Nominations for the 66th Annual Drama Desk Awards, voted on and presented by theater critics, journalists, editors, and publishers covering the theater, were announced this afternoon, Monday, May 16, beginning at 4 pm.
Actor, writer, and activist George Takei (renowned for his Star Trek role as Hikaru Sulu) appeared live on NY1’s Spectrum News with anchor Ruschell Boone and On Stage host Frank DiLella to announce nominations in the top four categories of Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Play, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, and Outstanding Revival of a Play. Following the live announcement, the complete list of nominations was made available on the Drama Desk website.
Founded in 1949, the organization has presented its awards annually since 1955, to honor outstanding achievement by professional theater artists and productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway – all considered together in the same competitive categories. 115 live productions were eligible for the 2021-22 season, beginning in the summer of 2021, and ending on May 1, 2022. Leading the nominations are the musicals Six with ten, Kimberly Akimbo with nine, Company and Intimate Apparel with eight each, and MJ with seven.
The Drama Desk Awards nominations for 2022 are:
Outstanding Play: Cullud Wattah, by Erika Dickerson-Despenza, The Public Theater; English, by Sanaz Toossi, Atlantic Theater Company; Prayer for the French Republic, by Joshua Harmon, Manhattan Theatre Club; Sanctuary City, by Martyna Majok, New York Theatre Workshop; Selling Kabul, by Sylvia Khoury, Playwrights Horizons; and The Chinese Lady, by Lloyd Suh, The Public Theater;
Outstanding Musical: Harmony, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene; Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater; Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company; Six; and The Hang, HERE;
Outstanding Revival of a Play: for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf; How I Learned to Drive; Lackawanna Blues; Skeleton Crew; Trouble in Mind; and Twilight: Lost Angeles, 1992, Signature Theatre;
Outstanding Revival of a Musical: Assassins, Classic Stage Company; Baby, Out of the Box Theatrics; Caroline, or Change; and Company;
Outstanding Actor in a Play: Brandon J. Dirden, Skeleton Crew; Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Take Me Out; Jacob Ming-Trent, Merry Wives, The Public Theater Free Shakespeare in the Park; Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Lackawanna Blues; and John Douglas Thompson, The Merchant of Venice, Theatre for a New Audience;
Outstanding Actress in a Play: Tala Ashe, English, Atlantic Theater Company; Ruth Negga, Macbeth; Andrea Patterson, Cullud Wattah, The Public Theater; Phylicia Rashad, Skeleton Crew; Shannon Tyo, The Chinese Lady, The Public Theater; and Michelle Wilson, Confederates, Signature Theatre;
Outstanding Actor in a Musical: Billy Crystal, Mr. Saturday Night; Myles Frost, MJ; Rob McClure, Mrs. Doubtfire; Jaquel Spivey, A Strange Loop; and Chip Zien, Harmony, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene;
Outstanding Actress in a Musical: Kearstin Piper Brown, Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater; Victoria Clark, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company; Sharon D Clarke, Caroline, or Change; Jeanna de Waal, Diana; and Joaquina Kalukango, Paradise Square;
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play: Joshua Boone, Skeleton Crew; Chuck Cooper, Trouble in Mind; Daniel K. Isaac, The Chinese Lady, The Public Theater; Billy Eugene Jones, On Sugarland, New York Theatre Workshop; and Ron Cephas Jones, Clyde’s;
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play: Francis Benhamou, Prayer for the French Republic, Manhattan Theatre Club; Stephanie Berry, On Sugarland, New York Theatre Workshop; Sonnie Brown, what you are now, Ensemble Studio Theatre; Page Leong, Out of Time, NAATCO and The Public Theater; Kenita R. Miller, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf; and Kara Young, Clyde’s;
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical: Justin Austin, Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater; Justin Cooley, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company; Matt Doyle, Company; Jared Grimes, Funny Girl; and Tavon Olds-Sample, MJ;
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical: Judy Kuhn, Assassins, Classic Stage Company; Tamika Lawrence, Black No More, The New Group; Patti LuPone, Company; Bonnie Milligan, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company; and Jennifer Simard, Company;
Outstanding Director of a Play: Knud Adams, English, Atlantic Theater Company; Saheem Ali, Merry Wives, The Public Theater Free Shakespeare in the Park; Rebecca Frecknall, Sanctuary City, New York Theatre Workshop; Taibi Magar, Twilight: Lost Angeles, 1992, Signature Theatre; and Whitney White, On Sugarland, New York Theatre Workshop;
Outstanding Director of a Musical: John Doyle, Assassins, Classic Stage Company; Marianne Elliott, Company; Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage, Six; Bartlett Sher, Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater; and Jessica Stone, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company;
Outstanding Choreography presented by LaDuca Dance Shoes: Ayodele Casel (tap choreography), Funny Girl; Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, Six; Bill T. Jones, Garrett Coleman, and Jason Oremus (Irish Hammerstep), Gelan Lambert and Chloe Davis (associates), Paradise Square; Liam Steel, Company; and Christopher Wheeldon, Michael Balderrama (associate), Rich and Tone Taleuega (Michael Jackson Movement), MJ;
