New York Drama Critics' Circle

For other uses, see Critics' Circle (disambiguation).

The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 23 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization is best known for its annual awards for excellence in theater.^[1][2]

New York Drama Critics' Circle logo and insignia

The organization was founded in 1935 at the Algonquin Hotel by a group that included Brooks Atkinson, Walter Winchell, and Robert Benchley. Adam Feldman of Time Out New York has been President of the organization since 2005; Zachary Stewart of TheaterMania is currently Vice President, and Helen Shaw of The New Yorker serves as Treasurer.^[2][3]

Member affiliations

amNewYork The Daily Beast Deadline Hollywood The Hollywood Reporter

Lighting & Sound America New York New York Daily News New York Post

New York Observer The New Yorker New York Sun TheaterMania

Time Out New York Variety Wall Street Journal TheWrap

The New York Times membership history

Although Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times was the first President of the NYDCC, Times critics are no longer permitted to be members of the group. In 1989, the newspaper's executive editor decreed that their critics could no longer participate in any awards voting. Times critics remained in the organization as non-voting members until 1997, when the newspaper reversed its policy and allowed its critics to resume voting for the awards. However, in 2003, the newspaper adopted a revised ethics policy that forbade its journalists from membership in an awards-voting body, and its critics withdrew from the NYDCC.^[4] As of 2025^[update], the Times's policy against membership remains in effect.^[5]

New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards

The New York Drama Critics' Circle meets twice a year. At the end of each theater season, it votes on the annual New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards, the second oldest playwriting award in the United States (after the Pulitzer Prize). The main award is for Best Play. Since 1945, the Circle has also given out awards for Best Musical; in 2025, it introduced new awards for Best Individual Performance and Best Ensemble Performance. Special Citations may also be awarded for actors, companies, or work of special merit. The award for Best Play includes a cash prize of $2,500.^[6] The awards are presented in a private ceremony.

The New York Drama Critics' Circle Award was conceived as an alternative to the Pulitzer Prize, and was initially limited to works by American playwrights. In 1938, the Circle began awarding a second prize, Best Foreign Play, to works of foreign origin. In the 1962–63 season, the Circle changed its rules so that the top winner, Best Play, could be of either American or foreign original, with the option for a secondary play award: If the winner of Best Play was of American origin, the Circle considered giving an award for Best Foreign Play as well; if the Best Play winner was of foreign origin, the Circle considered giving an award for Best American Play. No such secondary awards were given until 1970, after which they became more common. They were formally discontinued in 2025.^[7]

Theatre awards and citation winners

Best Play

A missing year in any section below indicates that the award was not given that year.

1936: Winterset – Maxwell Anderson 1937: High Tor – Maxwell Anderson 1938: Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck 1940: The Time of Your Life – William Saroyan 1941: Watch on the Rhine – Lillian Hellman 1943: The Patriots – Sidney Kingsley 1945: The Glass Menagerie – Tennessee Williams 1947: All My Sons – Arthur Miller 1948: A Streetcar Named Desire – Tennessee Williams 1949: Death of a Salesman – Arthur Miller 1950: The Member of the Wedding – Carson McCullers 1951: Darkness at Noon – Sidney Kingsley 1952: I Am a Camera – John Van Druten 1953: Picnic – William Inge 1954: The Teahouse of the August Moon – John Patrick 1955: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – Tennessee Williams 1956: The Diary of Anne Frank – Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett 1957: Long Day's Journey into Night – Eugene O'Neill 1958: Look Homeward, Angel – Ketti Frings 1959: A Raisin in the Sun – Lorraine Hansberry 1960: Toys in the Attic – Lillian Hellman 1961: All the Way Home – Tad Mosel 1962: The Night of the Iguana – Tennessee Williams 1963: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – Edward Albee 1964: Luther – John Osborne 1965: The Subject Was Roses – Frank D. Gilroy 1966: Marat/Sade by Peter Weiss 1967: The Homecoming – Harold Pinter 1968: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead – Tom Stoppard 1969: The Great White Hope – Howard Sackler 1970: Borstal Boy – Frank McMahon 1971: Home – David Storey 1972: That Championship Season – Jason Miller 1973: The Changing Room – David Storey 1974: The Contractors – David Storey 1975: Equus – Peter Shaffer 1976: Travesties – Tom Stoppard 1977: Otherwise Engaged – Simon Gray 1978: Da – Hugh Leonard 1979: The Elephant Man – Bernard Pomerance 1980: Talley's Folly – Lanford Wilson 1981: A Lesson from Aloes – Athol Fugard 1982: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (play) – David Edgar

