The nominations for the 2020 Drama League Awards were announced April 30 during the organization's broadcast of the first-ever Gratitude Awards, a tribute to the theatre community's heroes and a digital fundraiser to raise funds for COVID-19 efforts. The nominees for the 86th Drama League Artistic Awards were unveiled by Beetlejuice’s Alex Brightman and Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer; you can watch the announcement in the video above.
The winners will be announced during a live stream in June, with further details to be announced. The League also announced that this year's ceremony will feature a sixth category: the 2020 Gratitude Award, given to a person or company who has exemplified kindness and leadership to the theatre community.
READ: How Theatre Award Ceremonies Are Handling the Coronavirus Shutdown
The awards are among the oldest theatrical honors in America, having been first presented in 1922 and subsequently formalized in 1935. The ceremony culminates in the presentation of the Distinguished Performance Award, which goes to one artist a year and can only be won once in an artist’s lifetime.
Check out the full list of nominees below.
Outstanding Production Of A Play
Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee
Dana H. by Lucas Hnath
Grand Horizons by Bess Wohl
The Hot Wing King by Katori Hall
The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez
The Michaels by Richard Nelson
Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow by Halley Feiffer
One in two by Donja R Love
Sea Wall / A Life by Simon Stephens and Nick Payne
Seared by Theresa Rebeck
Slave Play Jeremy O. Harris
Stew by Zora Howard
Outstanding Production of a Musical
Girl From the North Country by Conor McPherson and Bob Dylan
Jagged Little Pill by Diablo Cody, Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard, Michael Farrell and Guy Sigsworth
Moulin Rouge! The Musical based on the Baz Luhrmann film with a book by John Logan and music by various artists (see the full list here)
Octet by Dave Malloy
The Secret Life of Bees by Lynn Nottage, Duncan Sheik and Susan Birkenhead,
Sing Street by Gary Clark, John Carney, and Enda Walsh
Six
Soft Power by David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori
A Strange Loop by Michael R. Jackson
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical by Frank Ketelaar, Katori Hall, and Kees Prins
Outstanding Revival of a Play
Betrayal by Harold Pinter
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shange
Fires in the Mirror by Anna Deavere Smith
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune by Terrence McNally
Judgement Day a new adaptation of the Ödön von Horváth play by Christopher Shinn
Medea a new adaption of the Euripides text by Simon Stone
Native Son an adaptation of the Richard Wright novel by Nambi E. Kelley
The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams
A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill adapted by Stephen Mallatratt
Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Enter Laughing by Joseph Stein and Stan Daniels.
Little Shop of Horrors by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman
Rock of Ages with a book by Chris D'Arienzo and music by various artists
The Unsinkable Molly Brown by Meredith Willson and Richard Morris
West Side Story by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim
Distinguished Performance Award
David Acton – The Woman in Black
Jeffrey Bean – Dublin Carol
Ato Blankson-Wood – The Rolling Stone / Slave Play
Christian Borle – Little Shop of Horrors
Danielle Brooks – Much Ado About Nothing
Danny Burstein – Moulin Rouge!
Len Cariou – Harry Townsend’s Last Stand
Rose Byrne – Medea
Patrice Johnson Chevannes – Run Boy Run / In Old Age
Liza Colón-Zayas – Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
Kate del Castillo – The Way She Spoke
Edmund Donovan – Greater Clements
Raúl Esparza – Seared
Francesca Faridany – The Half Life of Marie Curie
Halley Feiffer – The Pain of My Belligerence
Danyel Fulton– Broadbend, Arkansas
Annie Golden – Broadway Bounty Hunter
Donnetta Lavinia Grays – Where We Stand
David Alan Grier – A Soldier’s Play
Jonathan Groff – Little Shop of Horrors
Jake Gyllenhaal – Sea Wall / A Life
Tom Hiddleston – Betrayal
Paul Hilton – The Inheritance
Kathryn Hunter – Timon of Athens
Galen Ryan Kane – Native Son
Brittney Mack – Six
April Matthis – Toni Stone
Susannah Millonzi – The Crucible
Kate Mulgrew – The Half Life of Marie Curie
Joe Ngo – Cambodian Rock Band
Deirdre O'Connell – Dana H.
Brenock O'Connor – Sing Street
Okwui Okpokwasili – for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Karen Olivo – Moulin Rouge!
Larry Owens – A Strange Loop
Lauren Patten – Jagged Little Pill
Chris Perfetti – Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow
Ben Porter – The Woman in Black
Isaac Powell – West Side Story
Jonathan Pryce – Height of the Storm
Elizabeth Rodriguez – Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
Michael Shannon – Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Tom Sturridge – Sea Wall / A Life
Marisa Tomei – The Rose Tattoo
Blair Underwood – A Soldier’s Play
Michael Urie – Grand Horizons
Adrienne Warren – Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
Michael Benjamin Washington – Fires in the Mirror
Portia – Stew
The Drama League also recognized previous winners of the Distinguished Performance Award (and therefore ineligible to be nominated): Harvey Fierstein in Bella Bella, Mary-Louise Parker in The Sound Inside, and Audra McDonald in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.
