ThePulitzer Prize for Dramais one of the seven AmericanPulitzer Prizesthat are annually awarded for Letters,Drama,andMusic.It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were awarded that year.[1](No Drama prize was given, however, so that one was inaugurated in 1918, in a sense.)[2]It recognizes a theatrical work staged in the U.S. during the preceding calendar year.
Until 2007, eligibility for the Drama Prize ran from March 1 to March 2 to reflect the Broadway "season" rather than the calendar year that governed most other Pulitzer Prizes.
The drama jury, which consists of one academic and four critics, attends plays inNew Yorkand in regional theaters. The Pulitzer board can overrule the jury's choice; in1986,the board's opposition to the jury's choice ofthe CIVIL warSresulted in no award being given.[3]
In 1955Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.pressured the prize jury into presenting the Prize toCat on a Hot Tin Roof,which the jury considered the weakest of the five shortlisted nominees ( "amateurishly constructed... from the stylistic points of view annoyingly pretentious" ), instead ofClifford Odets'The Flowering Peach(their preferred choice) orThe Bad Seed,their second choice.[4]Edward Albee'sWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?was selected for the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for Drama by that award's committee. However, the committee's selection was overruled by the award's advisory board, the trustees ofColumbia University,because of the play's then-controversial use ofprofanityand sexual themes. Had Albee been awarded, he would be tied withEugene O'Neillfor the most Pulitzer Prizes for Drama (four).
Awards and nominations
editIn its first 106 years to 2022, the Drama Pulitzer was awarded 91 times; none were given in 15 years and it was never split.
The most recipients of the prize in one year was five, whenMichael Bennett,James Kirkwood, Jr.,Nicholas Dante,Marvin Hamlisch,andEdward Klebanshared the1976 prizefor the musicalA Chorus Line.[2]
Notes
edit† marks winners of theTony Award for Best Play.
* marks winners of theTony Award for Best Musical.
≠ marks nominees of theTony Award for Best Playor theTony Award for Best Musical
1910s
edit| Year | Production | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1917 | ||
| no award[1] | — | |
| 1918 | ||
| Why Marry? | Jesse Lynch Williams | |
| 1919 | ||
| no award | — |
1920s
edit1930s
edit1940s
edit| Year | Production | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1940 | ||
| The Time of Your Life | William Saroyan | |
| 1941 | ||
| There Shall Be No Night | Robert E. Sherwood | |
| 1942 | ||
| no award | — | |
| 1943 | ||
| The Skin of Our Teeth | Thornton Wilder | |
| 1944 | ||
| no award[5] | — | |
| 1945 | ||
| Harvey | Mary Coyle Chase | |
| 1946 | ||
| State of the Union | Russel Crouse Howard Lindsay | |
| 1947 | ||
| no award | — | |
| 1948 | ||
| A Streetcar Named Desire | Tennessee Williams | |
| 1949 | ||
| Death of a Salesman† | Arthur Miller |
1950s
edit1960s
edit| Year | Production | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | ||
| Fiorello!* | Jerome Weidman George Abbott Jerry Bock Sheldon Harnick | |
| 1961 | ||
| All the Way Home≠ | Tad Mosel | |
| 1962 | ||
| How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying* | Frank Loesser Abe Burrows | |
| 1963 | ||
| no award[6] | — | |
| 1964 | ||
| no award | — | |
| 1965 | ||
| The Subject Was Roses† | Frank D. Gilroy | |
| 1966 | ||
| no award | — | |
| 1967 | ||
| A Delicate Balance≠ | Edward Albee | |
| 1968 | ||
| no award | — | |
| 1969 | ||
| The Great White Hope† | Howard Sackler |
1970s
edit1980s
edit1990s
edit2000s
edit2010s
edit2020s
edit| Year | Production | Author | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | |||
| A Strange Loop* | Michael R. Jackson | ||
| Heroes of the Fourth Turning | Will Arbery | ||
| Soft Power | David Henry Hwang Jeanine Tesori |
||
| 2021 | |||
| The Hot Wing King | Katori Hall | [7] | |
| Circle Jerk | Michael Breslin Patrick Foley |
||
| Stew | Zora Howard | ||
| 2022 | |||
| Fat Ham≠ | James Ijames | [8] | |
| Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord | Kristina Wong | ||
| Selling Kabul | Sylvia Khoury | ||
| 2023 | |||
| English | Sanaz Toossi | [9] | |
| On Sugarland | Aleshea Harris | ||
| The Far Country | Lloyd Suh | ||
| 2024 | |||
| Primary Trust | Eboni Booth | [10] | |
| Here There Are Blueberries | Amanda Gronich Moises Kaufman | ||
| Public Obscenities | Shayok Misha Chowdhury |
Notes
edit- ^The Nominating Jury acknowledged their first choice, 'The Civil Wars', was unconventional and "not a play in any traditional sense of the word". The only other option they offered wasHannah and Her SistersbyWoody Allen,which they realized was not a traditional nominee for a drama award, due to it being a film, but thought they would "raise the question of... eligibility" anyway.