1983: Brighton Beach Memoirs – Neil Simon 1984: The Real Thing – Tom Stoppard 1985: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom – August Wilson 1986: A Lie of the Mind – Sam Shepard 1987: Fences – August Wilson 1988: Joe Turner's Come and Gone – August Wilson 1989: The Heidi Chronicles – Wendy Wasserstein 1990: The Piano Lesson – August Wilson 1991: Six Degrees of Separation – John Guare 1992: Dancing at Lughnasa – Brian Friel 1993: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches – Tony Kushner 1994: Three Tall Women – Edward Albee 1995: Arcadia – Tom Stoppard 1996: Seven Guitars – August Wilson 1997: How I Learned to Drive – Paula Vogel 1998: Art – Yasmina Reza 1999: Wit – Margaret Edson 2000: Jitney – August Wilson 2001: The Invention of Love – Tom Stoppard 2002: The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? – Edward Albee 2003: Take Me Out – Richard Greenberg 2004: Intimate Apparel – Lynn Nottage 2005: Doubt – John Patrick Shanley 2006: The History Boys – Alan Bennett 2007: The Coast of Utopia – Tom Stoppard 2008: August: Osage County – Tracy Letts 2009: Ruined – Lynn Nottage 2010: The Orphans' Home Cycle – Horton Foote[8] 2011: Good People – David Lindsay-Abaire 2012: Sons of the Prophet – Stephen Karam[9] 2013: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike – Christopher Durang[2] 2014: The Night Alive – Conor McPherson 2015: Between Riverside and Crazy – Stephen Adly Guirgis 2016: The Humans – Stephen Karam 2017: Oslo – J.T. Rogers 2018: Mary Jane – Amy Herzog 2019: The Ferryman – Jez Butterworth 2020: Heroes of the Fourth Turning – Will Arbery 2022: A Case for the Existence of God – Samuel D. Hunter 2023: Downstate – Bruce Norris 2024: Stereophonic – David Adjmi 2025: Purpose – Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Best Musical

1946: Carousel – Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II 1947: Brigadoon – Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner 1949: South Pacific – Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Joshua Logan 1950: The Consul – Gian Carlo Menotti 1951: Guys and Dolls – Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling, 1952: Pal Joey – Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, and John O'Hara 1953: Wonderful Town – Joseph Fields, Jerome Chodorov, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Leonard Bernstein 1954: The Golden Apple (musical) – John La Touche and Jerome Moross 1955: The Saint of Bleecker Street – Gian Carlo Menotti 1956: My Fair Lady – Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner 1957: The Most Happy Fella – Frank Loesser 1958: The Music Man – Meredith Willson 1959: La Plume de Ma Tante – Robert Dhéry, Ross Parker, Francis Blanche, and Gérard Calvi 1960: Fiorello! – Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, George Abbott and Jerome Weidman 1961: Carnival! – Michael Stewart and Bob Merrill 1962: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying – Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, Willie Gilbert, and Frank Loesser 1964: Hello, Dolly! – Michael Stewart and Jerry Herman 1965: Fiddler on the Roof – Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joseph Stein 1966: Man of La Mancha – Dale Wasserman, Mitch Leigh, and Joe Darion 1967: Cabaret – John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Joe Masteroff 1968: Your Own Thing – Donald Driver, Hal Hester, and Danny Apolinar 1969: 1776 – Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone 1970: Company – Stephen Sondheim and George Furth 1971: Follies – Stephen Sondheim and William Goldman 1972: Two Gentlemen of Verona – Galt MacDermot, John Guare and Mel Shapiro 1973: A Little Night Music – Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler 1974: Candide – Leonard Bernstein, Richard Wilbur, Hugh Wheeler and John La Touche 1975: A Chorus Line – Marvin Hamlisch, Edward Kleban, James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante 1976: Pacific Overtures – Stephen Sondheim, John Weidman and Hugh Wheeler 1977: Annie – Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan

1978: Ain't Misbehavin' – Fats Waller and Richard Maltby Jr. 1979: Sweeney Todd – Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler 1980: Evita – Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice 1983: Little Shop of Horrors – Alan Menken and Howard Ashman 1984: Sunday in the Park with George – Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine 1987: Les Misérables – Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer 1988: Into the Woods – Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine 1990: City of Angels – Larry Gelbart, Cy Coleman, and David Zippel 1991: The Will Rogers Follies – Cy Coleman, Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Peter Stone 1993: Kiss of the Spider Woman – John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Terrence McNally 1996: Rent – Jonathan Larson 1997: Violet – Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley 1998: The Lion King – Elton John, Tim Rice, Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi 1999: Parade – Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry 2000: James Joyce's The Dead – Shaun Davey and Richard Nelson 2001: The Producers – Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan 2003: Hairspray – Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell 2006: The Drowsy Chaperone – Bob Martin, Don McKellar, Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison 2007: Spring Awakening – Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater 2008: Passing Strange – Stew and Heidi Rodewald 2009: Billy Elliot the Musical – Elton John and Lee Hall 2011: The Book of Mormon – Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez 2012: Once – Enda Walsh, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová[9] 2013: Matilda the Musical – Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly[2] 2014: Fun Home – Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron 2015: Hamilton – Lin-Manuel Miranda 2016: Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed – George C. Wolfe, Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle 2017: The Band's Visit – Itamar Moses and David Yazbek 2019: Tootsie – David Yazbek and Robert Horn 2020: A Strange Loop – Michael R. Jackson 2022: Kimberly Akimbo – David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori 2024: Dead Outlaw – Itamar Moses, David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna 2025: Maybe Happy Ending – Will Aronson and Hue Park

Best Foreign Play

1938: Shadow and Substance – Paul Vincent Carroll 1939: The White Steed – Paul Vincent Carroll 1941: The Corn Is Green – Emlyn Williams 1942: Blithe Spirit – Noël Coward 1944: Jacobowsky and the Colonel (Jacobowsky und der Oberst) – Franz Werfel 1947: No Exit – Jean-Paul Sartre 1948: The Winslow Boy – Terence Rattigan 1949: The Madwoman of Chaillot – Jean Giraudoux 1950: The Cocktail Party – T. S. Eliot 1951: The Lady's Not for Burning – Christopher Fry 1952: Venus Observed – Christopher Fry 1953: The Love of Four Colonels – Peter Ustinov 1954: Ondine – Jean Giraudoux 1955: Witness for the Prosecution – Agatha Christie 1956: Tiger at the Gates – Jean Giraudoux and Christopher Fry 1957: The Waltz of the Toreadors – Jean Anouilh 1958: Look Back in Anger – John Osborne 1959: The Visit – Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Maurice Valency 1960: Five Finger Exercise – Peter Shaffer 1961: A Taste of Honey – Shelagh Delaney 1962: A Man for All Seasons – Robert Bolt

1972: The Screens – Jean Genet 1980: Betrayal – Harold Pinter 1983: Plenty – David Hare 1986: Benefactors – Michael Frayn 1987: Les Liaisons Dangereuses – Christopher Hampton 1988: The Road to Mecca – Athol Fugard 1989: Aristocrats – Brian Friel 1990: Privates on Parade – Peter Nichols 1991: Our Country's Good – Timberlake Wertenbaker 1993: Someone Who'll Watch Over Me – Frank McGuinness 1996: Molly Sweeney – Brian Friel 1997: Skylight – David Hare 1999: Closer – Patrick Marber 2000: Copenhagen – Michael Frayn 2003: Talking Heads – Alan Bennett 2005: The Pillowman – Martin McDonagh 2009: Black Watch – Gregory Burke 2011: Jerusalem – Jez Butterworth 2012: Tribes – Nina Raine[9] 2018: Hangmen – Martin McDonagh 2023: Leopoldstadt – Tom Stoppard

