Beneath is a calendar of dates in 2024 when nominations and awards are introduced, and ceremonies happen, for the most important New York theater awards (and some others), adopted by an opinionated description and comparability of those awards. Be taught, for instance, the distinction between the Drama Desk, the Drama League and the New York Drama Circle awards.
Most nomination bulletins occur in April. Most award bulletins and ceremonies occur in Might and June. The pandemic threw off the calendar for 3 years, however it’s returned roughly to regular now, with a couple of exceptions. I’ll be filling on this calendar, particularly with hyperlinks to outcomes as they arrive in:
April 4 Lucille Lortel Award Nominations introduced
April 22 Outer Critics Circle Award nominations introduced
Drama League Award nominations introduced
April 25 Broadway reveals should open by this date to be eligible for 2024 Tonys
April 26 Chita Rivera Award nominations introduced
April 29 Drama Desk Award nominations introduced
April 30 Tony Award nominations introduced
Might 5 39th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards ceremony
Might 8 Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists introduced
Might 13 Outer Critics Circle Award winners introduced
Might 17 ninetieth annual Drama League Awards at Ziegfeld Ballroom
Might 20 Chita Rivera Awards ceremony
Might 23 73rd Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards ceremony
June 10 68th Annual Drama Desk Awards ceremony
76th Annual Theatre World Awards
June 16 77th annual Tony Awards at Lincoln Heart’s David H. Koch Theater
June 18 Off Broadway Alliance Awards at Sardi’s
October 10 Nobel Prize in Literature introduced
The Tony Awards
The Tonys, established by the American Theatre Wing in 1947, have been named after Antoinette Perry, an actress, director and producer — and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, a non-profit group that had begun in 1917 because the Stage Ladies’s Battle Reduction. Now collectively administered by the Wing and the Broadway League (the nationwide commerce affiliation for the Broadway theater trade), the Tony Awards yearly honor work on Broadway, and are the one awards ceremony broadcast on tv (domestically since 1956, on a nationwide TV community since 1967), which helps clarify their prominence.
The printed this yr can be break up into two components, with a “pre-show” entitled The Tony Awards: Act One, to air on Paramount’s free streaming service PlutoTV and have choose awards shows. The primary broadcast will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ within the U.S. from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET on June 16, with host for the third time Ariana DeBose, dwell from Lincoln Heart’s David H. Koch Theater.
There are presently 26 aggressive classes. Eight of the classes are for actors, divided by gender (for instance, Greatest Efficiency by an Actor in a Main Position in a Play and Greatest Efficiency by an Actress in a Main Position in a Play.) Due to modifications by others previously two years, the Tonys at the moment are the one main New York theater awards with aggressive classes that distinguish by gender.
There are additionally a number of particular awards annually, for instance, the Regional Theater Award and the Isabelle Stevenson Award honoring a member of the theater neighborhood for his or her humanitarian efforts, in addition to Tony Honors for Excellence within the Theater and Lifetime Achievement Awards.
The Tony Awards choice course of is arguably among the many most clear and democratic of the New York awards, which is extra a touch upon the shortage of transparency and democracy in a lot of the others. The aggressive nominees can be chosen this yr by a committee of 60 theater professionals serving three-year phrases, who will meet after the Tony eligibility deadline, which this yr is April 25.
These 60 nominators can be among the many roughly 831 voters who will choose the winners, which incorporates theater producers and house owners, representatives from varied theater unions (for instance, together with Actors Fairness), expertise brokers, press brokers, and only a handful of critics: In 2009, The Tonys introduced they might not permit any theater critics to vote, arguing absurdly that, since they may publicly advocate for reveals, that they had a battle of curiosity. (Really, critics have been among the many few voters with out a monetary curiosity within the consequence.) This brought about such an outcry that they re-enfranchised the members of the New York Drama Critics Circle (see under) , however nonetheless banned the remainder of us.
Within the years because the Tony awards have been created, “New York theater” has expanded method past Broadway — there are extra reveals annually Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway, however they’re fully ignored by the Tonys. The newer awards fill this apparent want.
