Theater: Recipients Announced For The Lortel Awards, Theatre World Awards, NYC Drama Critics Circle Awards and The Pulitzer Prize in Drama 2023

Wolf Play (c) Julieta Cervantes

The 38th Annual Lortel Awards

The Lucille Lortel Awards were handed out on Sunday, May 7.  The Awards honor artistic achievement Off-Broadway.  I am a member of the Nominating Committee.

Here are the nominees and winners:

Outstanding Play 
A Case for the Existence of God by Samuel D. Hunter 
Dark Disabled Stories by Ryan J. Haddad 
Downstate by Bruce Norris 
Epiphany by Brian Watkins 
*Wolf Play by Hansol Jung 

Titanique (c) Chad David Kraus

Outstanding Musical 
Dreaming Zenzile 
Harmony 
Suffs 
*Titaníque 
Weightless

Outstanding Revival 
A Bright New Boise 
Endgame 
A Man of No Importance 
Merrily We Roll Along 
*A Raisin in the Sun 

Outstanding Director 
Zi Alikhan – On That Day in Amsterdam 
David Cromer – A Case for the Existence of God 
Robert O’Hara – A Raisin in the Sun 
Whitney White – soft 
*Dustin Wills – Wolf Play 

Outstanding Choreographer 
*Andy Blankenbuehler – Only Gold 
Warren Carlyle – Harmony 
Edgar Godineaux – The Harder They Come 
Jerry Mitchell – Kinky Boots 
Ellenore Scott – Titaníque 

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play 
Kyle Beltran – A Case For the Existence of God 
Marylouise Burke – Epiphany 
*K. Todd Freeman – Downstate 
Ryan J. Haddad – Dark Disabled Stories 
Bill Irwin – Endgame 
Tonya Pinkins – A Raisin in the Sun 
John Douglas Thompson – Endgame 

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Play 
*Mia Barron – The Coast Starlight 
Susanna Guzmán – Downstate 
Ryan J. Haddad – american (tele)visions 
Dickie Hearts – Dark Disabled Stories 
Patrice Johnson Chevannes – Endgame 
Maureen Sebastian – The Best We Could (a family tragedy) 
Eddie Torres – Downstate 

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical 
Nicholas Barasch – The Butcher Boy 
Callum Francis – Kinky Boots 
Natey Jones – The Harder They Come 
Somi Kakoma – Dreaming Zenzile 
Lindsay Mendez – Merrily We Roll Along 
*Marla Mindelle – Titaníque 
Jim Parsons – A Man of No Importance 

A Man of No Importance (c) Julieta Cervantes

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Musical 
Krystal Joy Brown – Merrily We Roll Along 
Darren Goldstein – The Bedwetter 
Nikki M. James – Suffs 
Jacob Ming-Trent – The Harder They Come 
John Riddle – Titaníque 
Reg Rogers – Merrily We Roll Along 
*A.J. Shively – A Man of No Importance 

Outstanding Ensemble 
The Nosebleed 
Drae Campbell, Ashil Lee, Chris Manley, Aya Ogawa, Saori Tsukada, Kaili Y. Turner

 
soft 
Leon Addison Brown, Biko Eisen-Martin, Dharon Jones, Essence Lotus, Travis Raeburn, Shakur Tolliver, Dario Vazquez, Ed Ventura 

*Wolf Play 
Christopher Bannow, Esco Jouléy, Brian Quijada, Nicole Villamil, Mitchell Winter 

Outstanding Scenic Design 
John Lee Beatty – Epiphany 
*You-Shin Chen – Wolf Play 
dots – You Will Get Sick 
Arnulfo Maldonado – A Case for the Existence of God 
Clint Ramos – The Far Country 

Outstanding Costume Design 
Enver Chakartash – The Trees 
Sarah Laux – Wish You Were Here 
Orla Long – Endgame 
Qween Jean – Soft 
*Alejo Vietti – Titaníque 

Epiphany (c) Jeremy Daniel

Outstanding Lighting Design 
*Isabella Byrd – Epiphany 
Jiyoun Chang – The Far Country 
Tyler Micoleau – A Case for the Existence of God 
Barbara Samuels – Wolf Play 
Cha See – On That Day in Amsterdam 

Outstanding Sound Design 
Mikhail Fiksel – How To Defend Yourself 
Daniel Kluger – Epiphany 
*Kate Marvin – Wolf Play 
Theater Mitu – american (tele)visions 
Sinan Refik Zafar – LETTERS FROM MAX, a ritual 