Musicals
editTen musicals have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, roughly one per decade from the 1930s to the 2020s¹. They are:GeorgeandIra Gershwin'sOf Thee I Sing(1932),Rodgers and Hammerstein'sSouth Pacific(1950),Bock&Harnick'sFiorello!(1960),Frank Loesser'sHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying(1962),Marvin Hamlisch,Edward Kleban,James Kirkwood, Jr.,andNicholas Dante'sA Chorus Line(1976),Stephen Sondheim's andJames Lapine'sSunday in the Park with George(1985),Jonathan Larson'sRent(1996),Brian YorkeyandTom Kitt'sNext to Normal(2010),Lin-Manuel Miranda'sHamilton(2016), andMichael R. Jackson'sA Strange Loop(2020). Though it did not win for Drama,Oklahoma!was awarded aspecial Pulitzer Prizein 1944.
Of note,South Pacificwon the 1950 Pulitzer for Drama but its source material, James Michener'sTales of the South Pacific,also won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Sunday in the Park with GeorgeandNext to Normalare the only musicals that won the Pulitzer Prize and did not also win theTony Award for Best Musical;the latter won the authors Tonys forBest Original ScoreandBest Orchestrations.[11]Of Thee I Singopened before theTony Awardsexisted.
The award goes to the playwright, although production of the play is also taken into account. In the case of a musical being awarded the prize, the composer, lyricist and book writer are generally the recipients. An exception to this was the first Pulitzer ever awarded to a musical: whenOf Thee I Singwon in 1932, book authors George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, as well as lyricist Ira Gershwin, were cited as the winners, while composer George Gershwin's contribution was overlooked by the committee. The reason given was that the Pulitzer Prize for Drama is adramaticaward, and not amusicalone. However, by 1950 the Pulitzer committee included composer Richard Rodgers as a recipient whenSouth Pacificwon the award, in recognition of music as an integral and important part of the theatrical experience.[12]
Additionally, since 1983, when the identity of finalists was first disclosed, five musicals have been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. They are:Lee BreuerandBob Telson'sThe Gospel at Colonus(1985);Lin-Manuel MirandaandQuiara Alegría Hudes'In the Heights(2009);Jeanine TesoriandLisa Kron'sFun Home(2014);Taylor Mac'sA 24-Decade History of Popular Music(2017); andDavid Henry HwangandJeanine Tesori'sSoft Power(2020).[2]
¹All listed dates are Prize years. Generally, the musical in question opened in New York during either the preceding calendar year or the preceding Broadway season.
Multiple wins and nominations
edit|
The following individuals received two or more Pulitzer Prizes for Drama:
|
The following individuals received two or more nominations:
|
Lynn Nottage is the only female playwright to win the prize twice. She and August Wilson are the only playwrights of color to accomplish this feat.
Jon Robin Baitz, Gina Gionfriddo, John Guare, A.R. Gurney, Richard Greenberg, Tina Howe, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Stephen Karam, Sarah Ruhl and Jeanine Tesori have each been named finalists twice without winning. David Henry Hwang is the only person to have been named a finalist thrice without winning. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeanine Tesori are the only people to be named as a finalist twice for writing and composing a musical, with Miranda winning in 2016.
References
edit- ^ab"1917 Winners".The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
- ^abc "Drama".The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 2013-12-20.
- ^"Pulitzer Prize".Broadway Scene.22 June 2015.
- ^Fischer, Heinz-Dietrich & Erika J. Fischer.The Pulitzer Prize Archive: A History and Anthology of Award-Winning Materials in Journalism, Letters, and ArtsMünchen: K.G. Saur, 2008.ISBN3-598-30170-7ISBN9783598301704p. 246
- ^Although no Drama award was given in 1944,that yearRichard RodgersandOscar Hammerstein IIwere presented with aSpecial Award and Citationfor the landmark musicalOklahoma!
- ^The Pulitzer committee recommendedEdward Albee'sWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?*, but the Pulitzer board, who have sole discretion in awarding the prize, rejected the recommendation, due to the play's perceived vulgarity, and no award was given instead.
Klein, Alvin. "Albee's 'Tiny Alice,' The Whole Enchilada".The New York Times.May 24, 1998: CT11. - ^"The Hot Wing King Wins the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama".Broadway World.
- ^2022 Pulitzer Prizes
- ^2023 Pulitzer Prizes
- ^2024 Pulitzer Prizes
- ^Next to Normalat theInternet Broadway Database
- ^Flinn, Denny Martin.Musical! A Grand Tour.Schirmer, first edition (April 17, 1997), pages 230–31.ISBN0-02-864610-X
External links
edit
Media related toPulitzer Prize for Drama winnersat Wikimedia Commons