Tony Awards web site @TheTonyAwards
The Nobel Prize in Literature
That is neither a theater award nor a New York award, and way more novelists and poets than playwrights have been given the prize, which was first awarded in 1901. Certainly, just one American playwright has ever been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature — Eugene O’Neill in 1936 — though he’s not the one American Nobel Laureate with Broadway credit: Novelist Saul Bellow (1976) wrote two Broadway performs (“The Final Evaluation” ran for 28 performances, “Beneath the Climate” for 12) and novelist Isaac Bashevis Singer (1978), is credited because the co-writer on two Broadway performs (“Yentl,” 223 performances, and “Teibele and Her Demon,” 25); songwriter Bob Dylan (2016) has had songs in 5 Broadway reveals.
Non-American Nobel Laureates whose performs have been carried out on Broadway embody: Maurice Maeterlinck of Belgium (awarded in 1911), Gerhart Hauptmann of Germany (1912), George Bernard Shaw of Eire (1925), Luigi Pirandello of Italy (1934), Wole Soyinka of Nigeria (1986), Dario Fo of Italy (1997), Harold Pinter of England (2005.)
That is extensively thought of essentially the most prestigious award {that a} dramatist can get (It helps that it now comes with a money award equal to greater than one million American {dollars}.) I embody it to offer a bit of perspective, particularly on the following class.
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prizes have been established in 1917 at Columbia College, and, though a lot of the awards are given for works of journalism, they included from the beginning one annual award for a brand new work by an American playwright that premiered both in New York or regionally throughout the earlier calendar yr. Whereas this can be a nationwide award, it’s uncommon for the award to go to a present that hasn’t had a run in New York Metropolis. These few that haven’t definitely get a New York manufacturing quickly after profitable. (Because of the pandemic, “Fats Ham” had run solely as digital theater earlier than it received the 2022 Pulitzer; then it was staged first Off-Broadway after which on Broadway.)
The winner and finalists are really helpful by a special annual group of 4 theater critics and a theater tutorial, however will be overridden by the Pulitzer Board — which was infamously achieved in 1963, when the board rejected the jury’s selection of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and gave no award in drama that yr — one of many 13 years through which there have been no Pulitzer in Drama awarded. (In later years, they did give Pulitzers to Albee for 3 subsequent performs.) In 2010, the board rejected all three of the jury’s suggestions, and selected the winner by itself, “Subsequent to Regular.”
Lorraine Hansberry didn’t win for “A Raisin within the Solar” Certainly, earlier than 1980, solely six girls had received Pulitzer Prizes in Drama. (The quantity is now as much as 19.)
Stephen Sondheim received for “Sunday within the Park with George” however nothing else with which he was concerned — not “West Aspect Story” or “Gypsy” or “Sweeney Todd”
Different works ignored by the Pulitzers that at the moment are universally accepted as among the many best ever written for the American stage embody “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams; “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller and Rodger and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma”
Given this spotty monitor report and fewer than reassuring choice course of, why has the Pulitzer Prize in Drama change into extensively accepted because the second most prestigious award that an American dramatist can obtain? (See above for essentially the most prestigious.) My concept: Because the Pulitzers are largely journalism prizes, they’re essentially the most publicized awards in america — journalists understandably wishing to toot their very own horns.
Pulitzer Prize in Drama web site @PulitzerPrizes
Drama Desk Awards
The Drama Desk was based in 1949; it started presenting awards in 1955. The members of the Drama Desk are nearly all theater critics and journalists.
The Drama Desk Awards are the one New York awards given by theater journalists and critics that think about Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway reveals collectively in the identical aggressive classes. This has the benefit of giving consideration to often-obscure nominees. For instance, in 2013, Daniel Everidge was one of many nominees for Excellent Actor in a Play for his function as a younger man with autism within the Off-Broadway play, Falling — proper up there with Tom Hanks, and Nathan Lane and Tracy Letts. You see the issue immediately: The winners nearly inevitably are the better-known (Broadway) opponents. In 2023, solely two of the 34 winners have been for reveals not on Broadway — and a kind of Off-Broadway productions had already moved to Broadway by the point the winners have been chosen.
