Tony Award for Best Play facts for kids

The Tony Award for Best Play is a very important prize in the world of theater. Its official name is the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre. This award is given every year to the best new play shown on Broadway in New York City.

Broadway is famous for its amazing live shows. This award is for plays, which are stories told on stage with actors. Plays do not have big song-and-dance numbers like in a musical. The award is given to both the writers (authors) and the producers who helped bring the play to life.

If a play was on Broadway before and is brought back, it cannot win this award. Instead, it might win the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

About the Tony Award for Best Play

This award celebrates new plays that have their first big showing on Broadway. It recognizes the amazing talent of playwrights and the hard work of producers. Winning a Tony Award is a huge honor in the theater world.

Understanding the Winners List

Below, you will find some interesting facts about the plays that have won this award. The winning play is highlighted in blue in the full lists. Other plays listed in the same year were also considered for the award.

Legend:
† This symbol means the play also won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This is another very famous award for writing.

* This symbol means the play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.      This color shows the winner.

Record Breakers and Fun Facts

Some playwrights have won or been nominated for this award many times. Here are some cool facts about them!

• Most Wins: British writer Tom Stoppard holds the record for the most wins. He has won the Tony for Best Play five times!
• Most Nominations: Neil Simon has been nominated for this award ten times. This is more than any other writer.
• Back-to-Back Winners: In 1994, Tony Kushner was the first writer to win in two years in a row. He won for his two-part play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Terrence McNally did the same thing in 1995 and 1996. He won with his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class.
• Double Winners: Besides Tom Stoppard, only a few other writers have won the award more than once. Arthur Miller, Terrence McNally, Tony Kushner, Edward Albee, Neil Simon, Yasmina Reza, and Peter Shaffer have each won twice.

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Premio Tony a la mejor obra para niños

• Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play
• Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play
• List of Tony Award and Olivier Award winning plays
• List of Tony Award-nominated productions