Drama Desk Special Award

Soho Repertory Theatre

(For nearly four decades of artistic distinction, innovative production, and provocative play selection.)

Veanne Cox

(For her ability to express the eccentricities, strengths, and vulnerabilities of a range of characters, and notably for her comedic flair as evidenced in this season\u2019s The Old Friends and The Most Deserving.)

Ed Sylvanus Iskandar

(Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award: For his visionary directorial excellence. This season\u2019s The Golden Dragon and The Mysteries exemplify his bold and strikingly original imagination.)

Will Eno, Hannah Bos, Michael Countryman, Peter Friedman, Danny McCarthy, Carolyn McCormick, Toni Collette, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts, Marisa Tomei

Honored for : The Open House, The Realistic Joneses

(To the ensembles of off-Broadway's The Open House and Broadway's The Realistic Joneses and to the creator of both plays, Will Eno: for two extraordinary casts and one impressively inventive playwright." The Open House: Hannah Bos, Michael Countryman, Peter Friedman, Danny McCarthy, and Carolyn McCormick. The Realistic Joneses: Toni Collette, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts, and Marisa Tomei.)

Wakka Wakka Productions

(For sophisticated puppet theater, as represented by this season's SAGA, that explores with wit, imagination, and insight serious issues of our times)

Jayne Houdyshell

(For her artistry as an exceptionally versatile and distinctive Broadway and Off-Broadway performer)

Samuel D. Hunter

(His empathic and indelible The Whale affirms his arrival as a distinguished dramatist who depicts the human condition)

Maruti Evans

(The Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award: For his ingenious lighting designs, reflecting an exquisite and bold theatrical aesthetic. This season's The Pilo Family Circus and Tiny Dynamite confirms his incandescent creativity)

New York Musical Theater Festival

(For a decade of creating and nurturing new musical theater, ensuring the future of this essential art form)

Mary Testa

(For over three decades, she has dazzled audiences with consistently outstanding work)

Nick Westrate

(His versatility in Unnatural Acts, Love's Labor's Lost, and Galileo was a highlight of the season)

New Victory Theater

(For providing enchanting, sophisticated children's theater that appeals to the child in all of us, and for nurturing a love of theater in young people)

Stephen Karam

(The newly created Sam Norkin Off Broadway Award: The Profoundly moving Sons of the Prophet confirmed his status as one of the most promising playwrights of his generation)

Reed Birney

(For his versatile and finely nuanced performances over the past thirty-five years, and for his exceptional work this season in Tigers Be Still, A Small Fire, and The Dream of the Burning Boy)

A. R. Gurney

(For his enduring, keenly observed portraits of American life over a prolific four-decade-long career)

Adrian Kohler, Adrian Sutton, Basil Jones, Christopher Shutt, John Tams, Marianne Elliott, Paule Constable, Rae Smith, Toby Sedgwick, Tom Morris

(Members of the 59 Productions for thrilling stagecraft of the War Horse)

Scott Elliott, Geoff Rich

(Members of The New Group for presenting contemporary new voices, and for uncompromisingly raw and powerful productions)

The Pearl Theater Company

(For notable productions of classic plays and nurturing a stalwart resident company of actors)

Jerry Herman

(For enchanting and dazzling audiences with his exuberant music and heartfelt lyrics for more than half a century.)

Godlight Theatre Company

(For consistent originality and excellence in dramatizing modern literature, and especially for the vibrant theatricality of its innovative productions.)

Ma-Yi Theater Company

(For more than two decades of excellence and for nurturing Asian-American voices in stylistically varied and engaging theater.)

Signature Theatre Company, Georgi James, Devon Abner, Henry Hodges, Annalee Jefferies, Virginia Kull, Maggie Lacey, Gilbert Owuor, Jenny Dare Paulin, Pamela Payton-Wright, Bryce Pinkham, Stephen Plunkett, Emily Robinson, Mike Boland, Lucas Caleb Rooney, Dylan Riley Snyder, Charles Turner, Jeff Cowie, David Barber, David C. Woolard, Rui Rita, John Gromada, Peter Pucci, Pat Bowie, Michael Wilson, Leon Addison Brown, Jim DeMarse, Hallie Foote, Justin Fuller, Jasmine Amii, Bill Heck, Jan Hartley

(Saluting the breadth of vision, which inspired the exceptional direction, performances, sets, lighting, costumes, music and sound that made [The Orphans' Home Cycle] the theatrical event of the season.)

Liza Minnelli

(A beloved musical theater icon, for her enduring career of sustained excellence, and her glorious performance in Liza's at the Palace)

Atlantic Theater Company

(For exceptional craftsmanship, dedication to excellence and productions that engage, inspire and enlighten)

Neil Pepe

(As artistic director of Atlantic Theater Company, for exceptional craftsmanship, dedication to excellence and productions that engage, inspire and enlighten)

TADA! Youth Theater

(For providing an invaluable contribution to the future of the theater. The company makes outstanding training and experience accessible and affordable to young people and mounts productions remarkable for their quality and professionalism)

Forbidden Broadway

(At the end of its nearly three-decade run and the creators, casts, designers who made it an unparalleled New York institution cherished for its satire and celebration of Broadway)

Edward Albee

(Whose provocative plays, including this season's Peter and Jerry, enrich the American theater)

James Earl Jones

(Who has been a commanding force on the stage for nearly half a century)

Playwrights Horizons

(For ongoing support to generations of theater artists and undiminished commitment to producing new work)

