The New York Drama Critics’ Circle today named Oslo best play of the 2016-17 season. The Band’s Visit was named best musical. The selections were made at the organization’s 82nd annual voting meeting.
Special citations were voted to Taylor Mac for A 24-Decade History of Popular Music; Ruben Santiago-Hudson and the cast of Jitney; and Paula Vogel for career achievement as a playwright and mentor.
The awards will be presented at a private cocktail reception on Thursday, May 18.
The award for best play carries a cash prize of $2,500. The prize is made possible by a grant from the Lucille Lortel Foundation.
Oslo, written by J.T. Rogers and directed by Bartlett Sher, had its world premiere at Lincoln Center Theater’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater on July 11, 2016. It currently plays at Lincoln Center Theater’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, where it had its Broadway premiere on April 13, 2017.
The Band’s Visit, book by Itamar Moses, music and lyrics by David Yazbek, direction by David Cromer, had its world premiere at the Atlantic Theatre Company, on December 8, 2016 and closed on January 8, 2017.
The New York Drama Critics’ Circle comprises 22 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 awarded every year since 1936 to the best new play of the season (with optional awards for foreign or American plays, musicals and performers), is the nation’s second-oldest theater award, after the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
Adam Feldman, theater critic for Time Out New York, has served as president of the NYDCC since 2005. Elisabeth Vincentelli serves as vice president; Joe Dziemianowicz is treasurer.
In addition to Feldman, Vincentelli, and Dziemianowicz, the members of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle are: Hilton Als, Melissa Rose Bernardo, David Cote, Michael Feingold, Robert Feldberg, Elysa Gardner, Jeremy Gerard, Jesse Green, Christopher Kelly, David Rooney, Frank Scheck, David Sheward, John Simon, Marilyn Stasio, Zachary Stewart, Terry Teachout, Matt Windman, Linda Winer and Richard Zoglin. Emeritus members include David Finkle, Brian Scott Lipton, Jesse Oxfeld, Michael Sommers and Steven Suskin.
For more information on the New York Drama Critics’ Circle, please visit www.dramacritics.org.
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Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations. Lia is also an internationally published and exhibited photographer, a multi-platform journalist, and a publicist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek. She is profiled in Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.
Backstage Pass with Lia Chang 