The Inheritance, Sea Wall/A Life, Slave Play and Girl From The North Country are among the Broadway nominees of this year’s Drama League Awards, along with a significant shows of Off Broadway productions.
Honoring productions that opened during the COVID-shortened 2019-2020 season, the nominations were announced by Beetlejuice’s Alex Brightman and Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer via livestream last night. Voting is currently open for Drama League members through May 22, with winners to be announced via livestream in June.
Among the individual performers nominated for the League’s Distinguished Performance Award were Raúl Esparza, David Alan Grier, Jonathan Groff, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Hiddleston, Kate Mulgrew, Jonathan Pryce, Tom Sturridge,
Marisa Tomei, Blair Underwood, and Tina‘s Adrienne Warren, among others (see the complete list of nominees below).
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During last night’s specially-named Gratitude Awards, the Drama League honored the late five-time Tony Award winning playwright Terrence McNally (the organization’s lifetime achievement award was accepted by McNally’s husband Tom Kirdahy on his behalf); Marianne Elliott as the recipient of the Founders Award for Excellence in Directing; and James Lapine as the recipient of the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater Award.
The Drama League also announced that “the spirit of The Gratitude Awards” will live on via a new honorary category for next year’s Drama League Awards with The Gratitude Award, for a person or organization who has shown fearless support and kindness to the theater community.
Here are the nominees for 86th Annual The Drama League’s five competitive categories for this year:
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A PLAY
Cambodian Rock Band
Directed by Chay Yew
Written by Lauren Yee
Signature Theatre Company
Dana H.
Directed by Les Waters
Written by Lucas Hnath
Vineyard Theatre
Grand Horizons
Directed by Leigh Silverman
Written by Bess Wohl
Second Stage/Helen Hayes Theater
The Hot Wing King
Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III
Written by Katori Hall
Signature Theatre Company
The Inheritance
Directed by Stephen Daldry
Written by Matthew Lopez
Barrymore Theatre
The Michaels
Written and Directed by Richard Nelson
Public Theater
Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow
Directed by Trip Cullman
Written by Halley Feiffer
MCC Theater
One in Two
Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb
Written by Donja R. Love
The New Group
Sea Wall/A Life
Directed by Carrie Cracknell
Written by Simon Stephens/Nick Payne
Hudson Theater
Seared
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
Written by Theresa Rebeck
MCC Theater
Slave Play
Directed by Robert O’Hara
Written by Jeremy O. Harris
New York Theatre Workshop/John Golden Theatre
Stew
Directed by Colette Robert
Written by Zora Howard
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OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL
Girl from the North Country
Directed by Conor McPherson
Book by Conor McPherson, Music and Lyrics by Bob Dylan
Belasco Theatre
Jagged Little Pill
Directed by Diane Paulus
Music by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard, Lyrics by Alanis Morissette, Book by Diablo Cody
Broadhurst Theatre
Moulin Rouge!