Final yr was the primary time that the eight performing classes weren’t distinguished by gender. As an alternative of getting a Lead Actor and a Lead Actress in A Play, there at the moment are two awards for “Excellent Lead Efficiency in a Play.” The ten-member board made this modification with out prior session to the 100 basic members, a few of whom expressed concern that, with out devoted slots for actresses, girls would get short-shrift. Outcomes for the primary yr: Of the eight profitable performers, three have been girls, three have been males, and two establish as non-binary or gender-nonconforming (These identifies have been the rationale why the change was made.)
Outer Critics Circle Awards
Based in 1950, initially established as an alternative choice to the New York Drama Critics Circle (see under), The Outer Critics Circle is made up of theater critics and journalists from out-of-town, nationwide and on-line publications. Its awards acknowledge each Broadway and Off-Broadway.
There have been two main modifications made final yr within the 9 performing classes. As with the Drama Desk Awards, the Outer Critics Circle Awards not distinguish by gender. Additionally they now have separate classes for Broadway and Off-Broadway (aside from solo efficiency.) The outcomes final yr: Of the 9 winners, 5 have been males, two have been girls, two have been non-binary/gender non-conforming.
The change was made by the 11-member Government Committee, with out consulting the 70-plus members prematurely, which displays the group’s commonplace top-down method. The membership doesn’t get to elect the members of the Government Committee — the committee members select each other — and solely Government Committee members serve on the Nominating Committee. Not like most different main awards, there is no such thing as a rotation within the nominating committee. They do solicit suggestions for nominations from the opposite members.
The awards ceremony is a low key affair, which is barely open to members and the winners.
New York Drama Critics Circle Award
Twenty-two critics, initially from what have been deemed the most important New York publications, make up the New York Drama Critics Circle, which was established in 1935 as an alternative choice to the Pulitzers. They meet annually on a single day to find out, and announce, one of the best play, overseas play, and finest musical of the season, in addition to often a few “particular citations.” They select from any New York theater, and regularly choose Off-Broadway reveals. There may be uncommon transparency within the awards course of; they publish who selected what in every spherical of voting.
It’s bracing to note how the group has been pressured de facto to alter the definition of main critic and main publication, as their members carry on shedding their jobs, generally their positions eradicated; some publications have even gone out of existence.
Drama Critics Circle Award web site
Theatre World Awards
Yearly since 1945, the Theatre World Awards have honored 12 performers (6 males, 6 girls) making their New York stage debuts. That is in some ways the loveliest of awards, with now-famous alumni of the award recalling what it meant to them again when as they every introduce one of many newly awarded performers with whom they’ve a particular connection. A veteran can be chosen annually for the John Willis Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Theatre World Awards web site @TWAwards
Lucille Lortel Awards
The Lucille Lortel Awards have been based in 1985 by the Off-Broadway League, named after a distinguished actor, and thus focuses solely on achievement Off-Broadway. They choose a brand new playwright to get a star within the Playwrights Sidewalk in entrance of the Lucille Lortel Theater within the Village.
The Lortel Award nominees and winners are decided by a committee made up of representatives of the Off-Broadway League, Actors’ Fairness Affiliation, Stage Administrators & Choreographers Society, United Scenic Artists, the Lucille Lortel Theatre Basis, along with theater journalists, teachers and different Off-Broadway professionals.
They have been the primary of the New York theater awards to cease distinguishing their performing classes by gender.
Lucile Lortel Awards web site @OffBroadwayNYC
The Obie Awards
Based in 1955 by the Village Voice cultural editor, the Obie Awards yearly honor Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway reveals and people. After the Voice shuttered, the American Theatre Wing took over. There are not any nominees for Obies, solely winners, and, in keeping with their press releases, “within the conviction that creativity shouldn’t be aggressive, the judges choose excellent artists and productions and should even invent new classes to reward inventive benefit.”
