Pulitzer Prize for Drama
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The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.
From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than being the calendar year. The decision was made, however, that the 2007 Prize would consider works staged during an eligibility period of January 1 to December 31, 2006--thus bringing the schedule for the Drama Prize in line with those of the other prizes.
The drama jury, which consists of one academic and four critics, attends plays in New York and in regional theaters. The Pulitzer board has the authority to overrule the jury's choice, however, as happened in 1986 when the jury chose the CIVIL warS to receive the prize, but due to the board's opposition no award was given.
Also, Edward Albee's Who'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 of Columbia University, because of the play's then-controversial use of profanity and sexual themes. Had Albee been awarded, he would be tied with Eugene O'Neill for the most Pulitzer Prizes for Drama (four).
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[edit] Musicals as recipients
Only seven musicals have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama -- roughly, about one per decade from the 1930s to the 1990s. They are as follows: Gershwin's Of Thee I Sing (1932)¹, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific (1950), Bock & Harnick's Fiorello! (1960), Frank Loesser's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1962), Michael Bennett's A Chorus Line (1976), Stephen Sondheim's and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George (1985), and Jonathan Larson's Rent (1996).
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 story author are generally the recipients. An exception to this was the very first Pulitzer ever awarded to a musical: when Of Thee I Sing won 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 a dramatic award, and not a musical one. However, by 1950 the Pulitzer committee included composer Richard Rodgers as a recipient when South Pacific won the award, realizing by this time that music is, indeed, an integral and very important part of the theatrical experience.[1]
¹Years given indicate the year that the Pulitzer Prize was won and not necessarily the year that musical had its New York opening.
[edit] Recipients and Nominated Finalists by year
- 2008: Tracy Letts, August: Osage County
- David Henry Hwang, Yellow Face
- Christopher Shinn, Dying City
- 2007: David Lindsay-Abaire, Rabbit Hole
- Eisa Davis, Bulrusher
- Rinde Eckert, Orpheus X
- Quiara Alegría Hudes, Elliot, a Soldier’s Fugue
- 2006: no award given
- Christopher Durang, Miss Witherspoon
- Rolin Jones, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow
- Adam Rapp, Red Light Winter
- 2005: John Patrick Shanley, Doubt: A Parable
- Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House
- Will Eno, Thom Pain (Based on Nothing)
- 2004: Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
- Tracy Letts, Man from Nebraska
- Theresa Rebeck and Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros, Omnium Gatherum
- 2003: Nilo Cruz, Anna in the Tropics
- Richard Greenberg, Take Me Out
- Edward Albee, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?
- 2002: Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog
- Rebecca Gilman, The Glory of Living
- Dael Orlandersmith, Yellowman
- 2001: David Auburn, Proof
- Edward Albee, The Play About the Baby
- Kenneth Lonergan, The Waverly Gallery
- 2000: Donald Margulies, Dinner With Friends
- August Wilson, King Hedley II
- Suzan-Lori Parks, In the Blood
- 1999: Margaret Edson, Wit
- Cornelius Eady and Diedre Murray, Running Man
- Warren Leight, Side Man
- 1998: Paula Vogel, How I Learned to Drive
- Richard Greenberg, Three Days of Rain
- Amy Freed, Freedomland
- 1997: no award given
- Donald Margulies, Collected Stories
- Alfred Uhry, The Last Night of Ballyhoo
- Tina Howe, Pride's Crossing
- 1996: Jonathan Larson, Rent
- Jon Robin Baitz, A Fair Country
- Jon Marans, Old Wicked Songs
- 1995: Horton Foote, The Young Man From Atlanta
- August Wilson, Seven Guitars
- David Mamet, The Cryptogram
- 1994: Edward Albee, Three Tall Women
- Jane Martin, Keely and Du
- Terrence McNally, A Perfect Ganesh
- 1993: Tony Kushner, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
- Anna Deavere Smith, Fires in the Mirror
- Larry Kramer, The Destiny of Me
- 1992: Robert Schenkkan, The Kentucky Cycle
- David Feldshuh, Miss Evers' Boys
- Herb Gardner, Conversations With My Father
- August Wilson, Two Trains Running
- Donald Margulies, Sight Unseen
- 1991: Neil Simon, Lost in Yonkers
- Craig Lucas, Prelude to a Kiss
- John Guare, Six Degrees of Separation
- 1990: August Wilson, The Piano Lesson
- Maria Irene Fornes, And What of the Night?