Best American Play

1970: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds – Paul Zindel 1971: The House of Blue Leaves – John Guare 1973: The Hot l Baltimore – Lanford Wilson 1974: Short Eyes – Miguel Piñero 1975: The Taking of Miss Janie – Ed Bullins 1976: Streamers – David Rabe 1977: American Buffalo – David Mamet 1981: Crimes of the Heart – Beth Henley

1982: A Soldier's Play – Charles Fuller 1984: Glengarry Glen Ross – David Mamet 1992: Two Trains Running – August Wilson 1995: Love! Valour! Compassion! – Terrence McNally 1998: Pride's Crossing – Tina Howe 2001: Proof – David Auburn 2007: Radio Golf – August Wilson 2014: All the Way – Robert Schenkkan 2019: What the Constitution Means to Me – Heidi Schreck

Best Individual Performance

• 2025: Andrew Scott – Vanya

Best Ensemble Performance

• 2025: The cast of Bess Wohl's Liberation

Special Citations

1952: Don Juan in Hell – George Bernard Shaw 1963: Beyond the Fringe – Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore 1964: The Trojan Women – Euripides 1966: Mark Twain Tonight – Hal Holbrook 1971: Sticks and Bones by David Rabe and Old Times by Harold Pinter 1980: Peter Brook's Le Centre International de Créations Théâtricales at La MaMa 1981: Lena Horne for Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music and New York Shakespeare Festival's The Pirates of Penzance 1983: Young Playwrights Festival 1984: Samuel Beckett for the body of his work 1986: The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe – Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner 1989: Largely New York – Bill Irwin 1992: Eileen Atkins – A Room of One's Own 1994: Anna Deavere Smith – Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 1994: Signature Theatre Company's Horton Foote season 1997: Chicago revival — Encores! 1998: Cabaret – Roundabout Theatre Company 1999: David Hare 2002: Elaine Stritch for Elaine Stritch at Liberty 2004: Barbara Cook 2006: John Doyle, Sarah Travis and the Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd; Christine Ebersole for Grey Gardens 2007: Journey's End Broadway revival 2009: Angela Lansbury; Matthew Warchus and the cast of The Norman Conquests; Gerard Alessandrini for Forbidden Broadway 2010: Lincoln Center Festival; Viola Davis; Annie Baker

2011: The Normal Heart; Mark Rylance for La Bête and Jerusalem; and the direction, design and puppetry of War Horse 2012: Signature Theatre Company; Mike Nichols[9] 2013: Soho Rep; New York City Center's Encores!; John Lee Beatty 2014: The Shakespeare's Globe productions of Twelfth Night and Richard III; Richard Nelson and the company of the Apple Family Plays 2015: Ars Nova; Bob Crowley 2016: Oskar Eustis; Lois Smith; Ivo van Hove and Jan Versweyveld 2017: Taylor Mac for A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, Ruben Santiago-Hudson and the cast of Jitney; Paula Vogel for career achievement as a playwright and mentor 2018: Park Avenue Armory for adventurous theatrical programming; Transport Group; the staging, design and illusions of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child 2019: Irish Repertory Theatre; Page 73; National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene's revival of Fiddler on the Roof (Fidler Afn Dakh) 2020: David Byrne and the Broadway production of American Utopia; Deirdre O'Connell; the New York theater community for perseverance in the face of loss during the COVID-19 pandemic 2022: Austin Pendleton; Sanaz Toossi 2023: Broadway revival of Parade; Adrienne Kennedy; La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club 2024: Broadway revivals of Merrily We Roll Along and Purlie Victorious; Maryann Plunkett and Jay O. Sanders; Heather Christian 2025: Cole Escola for Oh, Mary!; Cats: The Jellicle Ball; David Greenspan