Directed by Alex Timbers
Book by John Logan, Music and Lyrics by Various Artists
Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Octet
Directed by Annie Tippe
Written by Dave Malloy
Signature Theatre Company
The Secret Life of Bees
Directed by Sam Gold
Book by Lynn Nottage, Music by Duncan Sheik, Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead
Atlantic Theater Company
Sing Street
Directed by Rebecca Taichman
Book by Enda Walsh, Music and Lyrics by Gary Clark and John Carney
New York Theatre Workshop
Six
Directed by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage
Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss
Brooks Atkinson Theatre
Soft Power
Directed by Leigh Silverman
Book and Lyrics by David Henry Hwang, Music and Additional Lyrics by Jeanine Tesori
Public Theater
A Strange Loop
Directed by Stephen Brackett
Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson
Playwrights Horizons
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
Book by Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins, Music by Various Artists
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY
Betrayal
Directed by Jamie Lloyd
Written by Harold Pinter
Jacobs Theatre
for colored girls who have considered suicide
/when the rainbow is enuf
Directed by Leah C. Gardiner
Written by Ntozake Shange
Public Theater
Fires in the Mirror
Directed by Saheem Ali
Written by Anna Deavere Smith
Signature Theatre Company
Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune
Directed by Arin Arbus
Written by Terrence McNally
Broadhurst Theatre
Judgment Day
Directed by Richard Jones
Written by Ödön von Horváth, Adapted by Christopher Shinn
Park Avenue Armory
Medea
Directed by Simon Stone
Written by Simon Stone after Euripides
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Native Son
Directed by Seret Scott
Written by Nambi E. Kelley, based on the novel by Richard Wright
The Acting Company
The Rose Tattoo
Directed by Trip Cullman
Written by Tennessee Williams
Roundabout Theatre Company
A Soldier’s Play
Directed by Kenny Leon
Written by Charles Fuller
Roundabout Theatre Company
The Woman in Black
Directed by Robin Herford
Written by Stephen Mallatratt, based on the novel by Susan Hill
The McKittrick Hotel
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
Enter Laughing
Directed by Stuart Ross
Book by Joseph Stein, Music and Lyrics by Stan Daniels
York Theatre Company
Little Shop of Horrors
Directed by Michael Mayer
Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman, Music by Alan Menken
Rock of Ages
Directed by Kristin Hanggi
Book by Chris D’Arienzo, Music and Lyrics by Various Artists
New World Stages
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Directed by Kathleen Marshall
Book and New Lyrics by Dick Scanlan, Music and Lyrics by Meredith Willson
The Transport Group
West Side Story
Directed by Ivo van Hove
Book by Arthur Laurents, Music by Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Broadway Theatre
DISTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE AWARD
David Acton, The Woman in Black
Jeffrey Bean, Dublin Carol
Ato Blankson-Wood, The Rolling Stone and Slave Play
Christian Borle, Little Shop of Horrors
Danielle Brooks, Much Ado About Nothing
Danny Burstein, Moulin Rouge!
Rose Byrne, Medea
Len Cariou, Harry Townsend’s Last Stand
Patrice Johnson Chevannes, runboyrun & In Old Age
Liza Colón-Zayas, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
Kate del Castillo, the way she spoke
Edmund Donovan, Greater Clements
Raúl Esparza, Seared
Francesca Faridany, The Half-Life of Marie Curie
Halley Feiffer, The Pain of My Belligerence
Danyel Fulton, Broadbend, Arkansas
Annie Golden, Broadway Bounty Hunter
Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Where We Stand
David Alan Grier, A Soldier’s Play
Jonathan Groff, Little Shop of Horrors
Jake Gyllenhaal, Sea Wall/A Life
Tom Hiddleston, Betrayal
Paul Hilton, The Inheritance
Kathryn Hunter, Timon of Athens
Galen Ryan Kane, Native Son
Brittney Mack, Six
April Matthis, Toni Stone
Susannah Millonzi, The Crucible
Kate Mulgrew, The Half-Life of Marie Curie
Joe Ngo, Cambodian Rock Band
Deirdre O’Connell, Dana H.
Brenock O’Connor, Sing Street
Okwui Okpokwasili, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Karen Olivo, Moulin Rouge!
Larry Owens, A Strange Loop
Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill
Chris Perfetti, Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow
Ben Porter, The Woman in Black
Isaac Powell, West Side Story
Jonathan Pryce, The Height of the Storm
Elizabeth Rodriguez, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
Michael Shannon, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Tom Sturridge, Sea Wall/A Life
Marisa Tomei, The Rose Tattoo
Blair Underwood, A Soldier’s Play
Michael Urie, Grand Horizons
Adrienne Warren, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
Michael Benjamin Washington, Fires in the Mirror
Portia, Stew
The Drama League also acknowledged performers who, because they’d previously received Distinguished Performance Awards, are ineligible this season:
Harvey Fierstein, Bella Bella
Mary-Louise Parker, The Sound Inside
Audra McDonald, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
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