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NOMINEES AND RECIPIENTS

2019 Awards

2019 Drama Desk Award Winners

OUTSTANDING PLAY

Fairview, by Jackie Sibblies Drury, Soho Rep

*The Ferryman, by Jez Butterworth

Lewiston/Clarkston, by Samuel D. Hunter, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater

Usual Girls, by Ming Peiffer, Roundabout Theatre Company

What the Constitution Means to Me, by Heidi Schreck, New York Theatre Workshop and Broadway

OUTSTANDING MUSICAL

Be More Chill

The Hello Girls, Prospect Theater Company

*The Prom

Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future, Ars Nova

Tootsie

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY

Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine, Signature Theatre

Henry VI: Shakespeare’s Trilogy in Two Parts, National Asian American Theatre Company

Our Lady of 121st Street, Signature Theatre

Summer and Smoke, Classic Stage Company/Transport Group

*The Waverly Gallery

Uncle Vanya, Hunter Theater Project

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL

Carmen Jones, Classic Stage Company

*Fiddler on the Roof, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and Off-Broadway

Kiss Me, Kate, Roundabout Theatre Company

Merrily We Roll Along, Fiasco Theater/Roundabout Theatre Company

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, Bard Summerscape/St. Ann’s Warehouse and Broadway

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY

Jeff Biehl, Life Sucks

Edmund Donovan, Lewiston/Clarkston

Raúl Esparza, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

Russell Harvard, I Was Most Alive With You

*Jay O. Sanders, Uncle Vanya

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Midori Francis, Usual Girls

Zainab Jah, Boesman and Lena

*Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery

Laurie Metcalf, Hillary and Clinton

Heidi Schreck, What the Constitution Means to Me

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom

Andrew R. Butler, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future

Damon Daunno, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

*Santino Fontana, Tootsie

Steven Skybell, Fiddler on the Roof

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

*Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show

Beth Leavel, The Prom

Rebecca Naomi Jones, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Anika Noni Rose, Carmen Jones

Stacey Sargeant, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY

Charles Browning, Fairview

Arnie Burton, Lewiston/Clarkston

Hampton Fluker, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons

*Tom Glynn-Carney, The Ferryman

Brandon Uranowitz, Burn This

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Harriett D. Foy, The House That Will Not Stand

Megan Hill, Eddie and Dave

*Celia Keenan-Bolger, To Kill A Mockingbird

Ruth Wilson, King Lear

Alison Wright, Othello

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Corbin Bleu, Kiss Me, Kate

*André De Shields, Hadestown

Sydney James Harcourt, Girl from the North Country

George Salazar, Be More Chill

Patrick Vaill, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Stephanie Hsu, Be More Chill

Leslie Kritzer, Beetlejuice

Soara-Joye Ross, Carmen Jones

Sarah Stiles, Tootsie

*Ali Stroker, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Mary Testa, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A PLAY

Sarah Benson, Fairview

Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, The Jungle

*Sam Mendes, The Ferryman

Tyne Rafaeli, Usual Girls

Taylor Reynolds, Plano

Jeff Wise, Life Sucks

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL

Noah Brody, Merrily We Roll Along

*Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown

Scott Ellis, Tootsie

Daniel Fish, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Joel Grey, Fiddler on the Roof

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY

Presented by LaDuca Shoes

Camille A. Brown, Choir Boy

*Warren Carlyle, Kiss Me Kate

Denis Jones, Tootsie

Lorin Latarro, Twelfth Night

Rick and Jeff Kuperman, Alice by Heart

David Neumann, Hadestown

OUTSTANDING MUSIC

Presented by Music Theatre International

Andrew R. Butler, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future

Joe Iconis, Be More Chill

Peter Mills, The Hello Girls

Mark Sonnenblick, Midnight at the Never Get

Shaina Taub, Twelfth Night

*David Yazbek, Tootsie

OUTSTANDING LYRICS

Presented by Music Theatre International

Chad Beguelin, The Prom

Andrew R. Butler, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future

Joe Iconis, Be More Chill

Peter Mills, The Hello Girls

*David Yazbek, Tootsie

OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL

Presented by Music Theatre International

Scott Brown and Anthony King, Beetlejuice

Andrew R. Butler, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future

*Robert Horn, Tootsie

Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin, The Prom

Dominique Morisseau, Ain’t Too Proud

OUTSTANDING ORCHESTRATIONS

Larry Blank, Fiddler on the Roof

Simon Hale, Girl from the North Country

*Daniel Kluger, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Charlie Rosen, Be More Chill

Daryl Waters, The Cher Show

OUTSTANDING MUSIC IN A PLAY

Paul Castles and Jongbin Jung, Wild Goose Dreams

Justin Ellington, Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie

Justin Ellington, The House That Will Not Stand

Nick Powell, The Lehman Trilogy

*Jason Michael Webb and Fitz Patton, Choir Boy

OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN OF A PLAY

Miriam Buether, The Jungle

Es Devlin, Girls & Boys

Maruti Evans, The Peculiar Patriot

Mimi Lien, Fairview

*Matt Saunders, “Daddy”

OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN FOR A MUSICAL

Presented by Hudson Scenic Studio

Rachel Hauck, Hadestown

Laura Jellinek, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Laura Jellinek, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future

*David Korins, Beetlejuice

Rae Smith, Girl from the North Country

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN FOR A PLAY

Dede M. Ayite, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark

Dede M. Ayite, If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka

Ásta Bennie Hostetter, Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie

*Toni-Leslie James, Bernhardt/Hamlet

Nicole Slaven, Henry VI: Shakespeare’s Trilogy in Two Parts

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN FOR A MUSICAL

William Ivey Long, Beetlejuice

William Ivey Long, Tootsie

Bobby Frederick Tilley II, Be More Chill

Michael Krass, Hadestown

*Bob Mackie, The Cher Show

Paloma Young, Alice by Heart

OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN FOR A PLAY

*Amith Chandrashaker, Boesman and Lena

Amith Chandrashaker, Fairview

Jiyoun Chang, Slave Play

Jon Clark, The Jungle

Simon Cleveland, Spaceman

Yi Zhao, The House That Will Not Stand

OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN FOR A MUSICAL

Presented by Production Resource Group

Adam Honoré, Carmen Jones

*Bradley King, Hadestown

Jamie Roderick, Midnight at the Never Get

Barbara Samuels, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future

Scott Zielinski, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

OUTSTANDING PROJECTION DESIGN

*Peter England, King Kong

Katherine Freer, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark

Luke Halls, The Lehman Trilogy

Alex Basco Koch, Be More Chill

Peter Nigrini, Beetlejuice

Joshua Thorson, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN IN A PLAY

Tyler Kieffer, Plano

Fitz Patton, Choir Boy

*Nick Powell, The Ferryman

Jane Shaw, I Was Most Alive with You

Mikaal Sulaiman, Fairview

OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN IN A MUSICAL

Simon Baker, Girl from the North Country

Drew Levy, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Brian Ronan, Tootsie

*Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz, Hadestown

Mikaal Sulaiman, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future

OUTSTANDING WIG AND HAIR DESIGN

Campbell Young Associates, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Cookie Jordan, Eddie and Dave

Paul Huntley, Tootsie

*Charles G. LaPointe, Beetlejuice

Charles G. LaPointe, The Cher Show

OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE

*Mike Birbiglia, The New One

Carey Mulligan, Girls & Boys

Liza Jessie Peterson, The Peculiar Patriot, National Black Theatre/Hi-Arts

Erin Treadway, Spaceman, Loading Dock Theatre

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag

UNIQUE THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE

*All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, Theater Latté Da/Laura Little Theatrical Productions/The Sheen Center

Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shake & Bake

The B-Side: “Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons”, The Wooster Group

What to Send Up When It Goes Down, The Movement Theatre Company

OUTSTANDING FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY

U. Jonathan Toppo, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

*Claire Warden, “Daddy”

Claire Warden, Slave Play

OUTSTANDING PUPPET DESIGN

Michael Curry, Beetlejuice

*Sonny Tilders, King Kong

Tschabalala Self, “Daddy”

SPECIAL AWARDS

Ensemble Award: To the uncanny ensemble of Dance Nation for their pointed portrait of a dance troupe riven by competition but fused by the experiences of youth: Purva Bedi, Eboni Booth, Camila Canó-Flaviá, Dina Shihabi, Ellen Maddow, Christina Rouner, Thomas Jay Ryan, Lucy Taylor, and Ikechukwu Ufomadu.

Sam Norkin Award: To Montana Levi Blanco, who enriched this season with his vibrant and detailed costumes for Fairview, The House That Will Not Stand, Fabulation, Or the Re-Education of Undine, Eddie and Dave, “Daddy,” and Ain’t No Mo’. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a Blanco costume is worth considerably more, telling us a complete story about its wearer while giving us something fabulous to look at.

To Mia Katigbak, the backbone of the Off-Broadway scene, we acclaim her for her performances this season in Henry VI: Shakespeare’s Trilogy in Two Parts, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, Peace for Mary Frances and Recent Alien Abductions. This award also recognizes her vital presence as the artistic director of NAATCO and her sustained excellence as a performer and mentor.

To Repertorio Español for presenting a year-round rotating repertory of new and classic Spanish-language plays in its intimate Gramercy venue. For the past 51 years, Repertorio has been an indispensable theater for Spanish-speaking audiences, while inviting non-Spanish-speaking theatergoers to discover the delights of the Spanish-language canon and introducing New York audiences to the work of actors like Zulema Clares and Germán Jaramillo.