Runners-up

Year	Show	Author(s)	Nominated for
1936	Idiot's Delight	Robert E. Sherwood	Best American Play
1937	Johnny Johnson	Kurt Weill and Paul Green	Best Musical
1938	Our Town	Thornton Wilder	Best American Play
1941	The Beautiful People	William Saroyan	Best American Play
1941	Native Son	Paul Green and Richard Wright	Best American Play
1943	The Skin of Our Teeth	Thornton Wilder	Best American Play
1947	The Iceman Cometh	Eugene O'Neill	Best American Play
1949	Kiss Me, Kate	Cole Porter, Bella Spewack, and Sam Spewack	Best Musical
1951	Billy Budd	Louis O. Coxe and Robert Chapman	Best American Play
1951	The King and I	Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II	Best Musical
1952	Mrs. McThing	Mary Coyle Chase	Best American Play
1953	The Crucible	Arthur Miller	Best American Play
1954	The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial	Herman Wouk	Best American Play
1955	Bus Stop	William Inge	Best American Play
1962	Gideon	Paddy Chayefsky	Best American Play
1965	Luv	Murray Schisgal	Best Play
1965	The Odd Couple	Neil Simon	Best Play
1966	Philadelphia, Here I Come!	Brian Friel	Best Play
1966	The Royal Hunt of the Sun	Peter Shaffer	Best Play
1967	A Delicate Balance	Edward Albee	Best Play
1969	Hadrian the Seventh	Peter Luke	Best Play
1970	Indians	Arthur Kopit	Best American Play
1971	The Trial of the Catonsville Nine	Daniel Berrigan	Best American Play
1972	Sticks and Bones	David Rabe	Best Play
1972	Old Times	Harold Pinter	Best Foreign Play
1973	Seesaw	Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields, and Michael Bennett	Best Musical
1973	Pippin	Stephen Schwartz, Bob Fosse, and Roger O. Hirson	Best Musical
1974	In the Boom Boom Room	David Rabe	Best American Play
1975	The Island	Athol Fugard	Best Play
1975	Seascape	Edward Albee	Best American Play
1977	No Man's Land	Harold Pinter	Best Play
1977	I Love My Wife	Cy Coleman and Michael Stewart	Best Musical
1981	Amadeus	Peter Shaffer	Best Play
1982	"Master Harold"...and the Boys	Athol Fugard	Best Play
1982	Torch Song Trilogy	Harvey Fierstein	Best American Play
1983	'night, Mother	Marsha Norman	Best Play
1983	Top Girls	Caryl Churchill	Best Foreign Play
1983	Quartermaine's Terms	Simon Gray	Best Foreign Play
1985	Biloxi Blues	Neil Simon	Best Play
1987	Me and My Girl	Noel Gay, Douglas Furber, and L. Arthur Rose	Best Musical
1988	M. Butterfly	David Henry Hwang	Best Play
1988	The Phantom of the Opera	Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart, and Richard Stilgoe	Best Musical
1990	The Grapes of Wrath	Frank Galati	Best Play
1990	Prelude to a Kiss	Craig Lucas	Best Play
1991	The Secret Garden	Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman	Best Musical
1992	Marvin's Room	Scott McPherson	Best American Play
1994	Angels in America: Perestroika	Tony Kushner	Best Play
1997	The Life	Cy Coleman, Ira Gasman, and David Newman	Best Musical
1998	The Beauty Queen of Leenane	Martin McDonagh	Best Play
1998	Three Days of Rain	Richard Greenberg	Best American Play
1998	Ragtime	Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens, and Terrence McNally	Best Musical
2000	Contact	John Weidman	Best Musical
2001	The Play About the Baby	Edward Albee	Best American Play
2007	Radio Golf	August Wilson	Best Play
2007	Frost/Nixon	Peter Morgan	Best Play
2007	Dying City	Christopher Shinn	Best American Play
2007	Indian Blood	A.R. Gurney	Best American Play
2008	Adding Machine	Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt	Best Musical
2008	The Seafarer	Conor McPherson	Best Play
2008	Rock 'n' Roll	Tom Stoppard	Best Play
2009	Next to Normal	Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey	Best Musical
2009	Road Show	Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman	Best Musical
2009	God of Carnage	Yasmina Reza	Best Foreign Play
2009	Blasted	Sarah Kane	Best Foreign Play

See also

• Tony Awards
• Drama Desk Awards
• Obie Awards
• Laurence Olivier Awards
• London Critics' Circle Theatre Awards