2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Predictions

The Pulitzers will be announced May 8, 2023.

Here are the eligibility rules for the drama prize:

The Pulitzer Prize in Drama is awarded "for a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life." Eligible works include full-length dramas that opened in the United States between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022.

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So what are the likely nominees/winner?

- English by Sanaz Toossi

- The Case for the Existence of God by Samuel Hunter

- King James by Rajiv Joseph

What else?

Looking forward to this! It's was a really strong year, I think.

Just so everyone knows, I did some digging and found out that Downstate was, in fact, submitted in a previous year, making it ineligible.

I haven't seen King James yet, and I'm sure I missed plenty more - but from the ones I was able to see, these are the ones I think could be in the mix:

--English
--Prayer for the French Republic
--A Case For the Existence of God

And here are a few more that I PERSONALLY think deserve Pulitzer recognition, but maybe aren't as likely:

--Tambo & Bones
--Epiphany
--Evanston Salt Costs Climbing
--The Far Country
--The Nosebleed

Unclear whether The Chinese Lady is eligible, having had previous runs - it just depends on whether they chose to submit it in a prior year, and we just don't know that.

Oratorio for Living Things is a tricky one - this would be my #1 pick to win, IF they don't ding it for not being "drama" in the traditional sense.

Updated On: 3/4/23 at 12:41 AM

^Apologies for the double post, somehow was logged into a different email that I’ve never used before lol

Based on what I saw last year in NYC and what’s eligible (presumably), I would bet that the three finalists will be:

English

Epiphany

A Case for the Existence of God

And I think the board will pick English as the winner, particularly given their inclination towards awarding diversity and underrepresented voices in past years.

I also wouldn’t count out the following as contenders:

Corsicana

Prayer For the French Republic

Shhhh

Tambo & Bones


Oratorio For Living Things is also an interesting wildcard. An easy favorite of so many (myself included), but I would think that they’d submit the score for Music and not Drama.

Updated On: 3/30/23 at 10:23 AM

The language of the citation -- "preferably original in its source and dealing with American life" -- leaves a lot of leeway. Ruined is not about American life, nor is I Am My Own Wife. Adaptations have won in the past. It really is up to the committee, which changes annually, and what is submitted for consideration in a given year.

I’m not sure if this show is too late for submission this year, but I feel Letters From Max could be a candidate. A gorgeous show, and the committee seems to be quite fond of the work of Sarah Ruhl.

The winner is English! The other finalists being On Sugarland and The Far Country.

I really was not expecting English to get it but I'm pretty happy about it.

I saw English at the Atlantic and it was playing at Berkeley Rep here in the Bay Area. Anyone think this has a chance to get a Broadway production?

SFFrontRow said: "I saw English at the Atlantic and it was playing at Berkeley Rep here in the Bay Area. Anyone think this has a chance to get a Broadway production?"

I think it's safe to assume that after this Pulitzer win (and some other notable wins/noms), English would receive a Broadway production in the coming years - especially with Atlantic's success in transferring.

SFFrontRow said: "I saw English at the Atlantic and it was playing at Berkeley Rep here in the Bay Area. Anyone think this has a chance to get a Broadway production?"

There's really no sales value in a Pulitzer win. It's possible, of course. But something like FAT HAM as a comedy is probably more populist than this, and that only did $370K last week - which is decent but lots of room to grow.

Updated On: 5/8/23 at 04:25 PM

The Pulitzer jury for drama consisted of

David John Chávez (Chair)
Chair, American Theatre Critics Association; Correspondent, San Jose Mercury News

Vinson Cunningham
Staff Writer, The New Yorker

Soraya Nadia McDonald
Senior Culture Critic, Andscape

Heidi Schreck
Playwright, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Kristina Wong
Performance Artist/Playwright, Los Angeles, Calif.

Although English was, I think, generally predicted to be the winner, The Far Country and On Sugarland seem like unexpected choices for the finalist positions.

On what is possibly a related note, this is the fifth year in a row that the winning playwright has been a person of color, and the second year in a row that all of the finalists were too. Perhaps Samuel D. Hunter and Bruce Norris no longer, um, fit the criteria...

If you think a white guy not getting recognized for five years is a sign of discrimination, boy do I have a story to tell you about the last couple of centuries...

chrishuyen said: "Do we know for sure that it was submitted this year?"



I'll do you one better: I know for sure that it was *NOT* submitted this year. I reached out to someone "on the inside" (lol) who was able to confirm it was submitted following its Steppenwolf run, so it was ineligible this year. But your points stand, because even before this year, it was already a play that the Pulitzers chose not to award.