A most unusual year in theater will be recognized by a most unusual Drama League Awards: This year, the traditionally New York-centric honors will be expanded to include theatrical artists across the country, with digital productions taking the spotlight at the May 21 ceremony.
This year’s nominees, announced today, include such digital productions as Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels In America, and Take Me To The World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration.
See the complete list of nominees below.
The 87th Annual Drama League Awards will be streamed on Friday, May 21 at 7 pm ET.
“In this most difficult time, when stages across America were forced to darken, theater artists responded with light – producing bold new work in ways most of us never dreamed of,” said Drama League Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks.
This year, for the first time since the prestigious theater awards were established in 1935, will include five unique categories: Outstanding Digital Theater, Individual Production; Outstanding Digital Theater, Collection or Festival; Outstanding Interactive or Socially-Distanced Theater; Outstanding Audio Theater Production; and Outstanding Digital Concert.
The 33 nominated productions premiered between March 12, 2020 and March 15, 2021. Voting is now open for Drama League members through April 16.
The list of nominations follows and 2021 Special Recognition Honorees are:
NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2021 DRAMA LEAGUE AWARDS
OUTSTANDING DIGITAL THEATER, INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTION
Belly of the Beast
Directed by Lisa Rothe
Written by Margaret Vandenburg
Daniel Dae Kim/3AD, in partnership with TodayTix and New York Theatre Workshop
Circle Jerk
Conceived and Written by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley in Collaboration with Cat Rodriguez and Ariel Sibert Directed by Rory Pelsue
Produced by Caroline Gart Fake Friends (New York, NY)
Disclaimer
Written by Tara Ahmadinejad
Directed by Jeff Wood & Tara Ahmadinejad Created by Piehole
The Public Theater (New York, NY)
Don’t Stay Safe
Book and Lyrics by Cheryl L. Davis, Music by Douglas J. Cohen Directed by Christina Franklin
Prospect Theater Company (New York, NY)
Duchess! Duchess! Duchess!
Written by Vivian J.O. Barnes Directed by Weyni Mengesha
Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago, IL)
The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels In America
Written by Tony Kushner Directed by Ellie Heyman
Presented by amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research)
GRIMMZ Fairy Tales
Written by Christopher Parks, Rahsheem Shabazz, and Ron Lee McGill Directed by Christopher Parks
Children’s Theatre of Charlotte (Charlotte, NC)
Heroes of the Fourth Turning
Written by Will Arbery Directed by Blanka Zizka
Wilma Theater (Philadelphia, PA)
Last Gasp
Written by Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw Directed by Lois Weaver
Split Britches (New York, NY)
The Last 5 Years
Written and Composed by Jason Robert Brown Directed by Jason Michael Webb
Out Of The Box Theatrics (New York, NY)
What Do They Call Us
Created and Directed by Qween Jean Ars Nova (New York, NY)
Where Did We Sit on the Bus?
Written by Brian Quijada Directed by Matt Dickson
A digital creation by Satya Chávez and Matt Dickson Actors Theatre of Louisville
OUTSTANDING DIGITAL THEATER, COLLECTION OR FESTIVAL
1MOVE: DES19NED BY…
Co-Curated by Dede Ayite, Stacey Derosier, Clint Ramos, Cha See, and Paul Tazewell The Movement Theatre Company (New York, NY)
AFO Solo Shorts (Round 1 and 2)
All For One Theater (New York, NY)
The Manic Monologues
McCarter Theater Center in collaboration with Princeton University Health Services, The 24 Hour Plays, and Innovations in Socially Distant Performance at the Lewis Center for the Arts (Princeton, NJ)
The Work of Adrienne Kennedy: Inspiration and Influence
Round House Theatre (Bethesda, MD) in association with McCarter Theater Center (Princeton, NJ)
Theater in Quarantine
Created by founder Joshua William Gelb (New York, NY) and Katie Rose McLaughlin (New York, NY)
OUTSTANDING INTERACTIVE OR SOCIALLY-DISTANCED THEATER
American Dreams
Written by Leila Buck Directed by Tamilla Woodard
Working Theater (New York, NY)
Carla’s Quince
Created by The Voting Project
Directed by Estefanía Fadul
Fort Worth Lynching Tour: Honoring the Memory of Mr. Fred Rouse
Concept and Choreography: Adam W. McKinney Director: Daniel Banks
A DNAWORKS Production (Fort Worth, TX)
Package Play
Created and Performed by Katie Farmin Tricklock Company (Albuquerque, NM)
7 Deadly Sins
Conceived and directed by Michel Hausmann Miami New Drama (Miami Beach, FL)
A Thousand Ways (Part One)
Created by 600 HIGHWAYMEN | Abigail Browde & Michael Silverstone (Brooklyn, NY)
Wild Thyme
Written by Liz Duffy Adams
Produced by West Hyler and Shelley Butler Artistic Stamp (New York, NY)
BEST AUDIO THEATER PRODUCTION
G.O.A.T.
Written by Ngozi Anyanwu Directed by Whitney White Playing On Air (Hillsdale, NY)
Outtakes
Written by Qui Nguyen Directed by May Adrales
Playwrights Horizons (New York, NY)
The Chonburi International Hotel and Butterfly Club
Written by Shakina Nayfack Directed by Laura Savia
Williamstown Theatre Festival (Williamstown, MA) and Audible
Prime: A Practical Breviary
Written, Composed and Performed by Heather Christian Playwrights Horizons (New York, NY)
Tiger Style!
Written by Mike Lew
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
Huntington Theatre Company and WGBH Radio (Boston, MA)
OUTSTANDING DIGITAL CONCERT PRODUCTION
Breathing Free, a visual album
Heartbeat Opera, NYC
Myths and Hymns (Chapters 1 and 2)
Music and Lyrics by Adam Guettel Conceived and supervised by Ted Sperling
Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical
Conceived by The #RatatouilleMusical Community. Adapted for the stage by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley
Directed by Lucy Moss Presented by Seaview
Take Me To The World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Paul Wontorek
Benefit for ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty)
2021 SPECIAL RECOGNITION DRAMA LEAGUE AWARDS
Gratitude Award Honoree
Iris Smith
The Founders Award for Excellence in Directing Honoree
Liesl Tommy
Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater Honoree
Richard & Demi Weitz
Unique Contribution to Theater Award Honoree
The Actors Fund