den Burg.

Diagnosed as a child with Marfans Syndrome, a disorder of the connective tissue that severely impacts the heart, Caroline lived well beyond the span doctors predicted for her. As a result, she approached every day as a gift to be lived with passion, curiosity and love for friends and family.

Caroline nurtured a lifelong love affair with the American theatre. Her first decade in New York was spent working for Stuart Thompson Productions as part of a general management team that handled over twenty-five Broadway shows including Tony winners Proof, Take Me Out, and God of Carnage. Working for Stuart, Caroline attended the theatre nearly every night, and developed attachments to old Broadway haunts like Sardi’s. Her loyalty and belief in Stuart’s work was deeply felt. She left the postion to attend the MFA Dramatic Writing Program at Columbia University, to further her career as a professional playwright.

Caroline was a writer of rare sensitivity and ambition. Her plays, rendered in rich poetic language, are peopled by wild, queer characters wrestling with history, social convention, and familial obligation. Her plays have been presented at theatres and festivals across the US. Notable productions include an award-winning presentation of her lesbian coming-of-age comedy, It’s Only Kickball, Stupid (Kef Productions, NYC) and an ambition staging of her era-spanning epic, Rise and Fall (Tricklock Company, Albuquerque NM). Caroline was also a gifted and generous artistic collaborator. With her writing partner Cat Miller she wrote You Will Never Read This, presented as part of LadyFest 2017 at The Tank (NY). With composer/lyricist Bobby Cronin, Caroline wrote the musical Til Death Do Us Part, which was awarded San Diego State University’s New Musical Initiative award.

Caroline was an accomplished artist in her own right, but also served as champion, muse and advocate for her friends in the arts. She surrounded herself with theatre makers whose work she loved, providing support and encouragement in hard times and celebrating their victories in good times. Above all, she urged her friends to keep making things – to put more of themselves and their art into the world.

She was able to share her love for theatre in her position as a Guest Artist at The University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Caroline was an excellent teacher, and kindled the careers of a number of young theatre artists. She imparted a sense of agency and confidence to her students, and was especially helpful in presenting models of success to emerging female artists.

Caroline’s deep faith and commitment to social justice were reflected in her many activities at All Saints’ Episcopal Church.

Most recently, Caroline helped found Gamiotics, a software platform used in interactive theatre performances. In this role, Caroline contributed to the development of Twenty Sided Tavern, an Off-Broadway show that she was working on at the time of her passing. The show kept Caroline in the theatre, which is where she found her greatest happiness and fulfillment.

Her twenty-eight year marriage to her wife, Paige van den Burg, was the most significant relationship of her life. Caroline spoke of her wife as her home, and their marriage as a place of comfort, a foundation that allowed for freedom and exploration. She tended to this relationship with diligence and care, elevating her love for Paige above all other concerns.

Those who knew Caroline will never forget her. Her laughter, enthusiasm, optimism and intelligence remain incadescent, indeliable, irreplaceable. In her absence, she will be loved, and she will be missed.

Gregory Moss

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