Thrown out of whack by the pandemic, the 67 annual Obies occurred this previous January on cable TV, foregoing its traditional in-person ceremony, purportedly to spend the cash as a substitute on grants to the profitable artists.
If that is essentially the most fluid of those annual awards, it is also the one one to honor the breadth and depth of New York theater past Broadway — to deal with severely the unbiased theater neighborhood (aka Off Off Broadway.)
And it’s increasing its attain. The 68th annual awards will think about not simply Off and Off Off in-person theater, however “digital, digital and audio work.” The date and venue (and if there’s a venue) for the following Obies shouldn’t be but decided, however it’s going to think about work that opens between September 1, 2023 and August 31, 2024.
The Drama League Awards yearly selects winners in seven aggressive classes concerned in both Broadway or Off-Broadway productions, and likewise offers particular awards. The awards are touted as “the oldest theatrical honors in America,” although that is doubtful on a number of counts (They fudge their date of origin, claiming “first offered in 1922 and formalized in 1935.”) My view of the Drama League skyrocketed severalyears in the past after they have been the one one in all these awards that acknowledged actuality and stepped up to date, handing out most of their nominations and awards to digital theater created in the course of the pandemic. Nonetheless, their regular awards are typically given much less consideration than the opposite main awards. The classes are overcrowded — there may be only a single performing class (“distinguished efficiency”) with some 60 nominees however just one winner — and the voters are anyone who shells out the cash to hitch the Drama League, no experience or expertise needed.
The Off Broadway Alliance Awards
The Off Broadway Alliance Awards, based in 2011 by the Off Broadway Alliance, give out awards in seven aggressive classes. Why are there two organizations representing Off Broadway, and the way is the Off Broadway Alliance completely different from the Off Broadway League (which administers the Lucille Lortel Awards, described above?) I couldn’t let you know, apart from the Alliance is a more recent group. It’s additionally much less clear in its award course of (an unnamed rotating committee made up of Alliance members.)
The Chita Rivera Awards
The Chita Rivera Awards are given by the NYC Dance Alliance Basis for dance and choreographic excellence on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in movie. Based in 1982, it was first known as the Fred Astaire Awards, after which the Fred and Adele Astaire Awards, altering its title eight years in the past to honor the Tony-winning dancer, actress and singer, who died in January on the age of 91.
Chita Rivera Awards web site @ChitaAwards
I embody the Chita Rivera Awards for example of the a number of specialised theater awards. There are lots of different New York theater awards — such because the Clive Barnes Award in Dance and Theater Actors Fairness offers out a slew of annual awards.(I depend 18 whole from both the union or the Actors Fairness Basis.) The New York Progressive Theater Awards for Off-Off Broadway have ceased to exist, as has their sponsoring group, the New York Progressive Theater Basis (the fifteenth annual NYITA in 2019 was their final), however the League of Unbiased Theaters final yr changed it with a a lot much less bold “New York Unbiased Theater Award,” and plans to announce a brand new listing of honorees this summer season after which maintain a New York Theater Unbiased Theater Awards 2024 ceremony someday in September.
New theater awards appear to be created annually. Galeca, the society of LGBTQ leisure critics, which has been giving out annual Dorian Awards honoring distinctive movies and TV reveals since 2010, final yr created a “theater wing” of New York drama critics and began an annual Dorian Theater Award. Final month I introduced my fourth annual American Related Theater Awards, ACTA, begun on the primary anniversary of the pandemic shut-down to honor innovation in digital theater.
A wag may say that theater awards have proliferated in inverse proportion to theater’s significance within the tradition. However that, like many observations throughout theater award season, is unfair. No matter else theater awards do or don’t do, they provide a number of advantages: 1. The awards ceremonies usually function fundraisers for the sponsoring non-profit organizations, a number of of which help the theater neighborhood in a myriad of different methods. 2. The nominations and awards sometimes supply validation and encouragement to those that deserve it. 3. They spark consideration and dialog.
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