urban excavations

April 30, 2025 — Nominations for the 69th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced today on Spectrum News NY1 by Norm Lewis and Spectrum News NY1 hosts.

In keeping with the Drama Desk’s mission, the nominators considered shows that opened on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway during the 2024-2025 New York theater season, that the Drama Desk determined ended as of April 27, 2025. Productions must run for 21 or more live performances to be considered eligible.

In determining the eligibility of plays or performances from prior seasons, the nominating committee considered only those elements that constituted new work. These productions included Buena Vista Social Club, Hold On to Me Darling, Job, Odd Man Out, Our Class, Still, Teeth, The Christine Jorgensen Show, and Yellow Face. While some members of the Floyd Collins creative team also worked on the original 1996 Playwrights Horizons production, the nominating committee determined their contributions to this revival were eligible as new work

Productions deemed not eligible either because they were considered in their entirety in prior seasons or because they did not invite awards consideration included A Child’s Christmas in Wales, All In: Comedy About Love, Bringer of Doom, Dead Outlaw, English, Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha, Invasive Species, Oh, Mary!, On Beckett, and The Dead, 1904. Due to rescheduling factors, Grief Camp and Rheology will be considered in the 2025-2026 season.

This year’s awards, hosted by Debra Messing and Tituss Burgess, will be held on Sunday, June 1 at 6:15pm at NYU Skirball (556 LaGuardia Place). Staci Levine and Jessica R. Jenen return as Executive Producers of the Awards.

What sets the Drama Desk Awards apart is that they are voted on and bestowed by theater critics, journalists, editors, and publishers covering theater. The Drama Desk Awards honor all aspects of New York’s professional theater.

The 2025 Drama Desk Awards welcomes the support of the Mayor’s office. “As a Mayoral agency with the mission to uplift NYC’s creative sectors and make them accessible to all, we are so pleased once again to support the Drama Desk Awards this year,” said Commissioner of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment Pat Swinney Kaufman. “Congratulations to all the 2025 nominees and the creative and production teams behind this iconic NYC institution, which celebrates the talent across our entire theatre industry.”

The 2024-25 Drama Desk Nominating Committee is comprised of: Martha Wade Steketee (Chair; freelance: UrbanExcavations.com), Linda Armstrong (New York Amsterdam News), Dan Dinero (Theatre is Easy), Peter Filichia (Broadway Radio), Kenji Fujishima (freelance: Theatermania), Raven Snook (TDF Stages, freelance: Time Out New York), and Charles Wright, ex-officio.