Sons of the Prophet, Tribes, Once Take NY Drama Critics Awards

Santino Fontana and Joanna Gleason (Photo: Joan Marcus)

Sons of the Prophet by Stephen Karam has won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award (NYDCC) for Best Play of the 2011-2012 season.  The award for Best Foreign Play went to Tribes by Nina Raine and Once received the award for Best Musical. 

The selections were made at the 77th annual voting meeting of the organization today at the offices of Time Out New York in Manhattan. Special Citations were awarded to Mike Nichols and Signature Theatre Company. The awards will be presented at a cocktail reception to be held on Monday, May 14, at Angus McIndoe Restaurant, NYC.
 
The award for best play carries a cash prize of $2,500. Also, a cash award of $1,000 goes to the winner for best foreign play. The prizes are made possible by a grant from the Lucille Lortel Foundation.
 
Sons of the Prophet,  directed by Peter DuBois, premiered at the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Laura Pels Theatre on October 20, 2011.
 
Tribes, directed by David Cromer, had its North American premiere at the Barrow Street Theatre on March 4, 2012, where it is currently running.  The play’s world premiere was at London’s Royal Court Theatre in 2010.
 
Once, which features music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, book by Enda Walsh, and direction by John Tiffany, received its world premiere at New York Theatre Workshop on December 6, 2011, and opened at Broadway’s Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on March 18, 2012 where it is currently playing.
 
Mike Nichols, who is currently represented on Broadway by the revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, has been one of the leading directors of stage and screen for more than 40 years.  His Broadway directing credits also include Barefoot in the Park, Luv, The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Real Thing, and Spamalot, each of which has garnered him a Tony for best direction.  Film credits include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate (Academy Award for best direction), Catch-22, Carnal Knowledge, Silkwood, Working Girl, Postcards from the Edge, Primary Colors, Closer, and Charlie Wilson’s War, and for HBO “Wit” and “Angels in America.”

Founded in 1991 by James Houghton, Signature Theatre Company makes an extended commitment to a playwright’s body of work, and during this journey, the writer is engaged in every aspect of the creative process.  Signature is the first theatre company to devote an entire season to the work of a single playwright, including re-examinations of past writings as well as New York and world premieres.  By championing in-depth explorations of a living playwright’s body of work, the company delivers an intimate and immersive journey into the playwright’s singular vision.  Playwrights whose work has been featured at Signature as part of residency seasons include Romulus Linney, Lee Blessing, Edward Albee, Horton Foote, Adrienne Kennedy, Sam Shepard, Arthur Miller, John Guare, Maria Irene Fornes, Lanford Wilson, Bill Irwin, Paula Vogel, August Wilson, Charles Mee, and Tony Kushner.
 
For more information on the New York Drama Critics’ Circle and details of this year’s voting, visit www.dramacritics.org.  In keeping with NYDCC’s tradition of openness, a full breakdown of the vote will be posted on the website.
 
The New York Drama Critics’ Circle comprises 26 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 theatre award, after the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Adam Feldman, theatre critic for Time Out New York, has served as president of the NYDCC since 2005. Elisabeth Vincentelli of the New York Post serves as vice president; Joe Dziemianowicz of the Daily News is treasurer. Eric Grode is recording secretary.
In addition to Feldman, Vincentelli, Dziemianowicz and Grode, the members of the New York Drama Critics' Circle are:
 
Hilton Als, The New Yorker; Melissa Rose Bernardo, Entertainment Weekly; Scott Brown, New York; David Cote, Time Out New York; Michael Feingold, Village Voice; Robert Feldberg, Bergen Record; David Finkle, TheaterMania; Elysa Gardner, USA Today; Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg News; Erik Haagensen, Back Stage; Mark Kennedy, Associated Press; Jesse Oxfeld, New York Observer; David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter; Frank Scheck, New York Post; David Sheward, Back Stage; John Simon, Westchester Guardian; Alexis Soloski, Village Voice; Marilyn Stasio, Variety; Steven Suskin, Variety; Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal; Linda Winer, Newsday; and Richard Zoglin, Time.  Michael Sommers serve as an emeritus member.