The nominations for the 70th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced April 26, 2026, with Beau the Musical, Mexodus and The Seat of Our Pants among the productions drawing the most attention in a field that spans Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway. Raúl Esparza and Helen H Shen presented the nominees at a gathering at The Lambs in New York City.
The ceremony is set for Sunday, May 17, 2026, at 7:30 PM at The Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd Street in New York City, returning the awards there for the first time since the 2020 theater shutdown. Tom Schumacher, the former president of Disney Theatrical Productions, will receive the Harold S. Prince Award at the 70th celebration.
Among the nominated plays are Caroline by Preston Max Allen, Cold War Choir Practice by Ro Reddick, Meet the Cartozians by Talene Monahon, Prince Faggot by Jordan Tannahill, The Balusters by David Lindsay-Abaire, The Porch on Windy Hill by Sherry Stregack Lutken, Lisa Helmi Johanson, Morgan Morse and David M. Lutken, and Well, I’ll Let You Go by Bubba Weiler. The nominated productions include Becky Shaw, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, Death of a Salesman, Los Soles Truncos, Titus Andronicus, You Got Older, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Chess, Ragtime, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Baker’s Wife and The Rocky Horror Show.
The acting nominees also point to a crowded season. Quincy Tyler Bernstine is nominated for Well, I’ll Let You Go, Noah Galvin for The Reservoir, Synnøve Karlsen for Pygmalion and John Krasinski for Angry Alan. Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf are both nominated for Death of a Salesman, while John Lithgow is nominated for Giant and Lesley Manville for Oedipus. Other nominees include Aigner Mizzelle for The Monsters, Patrick Page for Titus Andronicus, Anika Noni Rose and Maria-Christina Oliveras for The Balusters, Kara Young for Gruesome Playground Injuries, Nicholas Christopher, Caissie Levy and Brandon Uranowitz for Ragtime, Micaela Diamond for The Seat of Our Pants, Luke Evans for The Rocky Horror Show, Joshua Henry for Ragtime, Dulé Hill for Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole, Amber Iman for Goddess, Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson for Mexodus, Matt Rodin for Beau the Musical, Sam Tutty for Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York), Caroline Aaron for The Reservoir, Edoardo Benzoni for Are the Bennet Girls Ok?, Nathan Darrow for (un)conditional, Emily Davis for Well, I’ll Let You Go, West Duchovny for Diversion and Alden Ehrenreich for Becky Shaw.
The Drama Desk Nominating Committee considered shows that opened on Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway during the 2025-2026 New York theater season by April 26, 2026 and ran for 21 or more performances. That makes the nominations a snapshot of the season as it stood on announcement day, not a full accounting of everything that would later reach the stage. The list also reflects a broader theater calendar than most awards bodies track, which is why a mix of commercial hits, smaller productions and revival work can appear together in the same field.
What comes next is straightforward: the winners will be chosen at The Town Hall on May 17, and the honors will test whether the season’s early leaders can convert a broad spread of nominations into trophies. Schumacher’s special award also gives the 70th celebration a clear secondary focus, but the night belongs first to the productions and performers that made the cut on April 26.
