Using the Tony Awards’ official categories as a guide, here’s my favorite play work — new shows and revivals alike — of the 2019-2020 (non-Broadway) theatre season:
ACTRESS
- Deirdre O’Connell, Dana H. / Before the Meeting
- Emily Davis, Is This A Room
- Emily Cass McDonnell, The Thin Place
- Zoë Coombs Marr & Ursula Martinez & Adrienne Truscott, Wild Bore
- Mandi Masden, A Raisin in the Sun
- Patrice Johnson Chevannes, runboyrun & IN OLD AGE / Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
- Judith Ivey, Greater Clements
- Jess Thom, Not I
- Jules Latimer, Paris
- Kate Mulgrew, The Half-Life of Marie Curie
- Sabina Zúñiga Varela, Mojada
- Alice Ripley, The Pink Unicorn
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- S. Epatha Merkerson, A Raisin in the Sun
- Brenda Wehle, The Michaels
- Amelia Workman, Fefu and Her Friends
- Crystal Finn, King Philip’s Head Is Still on That Pike Just Down the Road
- Randy Danson, The Thin Place
- Maryann Plunkett, The Michaels
- Adina Verson, Wives
- Vanessa Aspillaga, Mojada
- Haviland Morris, The Michaels
- Sas Goldberg, Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow
ACTOR
- Edmund Donovan, Greater Clements
- Jamyl Dobson & Leland Fowler & Edward Mawere, one in two
- Pete Simpson, Is This A Room
- Daniel Kitson, Keep
- Michael Benjamin Washington, Fires in the Mirror
- Bruce McKenzie, White Noise
- Laurenz Laufenberg, History of Violence
- Oseloka Obi & James Russell-Morley, The End of Eddy
- Aaron Monaghan, DruidShakespeare: Richard III
- Terry O’Donovan, User Not Found
SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Renato Schuch, History of Violence
- Jay O. Sanders, The Michaels
- Stephen Barker Turner, The Plot
- David Wohl, Dropping Gumballs on Luke Wilson
- Maurice Jones, Sunday
- Jordan Baum, PATHETIC
COSTUMES
- Kyoko Fujitani, Eraser Mountain
- Montana Levi Blanco, Fefu and Her Friends
- Danielle Brustman, Wild Bore
- Francis O’Connor, DruidShakespeare: Richard III
- Soutra Gilmour, Timon of Athens
- Shio Otani, The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes
- Barbara Erin Delo, Sincerity Forever
- Ben Pacey, Not I
- Valérie Thérèse Bart, Wives
DIRECTOR
- Robert O’Hara, A Raisin in the Sun
- And Slave Play on Broadway!
- Les Waters, Dana H. / The Thin Place
- Toshiki Okada, Eraser Mountain
- Tina Satter, Is This A Room
- Daniel Fish, White Noise
- Stevie Walker-Webb, one in two
- Zoë Coombs Marr & Ursula Martinez & Adrienne Truscott, Wild Bore
- Lileana Blain-Cruz, Fefu and Her Friends / Anatomy of a Suicide
- Richard Nelson, The Michaels
- Thomas Ostermeier, History of Violence
- Machel Ross, Black Exhibition
- Trip Cullman, Before the Meeting
- Bruce Gladwin, The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes
- Saheem Ali, Fires in the Mirror
- Abigail Browde & Michael Silverstone, Manmade Earth
- Kristan Seemel, Bad Penny
LIGHTING
- Isabella Byrd, Heroes of the Fourth Turning
- Mark Barton, The Thin Place
- Stacey Derosier, White Noise
- Thomas Dunn, Is This A Room
- Sascha van Riel, Queens Row
- Koji Osako, Antigone
- Cha See, one in two
- Paul Toben, Dana H.
- Alex Jainchill, A Raisin in the Sun
- Jen Schriever, Before the Meeting
- Kat McGee, A Hunger Artist
- James F. Ingalls, Ghosts
- Masayoshi Takada, Eraser Mountain
- Daisy Long, Bad Penny
- Cheyenne Sykes, Black Exhibition
- José Luis Cifuentes, Feos
- Alan C. Edwards, Fires in the Mirror
- Ben Pacey, Not I
- Zia Bergin-Holly, User Not Found
- Jiyoun Chang, Anatomy of a Suicide
- Eric Southern & Deb O, Manmade Earth
SCORE
- Bobby Previte, White Noise
- LaFrae Sci, The Transfiguration of Benjamin Banneker
- David Coulter, Ghosts
- Martha Redbone, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
- Deborah Abramson, Little Women
- Nils Ostendorf, History of Violence
- Sanae Yamada, Is This A Room
- Hiroko Tanakawa, Antigone
- Michael Costagliola, Manmade Earth
SET
- Teppei Kaneuji, Eraser Mountain
- Clint Ramos, A Raisin in the Sun
- Andrew Leiberman, White Noise
- Adam Rigg, Fefu and Her Friends
- Daniel Soule, for all the women who thought they were Mad
- Mark Wendland, Before the Meeting
- Junpei Kiz, Antigone
- Eric Southern & Deb O, Manmade Earth
- Arnulfo Maldonado, one in two
- Danielle Brustman, Wild Bore
- Jian Jung, Bad Penny
- Dane Laffrey, Ghosts
- Sarah Karl, The Plot
- Parker Lutz, Is This A Room
- Andrew Boyce, Dana H.
- Andrew Moerdyk, You Never Touched the Dirt
- Mimi Lien, The Thin Place
- Dane Laffrey, Greater Clements
- Julian Crouch, Curse of the Starving Class
- Arnulfo Maldonado, Fires in the Mirror
- Bob Cousins, Medea
- Laura Jellinek, Heroes of the Fourth Turning
- Frank J. Olivia, Sincerity Forever
SOUND
- Mikhail Fiksel, Dana H. / Mojada
- Raku Nakahara, Eraser Mountain
- Eric Sluyter, White Noise
- Lee Kinney & Sanae Yamada, Is This A Room
- Christian Frederickson, The Thin Place
- Yaniv Fridel, User Not Found
- Tomás Arias, Feos
- Justin Ellington, one in two
- Wild Bore
- Scott Lehrer, The Michaels
- Elisheba Itoop, A Raisin in the Sun
- Keenan Hurley, Bad Penny
- Ben Williams, PATHETIC
- Beth Lake, Ghosts