Dark Disabled Stories (c) Joan Marcus

Outstanding Projection Design 
Alex Basco Koch – The Orchard 
Yee Eun Nam – ONCE UPON A (korean) TIME 
*Kameron Neal – Dark Disabled Stories 
Theater Mitu – american (tele)visions 
S Katy Tucker – LETTERS FROM MAX, a ritual  

HONORARY AWARDS 

Stephen McKinley Henderson 
Lifetime Achievement Award 

Ntozake Shange 
Playwrights’ Sidewalk Inductee 

A.R.T./New York 
Body of Work 

Victoria Bailey
The Edith Oliver Service to Off-Broadway Award  

LUCILLE LORTEL AWARDS NOMINATING COMMITTEE 

Emilya Cachapero 

Alana Canty-Samuel 

Wilson Chin 

Kimberly Del Busto Ramírez 

Maria Di Dia 

Dann Fink 

Maureen Fox 

Mike Kaukl 

James King 

Destiny Lilly 

Jorge B. Merced 

Azure D. Osborne-Lee 

Handan Ozbilgin 

Barbara Pasternack 

Richard Topol

Jonathan Whitton

Cary Wong

Downstate (c) Joan Marcus

The 2023 New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards

Best Play:  Downstate by Bruce Norris
Best Foreign Play:  Leopoldstadt by Tom Stoppard
Best Musical:  no award given

New York Drama Critics' Circle Members

David Barbour

David Cote

Vinson Cunningham

Joe Dziemianowicz 

Greg Evans

Adam Feldman

David Finkle

Elysa Gardner

Robert Hofler

Charles Isherwood

Chris Jones

Soraya Nadia McDonald

Johnny Oleksinski

Frank Scheck

Helen Shaw

David Sheward

Marilyn Stasio

Zachary Stewart 

Elisabeth Vincentelli

Matt Windman

The Kite Runner (c) Joan Marcus

The 2023 Theatre World Awards 

The 2023 Honorees for the Theatre World Award for an Outstanding Debut Performance in a Broadway or Off-Broadway Production.  I am a member of the Awards Committee.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Topdog/Underdog 
Hiran Abeysekera, Life of Pi 
Amir Arison, The Kite Runner 
D'Arcy Carden, The Thanksgiving Play 
Jodie Comer, Prima Facie 
Callum Francis, Kinky Boots 

Becomes a Woman (c) Todd Cerveris

Lucy Freyer, The Wanderers 
Caroline Innerbichler, Shucked 
Ashley D. Kelley, Shucked 
Casey Likes, Almost Famous 
Emma Pfitzer Price, Becomes A Woman 
John David Washington, The Piano Lesson 

14th Annual Dorothy Loudon Award For Excellence in The Theater 
Julie Benko, Funny Girl 

2023 Special Award Honorees 
Marilyn Caserta - Outstanding Swing (Six) 
Dale Badway - Outstanding Contribution to The Theatre World 

Theatre World Awards Committee 

Linda Armstrong (Amsterdam News)

David Cote (The Observer)

Joe Dziemianowicz (New York Theatre Guide)

Peter Filichia (Broadway Radio)

David Finkle (New York Stage Review)

Elysa Gardner (The New York Sun)

Harry Haun (Observer.com)

Frank Scheck (New York Stage Review/ The Hollywood Reporter). 

Cary Wong (The Interested Bystander)

English (c) Ahron R. Foster

2023 Pulitzer Prizes

DRAMA 
For a Distinguished Play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life.

WINNER 
English by Sanaz Toossi 

A quietly powerful play about four Iranian adults preparing for an English language exam in a storefront school near Tehran, where family separations and travel restrictions drive them to learn a new language that may alter their identities and also represent a new life. 

FINALISTS 

The Far Country by Lloyd Suh 

An account of emigrants who traveled from China to San Francisco and suffered in the shadows of a strange new world, a historical portrait of the ruthless dynamic of immigration that is also timely.

On Sugarland by Aleshea Harris 

An ambitious drama, inspired by Sophocles, of a community shaped by the trauma of a nameless war they have been dealing with for generations, and the ancestors they mourn, a solemn but also joyful work. 

The Jury 

David John Chávez (Chair) 

Vinson Cunningham 

Soraya Nadia McDonald 

Heidi Schreck 

Kristina Wong 

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