59E59 Theaters

(Whose imaginative curatorial vision has created a stimulating environment to nurture a diverse range of artists)

John Kander, Fred Ebb

(For 42 years of excellence in advancing the art of the musical theatre)

Austin Pendleton

(A Renaissance man of the American theatre)

Transport Group

(For its breadth of vision and its presentation of challenging productions)

Folksbiene

(For preserving for 92 consecutive seasons the cultural legacy of Yiddish speaking theatre in America)

BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop

(For nurturing, developing, and promoting new talent for the musical theater)

York Theatre Company

(For its vital contributions to theater by developing and presenting new musicals)

Sh-K-Boom Records, Ghostlight Records

(For dedication to the preservation of musical theater through cast recordings)

Keen Company

(For plays that build upon our theatrical heritage)

New York Shakespeare Festival, Public Theater

(For 50 years of exceptional theater contributions)

The Flea Theater

(Distinguished Achievement commending the dedication to adventurous theater)

Classical Theatre of Harlem

(For artistic excellence)

Dakin Matthews

Honored for : Henry IV

(for his adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry IV)

Brooklyn Academy of Music

(For bringing international works to New York)

Paul Huntley

(Lifetime Achievement)

Billy Rosenfield

(For preserving musical theatre recordings)

Mint Theater Company

(For presenting/preserving little known classics)

Worth Street Theater Company

(For its Stage Door Canteen shows at Ground Zero)

Reba McEntire

Honored for : Annie Get Your Gun

Sean Campion, Conleth Hill

Honored for : Stones in His Pockets

Eileen Atkins

Otis L. Guernsey, Jr.

The Non-Traditional Casting Project

The Barrow Group

(For Off-Off Broadway Excellence)

Janet Hayes Walker

(For 25 years at the York Theatre Company.)

John A. Willis

(For 50 years of devotion to theater & its artists)

Early Stages

(For providing theater tickets to New York City school children)

New York Shakespeare Festival, Public Theater

(For puppetry at the Public Theater)

RCA Records

(For its documentation of theater music)

Brooklyn Academy of Music

(For bringing international productions to New York .)

James McMullan

(For consistently inspired art work for theater.)

New Dramatists

(For decades of nurturing American playwrights)

Harold Jacob Rome

(For his distinctive contribution to musical theate)

Brooklyn Academy of Music

(For bringing international productions to New York)

New Dramatists

(For decades of nurturing American playwrights.)

Harold Jacob Rome

(For his distinctive contribution to musical theater.)

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

(For support of American playwrights & theaters)

Jule Styne

(For a lifetime of glorious theater music)

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

(For support of American playwrights & theaters.)

Jule Styne

(For a lifetime of glorious theater music.)

Kevin Haney

Honored for : Tru

(For his make-up in Tru and other shows.)

Bernard Gersten

Gregory Mosher

Jerome Robbins

John McGlinn

Manhattan Theatre Club

Paul Gemignani

Actors' Equity Association

(For 75 years of championing the professional actor)

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

(For the preservation of our theatrical heritage)

The Yale Repertory Theater

(For nurturing plays of significance)

Michael Feinstein

(For celebrating American musical theater songs)

Stanley Lebowsky

(For musical direction & commitment to theater)

Paul Brooks Davis

(For inspired art work for theatrical productions)

Frank Verlizzo

(For inspired art work for theatrical productions)

Henry Cohen

(For rescuing classic Broadway scores)

Donald Rose

(For rescuing classic Broadway scores)

Robert Kimball

(For rescuing classic Broadway scores)

Thomas Z. Shepard

(For preserving musical theater heritage on record)

Agnes de Mille

(For her enduring legacy of cherished choreography)

Joyce Theater

(For the American Theater Exchange program)

The New Amsterdam Theater Company

(For distinguished concert productions)

Donald Pippin

(For musical direction and commitment to theater)

Jessica Tandy

(For their continuing theatrical partnership)

Hume Cronyn

(For their continuing theatrical partnership)

Gerard Alessandrini

(For level of irreverence of Forbidden Broadway)

Ridiculous Theatrical Company

(For quick change wizardry in Mystery of Irma Vep)

Claudette Colbert

(For the continuing pleasure of her company)

Rex Harrison

(For the continuing pleasure of his company)

Vietnam Veterans Ensemble Theater Company

(For giving voice to trauma of Vietnam)

Alan Schneider

(For serving a wide range of playwrights)

Michael Bennett

(For the 3,389th performance of A Chorus Line)

Joseph Papp

(For the 3,389th performance of A Chorus Line)

The Shubert Organization

(For the 3,389th performance of A Chorus Line)

B. H. Barry

(For consistent excellence in fight staging)

Equity Library Theatre

(For showcasing theater professionals)

Interart Theater

(For nurturing women theater artists)

The WPA Theatre

Douglas Watt

(For Distinguished Achievement)

Richard Wilbur

Honored for : The Misanthrope

(For his English translation)

Jonathan Tunick

Ridiculous Theatrical Company

Terry Hands, Trevor Nunn

Honored for : The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club

(For performances by international companies)

Off-Off Broadway Theater Movement

(For Outstanding Contribution to Theater.)

Queens Theatre in the Park

(For Outstanding Contribution by a New Theater Comp.)

Hartman Theatre Company

(-\t For Outstanding Contribution by a New Theater Comp.)

Donald Sinden

Honored for : London Assurance

Tovah Feldshuh

Honored for : Yentl