The Drama League has announced the nominees for its 92nd annual Drama League Awards. Nominees were announced on April 20 by Natalie Venetia Belcon, who won a Tony Award in 2025 for her performance in “Buena Vista Social Club,” and Corbin Bleu, who currently appears in Broadway’s “Great Gatsby,” in a livestreamed ceremony from the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
Winners of the 2026 Drama League Awards will be announced and honored in a ceremony on May 15 at 11 a.m., held in the Ziegfeld Ballroom. This year’s ceremony is set to be hosted by Emmy Award winner Frank DiLella, the host of NY1’s theater news show “On Stage.”
The Drama League Awards recognize excellence in theater across seven categories, including Outstanding Production awards for new works, Outstanding Revival of a Play and of a Musical and the Distinguished Performance Award. An artist may only receive the latter award once in their lifetime.
The Drama League’s Awards honorary committee consists of past Distinguished Performance winners Bryan Cranston, Bebe Neuwirth, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Nathan Lane and John Lithgow. Recipients are chosen by members of the theater community; Drama League membership is open to industry professionals, producers, artists, audiences and critics. The Drama League steering committee is led by co-chairs Bonnie Comley and Darin Oduyoye and members Trish Chambers, Irene Gandy, Sarah Hutton, Jennifer Johnson-Blalock, Paula Kaminsky Davis, Fred Siegel and Kumiko Yoshii.
This year, the Drama League will also launch its junior board, the NextGen Theater Leaders, on June 1. This board will include 20 emerging and mid-career professionals who support the theater industry through advocacy, fundraising and leadership development.
The Drama League also honors individuals with its Special Recognition Awards, which were announced in January. “Ragtime” star Caissie Levy will receive the award for Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater, Tony-winning director David Cromer the Founders Award for Excellence in Directing, Apollo Theater executive director Kamilah Forbes the Contribution to the Theater Award and Tony nominee and Olivier Award winner Scott Ellis the Gratitude Award for his work as interim artistic director of the Roundabout Theatre Company.
The full list of 2026 Drama League Award nominees is below.
Outstanding Production of a Play
“The Balusters”
“Caroline”
“Cold War Choir Practice”
“Dog Day Afternoon”
“Giant”
“Kyoto”
“Liberation”
“Marcel on the Train”
“The Monsters”
“Prince F*ggot”
“Rheology”
“Spread”
Outstanding Revival of a Play
“Anna Christie”
“Becky Shaw”
“The Brothers Size”
“Bug”
“Death of a Salesman”
“Every Brilliant Thing”
“Fallen Angels”
“Gruesome Playground Injuries”
“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”
“Proof”
“Twelfth Night”
“You Got Older”
Outstanding Production of a Musical
“Beaches”
“Beau”
“Bigfoot”
“The Lost Boys”
“Mexodus”
“My Joy Is Heavy”
“Night Side Songs”
“Saturday Church”
“Schmigadoon!”
“The Seat of Our Pants”
“Titanique”
“Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)”
Outstanding Revival of a Musical
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”
“Bat Boy”
“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”
“Chess”
“The Gospel at Colonus”
“Heathers”
“Masquerade”
“Oratorio for Living Things”
“Ragtime”
“The Rocky Horror Show”
“The Wild Party”
Outstanding Direction of a Play
Knud Adams (“Cold War Choir Practice”)
Debbie Allen (“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”)
Tatyana-Marie Carlo (“Spread”)
Shayok Misha Chowdhury (“Prince F*ggot”)
David Cromer (“Caroline”)
Trip Cullman (“Becky Shaw”)
Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin (“Kyoto”)
Joe Mantello (“Death of a Salesman” and “Little Bear Ridge Road”)
Marshall Pailet (“Marcel on the Train”)
Outstanding Direction of a Musical
Michael Arden (“The Lost Boys”)
Lili-Anne Brown (“The Wild Party”)
Rachel Chavkin (“My Joy Is Heavy”)
Lear deBessonet (“Ragtime”)
Lee Sunday Evans (“Oratorio for Living Things”)
Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch (“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”)
Danny Mefford (“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”)
David Mendizábal (“Mexodus”)
Sam Pinkleton (“The Rocky Horror Show”)
Leigh Silverman (“The Seat of Our Pants”)
Alex Timbers (“Bat Boy”)
Distinguished Performance
Caroline Aaron (“The Reservoir”)
Christopher Abbott (“Death of a Salesman”)
Shoshana Bean (“The Lost Boys”)
Jon Bernthal (“Dog Day Afternoon”)
Ali Louis Bourzgui (“The Lost Boys”)
Marylouise Burke (“The Balusters”)
Kerry Butler (“Bat Boy”)
Rose Byrne (“Fallen Angels”)
Sara Chase (“Schmigadoon!”)
Patrice Johnson Chevannes (“The Waterfall”)
Nicholas Christopher (“Chess”)
Justin Cooley (“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”)
Carrie Coon (“Bug”)
André De Shields (“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”)
Brandon J. Dirden (“Waiting for Godot”)
Ayo Edebiri (“Proof”)
Alden Ehrenreich (“Becky Shaw”)
Luke Evans (“The Rocky Horror Show”)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Tru”)
Susannah Flood (“Liberation”)
Ishmael Gonzalez (“Spread”)
Sean Hayes (“The Unknown”)
Joshua Henry (“Ragtime”)
Grey Henson (“Bigfoot”)
André Holland (“The Brothers Size”)
Stephanie Hsu (“The Rocky Horror Show”)
Alani iLongwe (“The Brothers Size”)
Stephen Kunken, (“Kyoto”)
Caissie Levy (“Ragtime”)
Lesley Manville (“Oedipus”)
John McCrea (Prince F*ggot”)
Laurie Metcalf (“Death of a Salesman” and “Little Bear Ridge Road”)
Lea Michele (“Chess”)
Marla Mindelle (“Titaníque”)
Lizan Mitchell (“Cold War Choir Practice”)
Aigner Mizzelle (“The Monsters”)
Chloë Grace Moretz (“Caroline”)
Lupita Nyong’o (“Twelfth Night”)
Kelli O’Hara (“Fallen Angels”)
Christiani Pitts (“Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)”)
Brian Quijada (“Mexodus”)
Daniel Radcliffe (“Every Brilliant Thing”)
Nygel D. Robinson (“Mexodus”)
Jasmine Amy Rogers (“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” and “The Wild Party”)
Constantine Rousouli (“Titanique”)
Ruben Santiago-Hudson (“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”)
Ethan Slater (“Marcel on the Train”)
Ari’el Stachel, (“Other”)
B Noel Thomas (“Saturday Church”)
Taylor Trensch (“Bat Boy”)
Brandon Uranowitz (“Ragtime”)
Jessica Vosk (“Beaches”)
Adrienne Warren (“The Wild Party”)
Kara Young (“Gruesome Playground Injuries” and “Proof”)
