The New York Drama Critics’ Circle has named Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Purpose” as the best play of the 2024-2025 season. The award for best musical went to “Maybe Happy Ending,” which has a book by Will Aronson and Hue Park, music by Aronson and lyrics by Park. The selections were made at the organization’s 89th annual voting meeting on May 5.
This year, for the first time since 1962, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle introduced new awards: best individual performance, which went to Andrew Scott for his Off-Broadway solo “Vanya,” and best ensemble performance, which went to the cast of Bess Wohl’s Off-Broadway drama “Liberation”: the full company includes Adina Verson, Susannah Flood, Kayla Davion, Betsy Aidem, Irene Sofia Lucio, Audrey Corsa, Kristolyn Lloyd and Charlie Thurston.
Special New York Drama Critics’ Circle citations were awarded to playwright-performer Cole Escola for the current five-time Tony Award nominee (and Pulitzer Prize finalist) “Oh, Mary!”; Off-Broadway’s “Cats: The Jellicle Ball”; and David Greenspan for lifetime achievement.
The New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, which will be presented in a private ceremony on May 15, include a cash prize of $2,500 for best play, made possible by a grant from the Lucille Lortel Foundation.
“Purpose,” directed by Phylicia Rashad, had its New York premiere on March 17, 2025, at Broadway’s Hayes Theater, where it currently runs. The play received its world premiere at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre on March 24, 2024. Today, the play was named the 2025 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. “Purpose” is currently nominated for six 2025 Tony Awards.
“Maybe Happy Ending,” directed by Michael Arden, received its New York premiere on November 12, 2024, at Broadway’s Belasco Theatre, where it currently runs. The musical had its world premiere in Seoul, South Korea, at Lifeway Hall in the DCF Daemyung Cultural Factory in 2016. The Broadway staging of “Maybe Happy Ending” is currently nominated for ten 2025 Tony Awards.
The New York Drama Critics’ Circle comprises 23 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines, wire services and websites based in the New York metropolitan area. The New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, which has been presented every year since 1936 to the best new play of the season (with optional awards for foreign or American plays, musicals and special achievements), is the nation’s second-oldest playwriting award, after the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Adam Feldman, theater critic and editor for Time Out New York, has served as president of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle since 2005. Zachary Stewart of TheaterMania serves as vice president; Helen Shaw of The New Yorker is treasurer.
In addition to Feldman, Stewart and Shaw, the members of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle are David Barbour, David Cote, Joe Dziemianowicz, Greg Evans, Rhoda Feng, David Finkle, Elysa Gardner, Robert Hofler, Sara Holdren, Charles Isherwood, Chris Jones, Soraya Nadia McDonald, Jackson McHenry, Johnny Oleksinski, Brittani Samuel, Frank Scheck, David Sheward, Tim Teeman, Elisabeth Vincentelli and Matt Windman. Emeritus members include Melissa Rose Bernardo, Brian Scott Lipton, Michael Sommers, Steven Suskin and Linda Winer.