- A.R. Gurney, Love Letters
- 1989: Wendy Wasserstein, The Heidi Chronicles
- David Henry Hwang, M. Butterfly
- August Wilson, Joe Turner's Come and Gone
- 1988: Alfred Uhry, Driving Miss Daisy
- Howard Korder, Boy's Life
- Eric Bogosian, Talk Radio
- 1987: August Wilson, Fences
- Neil Simon, Broadway Bound
- Lee Blessing, A Walk in the Woods
- 1986: no award given
- no finalists announced
- 1985: James Lapine (book) and Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics), Sunday in the Park with George
- Lee Breuer (conceived and adapted), Bob Telson (music), The Gospel at Colonus
- A.R. Gurney, The Dining Room
- 1984: David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross
- Sam Shepard, Fool for Love
- Tina Howe, Painting Churches
- 1983: Marsha Norman, 'Night, Mother
- Sam Shepard, True West
- 1982: Charles Fuller, A Soldier's Play
- no finalists announced before 1982
- 1981: Beth Henley, Crimes of the Heart
- 1980: Lanford Wilson, Talley's Folly
- 1979: Sam Shepard, Buried Child
- 1978: Donald L. Coburn, The Gin Game
- 1977: Michael Cristofer, The Shadow Box
- 1976: Michael Bennett (concept, choreography, and direction), Nicholas Dante and James Kirkwood, Jr. (book), Marvin Hamlisch (music) and Edward Kleban (lyrics), A Chorus Line
- 1975: Edward Albee, Seascape
- 1974: no award given
- 1973: Jason Miller, That Championship Season
- 1972: no award given
- 1971: Paul Zindel, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
- 1970: Charles Gordone, No Place To Be Somebody
- 1969: Howard Sackler, The Great White Hope
- 1968: no award given
- 1967: Edward Albee, A Delicate Balance
- 1966: no award given
- 1965: Frank D. Gilroy, The Subject Was Roses
- 1964: no award given
- 1963: no award given
- 1962: Frank Loesser (music and lyrics) and Abe Burrows (book), How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying
- 1961: Tad Mosel, All the Way Home
- 1960: Jerome Weidman and George Abbott (book) Jerry Bock (music), and Sheldon Harnick (lyrics), Fiorello!
- 1959: Archibald MacLeish, J.B.
- 1958: Ketti Frings, Look Homeward, Angel
- 1957: Eugene O'Neill, Long Day's Journey Into Night
- 1956: Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, Diary of Anne Frank
- 1955: Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
- 1954: John Patrick, The Teahouse of the August Moon
- 1953: William Inge, Picnic
- 1952: Joseph Kramm, The Shrike
- 1951: no award given
- 1950: Richard Rodgers (music), Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics), Joshua Logan (book), South Pacific
- 1949: Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman
- 1948: Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire
- 1947: no award given
- 1946: Russel Crouse, Howard Lindsay, State of the Union
- 1945: Mary Coyle Chase, Harvey
- 1944: no award given
- 1943: Thornton Wilder, The Skin of Our Teeth
- 1942: no award given
- 1941: Robert E. Sherwood, There Shall Be No Night
- 1940: William Saroyan, The Time of Your Life
- 1939: Robert E. Sherwood, Abe Lincoln in Illinois
- 1938: Thornton Wilder, Our Town
- 1937: Moss Hart, George S. Kaufman, You Can't Take It With You
- 1936: Robert E. Sherwood, Idiot's Delight
- 1935: Zoe Akins, The Old Maid
- 1934: Sidney Kingsley, Men in White
- 1933: Maxwell Anderson, Both Your Houses
- 1932: George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind, Ira Gershwin, Of Thee I Sing
- 1931: Susan Glaspell, Alison's House
- 1930: Marc Connelly, The Green Pastures
- 1929: Elmer Rice, Street Scene
- 1928: Eugene O'Neill, Strange Interlude
- 1927: Paul Green, In Abraham's Bosom
- 1926: George Kelly, Craig's Wife
- 1925: Sidney Howard, They Knew What They Wanted
- 1924: Hatcher Hughes, Hell-Bent Fer Heaven
- 1923: Owen Davis, Icebound
- 1922: Eugene O'Neill, Anna Christie
- 1921: Zona Gale, Miss Lulu Bett
- 1920: Eugene O'Neill, Beyond the Horizon
- 1919: no award given
- 1918: Jesse Lynch Williams, Why Marry?
[edit] Multiple Winners
Only a few playwrights have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama more than once.
- Eugene O'Neill has won the prize four times-- more than any other playwright. He won in 1920, 1922, 1928, and 1957.
- George S. Kaufman won the award twice, once in 1932 and once in 1937. Both times he won the award for a collaborative work.
- Robert E. Sherwood won the award in 1936, 1939, and 1941.
- Thornton Wilder won in 1938 and 1943.
- Tennessee Williams won the award in 1948 and 1955.
- August Wilson won the award in 1987 and 1990.
- Edward Albee won the award in 1967, 1975 and 1994. He is the last repeat winner to win, although August Wilson is the last playwright to become a repeat winner.
[edit] References
- ^ Musical! A Grand Tour, 1997, pages 230-231
- Flinn, Denny Martin. Musical! A Grand Tour. Schirmer, 1 edition (April 17, 1997), pages 230-231. ISBN 002864610X
- Pulitzer Official Site
