The 2026 honorees of the 80th annual Theatre World Awards were announced today for Outstanding Debut Performance in a Broadway or Off-Broadway Production, and Rachael Stirling (Giant) was named recipient of the 17th Annual Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in the Theater, chosen by the Trustees of The Dorothy Loudon Foundation, together with recommendations from the Theatre World Awards Committee. It was also noted that the winner of the 13th Annual John Willis Award for Lifetime Achievement, selected by the Theatre World Awards Board of Directors, will be announced shortly. The organization’s current Board of Directors is headed by Dale Badway (President), with Tom Lynch (Vice President), Michael Kostel (Vice President), Stephen Wilde (Secretary), Rozanne Scarpelli (Treasurer), and James Sheridan, Karen Johnston, Jeffrey Grove, and Arthur Makar (Board members).
First presented in 1945, the Theatre World Awards, founded by John Willis, Editor-in-Chief of Theatre World, are the oldest awards given annually, at the end of the theater season, for Outstanding Broadway and Off-Broadway Debut Performances to six actors and six actresses. This year’s honorees were chosen by the Theatre World Awards Committee, comprised of Linda Armstrong (Amsterdam News), David Cote (The Observer), Joe Dziemianowicz (New York Daily News, Emeritus), Peter Filichia (The Newark Star-Ledger, Emeritus), David Finkle (New York Stage Review), Elysa Gardner (USA Today, Emeritus), Cary Wong (Freelance), and Frank Scheck (The Hollywood Reporter).
And the 2026 Theatre World Award honorees of the 2025-26 season are:
Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performance:
Ben Ahlers, Death of a Salesman
LJ Benet, The Lost Boys
Madeline Brewer, Becky Shaw
Adrien Brody, The Fear of 13
Ayo Edebiri, Proof
Alden Ehrenreich, Becky Shaw
Luke Evans, The Rocky Horror Show
Will Harrison, Punch
River Lipe-Smith, Caroline
Lesley Manville, Oedipus
Robert “Silk” Mason, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Sam Tutty, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
17th Annual Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in The Theater:
Rachael Stirling (Giant).
Congratulations to all the honorees for their awards and their outstanding NYC theater debuts!
The 80th Annual Theatre World Awards Ceremony, a private invitation-only event hosted annually by theater journalist Peter Filichia, will be held on Tuesday June 2, 2026, at 2 pm, at The Longacre Theatre, 220 West 48th Street, NYC, followed by a party to celebrate the new honorees. In keeping with tradition, twelve previous winners will serve as the presenters, relive moments from their own ceremonies, and share rarely heard stories. Past Theatre World Award winners include Meryl Streep, Rosemary Harris, Marlon Brando, Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Anne Bancroft, James Earl Jones, Liza Minnelli, Alan Alda, Zoe Caldwell, Christopher Walken, Alec Baldwin, Bernadette Peters, Audra McDonald, Al Pacino, Grace Kelly, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Cynthia Erivo, Danielle Brooks, Lupita Nyong’o, and John Krasinski.