Outstanding Music Presented by Music Theatre International: Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, Six; Jason Howland, Paradise Square; Matt Ray, The Hang, HERE; Carrie Rodriguez, ¡Americano!, New World Stages; and Jeanine Tesori, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company;
Outstanding Lyrics Presented by Music Theatre International: Amanda Green, Mr. Saturday Night; Taylor Mac, The Hang, HERE; Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, Six; David Lindsay-Abaire, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company; Lynn Nottage, Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater; and Shaina Taub, Suffs, The Public Theater;
Outstanding Book of a Musical Presented by Music Theatre International: Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz, and Babaloo Mandel, Mr. Saturday Night; Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, Six; Lynn Nottage, Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater; and Bruce Sussman, Harmony, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene;
Outstanding Orchestrations: Tom Curran, Six; Greg Jarrett, Assassins, Classic Stage Company; Mark Hartman and Yasuhiko Fukuoka, The Streets of New York, Irish Repertory Theatre; and Jason Michael Webb and David Holcenberg, MJ;
Outstanding Music in a Play: Te’La and Kamauu, Thoughts of a Colored Man; Bill Sims Jr., Lackawanna Blues; and Michael Thurber and Farai Malianga (drum compositions), Merry Wives, The Public Theater Free Shakespeare in the Park;
Outstanding Scenic Design for a Play: Beowulf Boritt, Merry Wives, The Public Theater Free Shakespeare in the Park; Wilson Chin, Pass Over; Marsha Ginsberg, English, Atlantic Theater Company; Takeshi Kata, Clyde’s; and Junghyun Georgia Lee, Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord, New York Theatre Workshop;
Outstanding Scenic Design for a Musical Presented by Hudson Scenic: Emma Bailey, Six; Beowulf Boritt, Flying Over Sunset; Bunny Christie, Company; and David Zinn, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company;
Outstanding Costume Design for a Play: Linda Cho, The Chinese Lady, The Public Theater; Gregory Gale, Fairycakes, Greenwich House Theater; Tilly Grimes, The Alchemist, Red Bull Theater; Qween Jean, On Sugarland, New York Theatre Workshop; and Jennifer Moeller, Clyde’s;
Outstanding Costume Design for a Musical Presented by Production Resource Group: Machine Dazzle, The Hang, HERE Arts Center; Susan Hilferty, Funny Girl; Santo Loquasto, The Music Man; Gabriella Slade, Six; and Catherine Zuber, Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater;
Outstanding Lighting Design for a Play: Christopher Akerlind, Clyde’s; Reza Behjat, English, Atlantic Theater Company; Isabella Byrd, Sanctuary City, New York Theatre Workshop; Amith Chandrashaker, Prayer for the French Republic, Manhattan Theatre Club; and Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, Cullud Wattah, The Public Theater;
Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical: Natasha Katz, Diana; Natasha Katz, MJ; Bradley King, Flying Over Sunset; and Jennifer Tipton, Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater;
Outstanding Projection Design: 59 Productions, Flying Over Sunset; David Bengali, Twilight: Lost Angeles, 1992, Signature Theatre; Stephania Bulbarella & Alex Basco Koch, Space Dogs, MCC Theater; Shawn Duan, The Chinese Lady, The Public Theater; and Sven Ortel, Thoughts of a Colored Man;
Outstanding Sound Design for a Play: Tyler Kieffer, Seven Deadly Sins, Tectonic Theater Project and Madison Wells Live; Hidenori Nakajo and Ryan Rumery, Autumn Royal, Irish Repertory Theatre; Ben and Max Ringham, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Jamie Lloyd Company at Brooklyn Academy of Music; Mikaal Sulaiman, Sanctuary City, New York Theatre Workshop; and Lee Kinney, Selling Kabul, Playwrights Horizons;
Outstanding Sound Design for a Musical: Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Company; Paul Gatehouse, Six; Kai Harada, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company; and Gareth Owen, MJ;
Outstanding Wig and Hair: Matthew B. Armentrout, Paradise Square; David Brian Brown, Mrs. Doubtfire; Paul Huntley, Diana; and Charles LaPointe, MJ;
Outstanding Solo Performance: Alex Edelman, Just for Us, The Cherry Lane Theatre; Arturo Luís Soria, Ni Mi Madre, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater; and Kristina Wong, Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord, New York Theatre Workshop;
The Chase Award for Unique Theatrical Experience: Seven Deadly Sins, Tectonic Theater Project and Madison Wells Live;
Outstanding Adaptation: Merry Wives, by Jocelyn Bioh, The Public Theater Free Shakespeare in the Park; and The Alchemist, by Jeffrey Hatcher, Red Bull Theater;
Outstanding Puppet Design: Amanda Villalobos, Wolf Play, Soho Rep; James Ortiz, The Skin of Our Teeth; and Rockefeller Productions, Winnie the Pooh, The Hundred Acre Theatre at Theatre Row;
Harold Prince Lifetime Achievement Award: Playwright, novelist, and actress Alice Childress (1912-1994);
Ensemble Award: Six, Adrianna Hicks, Andrea Macasaet, Brittney Mack, Abby Mueller, Samantha Pauly, and Anna Uzele;
The Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award: Actress Marjan Neshat, Selling Kabul and English;
Additional Special Awards: Costume designer Dede Ayite (Merry Wives, Seven Deadly Sins, The Last of the Love Letters, Chicken and Biscuits, Slave Play, Nollywood Dreams, American Buffalo, and How I learned to Drive); Scenic designer Adam Rigg (Cullud Wattah, On Sugarland, and The Skin of Our Teeth); and Composer Heather Christian (Oratorio for Living Things).
Winners in the competitive categories will be announced the week of June 6. The Drama Desk Awards will be presented during an abbreviated ceremony at Sardi’s, 234 West 44th Street, NYC, on Tuesday, June 14, from 3-6 pm.
