urban excavations

June 1, 2025 — Winners for the 2025 Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced this evening at the Jack H. Skirball Center For The Performing Arts (NYU Skirball at 556 LaGuardia Place). Debra Messing and Tituss Burgess hosted and Staci Levine and Jessica R. Jenen returned as Executive Producers of the Awards ceremony. A full listing of nominations and winners can be found here.

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.

All performance categories have been gender-free for several seasons: Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play, Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical, Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, and Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical. Each of the four categories has 10 or more nominations and 2 or more winners — this year in the case of Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical, there was a 3-way tie and 3 winners.

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.

Shows with multiple awards included: Maybe Happy Ending (6 wins); BOOP! The Musical, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, and The Picture of Dorian Gray (3 wins each); and Danger and Opportunity, Gypsy, John Proctor is the Villain, Just in Time, Pirates! The Penzance Musical, and Purpose (2 wins each).

David Barbour and Charles Wright are the Drama Desk co-presidents. Net proceeds from the Awards event were donated to the Entertainment Community Fund, a generous impulse recognized by several presenters and recipients from the stage.

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 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.