The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 22 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area.
The organization was founded in 1935 at the Algonquin Hotel by a group that included Brooks Atkinson, Walter Winchell, and Robert Benchley. Adam Feldman of Time Out New York has been President of the organization since 2005; Elisabeth Vincentelli of the New York Post is currently Vice President, and Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News serves as Treasurer.
The New York Drama Critics' Circle meets twice a year. At the end of each theater season, it votes on the annual New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards, the second oldest theater award in the United States (after the Pulitzer Prize). The main award is for Best Play. If the winner of that award is American, the Circle then votes on whether to give an award for Best Foreign Play as well; if the Best Play winner is of foreign origin, the Circle may give out an award for Best American Play. The awards are later presented in a small ceremony. Since 1945, the Circle has also given out awards for Best Musical. Special Citations may also be awarded for actors, companies or work of special merit. The award for Best Play includes a cash prize of $2,500, and a cash award of $1,000 is given to the playwright who receives the award for Best American or Foreign Play. The awards for 2016 were announced on May 5, 2016.
Although Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times was the first President of the NYDCC, Times critics are no longer permitted to be members of the Drama Critics' Circle. In 1989, the newspaper's executive editor decreed that their critics could no longer participate in any awards. Times critics served as nonvoting members of the Drama Critics' Circle until 1997, when the newspaper reversed its policy and allowed its critics to resume voting for the awards. In 2003, however, permission was again revoked, based on a new Times policy and the Times critics were forced to withdraw from the Circle.
1970: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds - Paul Zindel
1971: The House of Blue Leaves – John Guare
1973: The Hot l Baltimore – Lanford Wilson
1974: Short Eyes - Miguel Piñero
1975: The Taking of Miss Janie - Ed Bullins
1976: Streamers - David Rabe
1977: American Buffalo – David Mamet
1981: Crimes of the Heart – Beth Henley
1982: A Soldier's Play - Charles Fuller
1984: Glengarry Glen Ross - David Mamet
1992: Two Trains Running – August Wilson
1995: Love! Valour! Compassion! – Terrence McNally
1998: Pride's Crossing – Tina Howe
2001: Proof – David Auburn
2007: Radio Golf – August Wilson
2014: All the Way – Robert Schenkkan
Special awards and citations
1952: Don Juan in Hell - George Bernard Shaw
1963: Beyond the Fringe – Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore
1964: The Trojan Women – Euripides
1966: Mark Twain Tonight - Hal Holbrook
1971: Sticks and Bones by David Rabe and Old Times by Harold Pinter
1980: Peter Brook's Le Centre International de Créations Théâtricales at La Mama
1981: Lena Horne for Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music and New York Shakespeare Festival's The Pirates of Penzance
1983: Young Playwrights Festival
1984: Samuel Beckett for the body of his work
1986: The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe – Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner
1989: Largely New York – Bill Irwin
1992: Eileen Atkins – A Room of One's Own
1994: Anna Deavere Smith – Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
1994: Signature Theatre Company's Horton Foote season
1997: Chicago revival — Encores!
1998: Cabaret – Roundabout Theatre Company
1999: David Hare
2002: Elaine Stritch – Elaine Stritch at Liberty
2004: Barbara Cook
2006: John Doyle, Sarah Travis – Sweeney Todd and Christine Ebersole – Grey Gardens
2007: Journey's End - Broadway revival
2009: Angela Lansbury; Matthew Warchus and the cast of The Norman Conquests; Gerard Alessandrini for Forbidden Broadway
2010: Lincoln Center Festival; Viola Davis; Annie Baker
2011: The Normal Heart; Mark Rylance for La Bête and Jerusalem; and the direction, design and puppetry of War Horse
2012: Signature Theatre Company; Mike Nichols
2013: Soho Rep; New York City Center's Encores!; John Lee Beatty
2014: The Shakespeare's Globe productions of Twelfth Night and Richard III; Richard Nelson and the company of the Apple Family Plays
2015: Ars Nova and Bob Crowley
2016: Oskar Eustis; Lois Smith; Ivo van Hove and Jan Versweyveld
