pulitzer prize 2009 for drama - What play

[stageagent13]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 1:07am

who will the big prize go to?

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 1:18am

Irena's Vow?

[scott68]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 1:20am

I haven't seen it, but I've heard enough about Ruined to think that it's definitely a strong contender.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 1:22am

I haven't seen RUINED either, but it did get across the board rave reviews, right? You might be correct about this one scott68...

[Amaranth9]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 1:39am

I've heard good things about "Lydia" opening soon at the Mark Taper Forum in LA. I think it played the Yale Repertory in February. Would it be eligible?

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 2:43am

Lydia is a nominee. It's currently enjoying a run at Marin Theatre Company with Gloria Garauaya.
Updated On: 3/31/09 at 02:43 AM

[KingKong]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 3:11am

Considering the reviews Irena Vow got do you really believe it will win WAT? I mean, honestly.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 7:05am

Or even nominated? I understand you enjoyed the play, but that's just...


For what it's worth, I'll wager that it'll be Lynn Nottage's RUINED, which is definitely the most powerful play in recent memory.

As far as runners-up, I could see "reasons to be pretty," "Saturn Returns."

[jordangirl]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 7:44am

I didn't see Ruined, but I agree that from what I've heard it's probably the front runner.

Can someone please explain to me what was so brilliant about reasons to be pretty? I saw it. I read it. (Well, in the reverse order.) And I really don't see why everyone was so gaga over it last year when it was at MCC. I mean, it's not BAD, but it just seemed...ordinary.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 8:33am

After the (shocking) negative reviews for IRENA'S VOW, no, I do not think it has a chance at winning the Pulitzer anymore. However, right after I saw it, my friend and I were saying that it should win, because we were both so affected by how incredibly moving the play was for us. It still remains as one of the best experiences I've ever had in the theater.

jordangirl, there is absolutely nothing special about reasons to be pretty. I agree with you 100% that it is not a bad play...just ordinary. definitely not worthy of the Pulitzer. not even close.

[tazber]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 8:50am

Glory Days

jk

Don't they forgo honoring theater if there isn't a worthy play?

Not saying that's the case, just asking.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 9:25am

Glory Days? Ha! Thanks for the laugh, tazber!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 9:35am

If they can't come up with something they deem "worthy," yes, they get rid of the category.

[KingKong]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 9:52am

2006 was the last time they didn't give out a Pulitzer for Drama , before that was 1997. And the last decade they failed to award the prize more than once was the 60s. I really don't see them not awarding it this year.
Updated On: 3/31/09 at 09:52 AM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 10:06am

Along with RUINED (which is eligible because of a late 2008 run at the Goodman and may have a disadvantage because it doesn't deal with American life), I can see the following New York titles presumably being under consideration:

Animals Out of Paper by Rajiv Joseph (2nd Stage Theatre Uptown)
Adding Machine: a Musical by Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt (Minetta Lane Theatre)
Back Back Back by Itamar Moses (Manhattan Theatre Club)
Basic Training by Kalhil Ashanti (Barrow Street Theatre)
Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl (Playwrights Horizons)
Farraghut North by Beau Willimon (Atlantic Theatre Company)
Fifty Words by Michael Weller (MCC)
Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (2nd Stage Theatre; Arena Stage; Booth Theatre)
reasons to be pretty by Neil LaBute (MCC)
Saturn Returns by Noah Haidle (LCT)
The Four of Us by Itamar Moses (MTC)
The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island by Ben Katchor and Mark Mulcahy (Vineyard Theatre)

[MiracleElixir]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 11:04am

I would LOVE to see a surprise win by Add1ng Machin3.

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 11:31am

Dead Man's Cellphone did not premiere at Playwrights Horizon though. It premiered at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in DC. Does that make a difference? Wouldn't Woolly have to submit it?

In any case, I hope Ruined gets it. By far one of the most well-crafted straight plays I have seen in years and I generally see more straight plays than musicals.

Updated On: 3/31/09 at 11:31 AM

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 11:51am

Will Dividing the Estate be considered for this season or was it considered for last season? I forget when it opened Off-Broadway.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 11:58am

I'd love to see ADDING MACHINE get the Pulitzer, but it isn't likely. They don't tend to like adaptations.

Interesting that fans of NEXT TO NORMAL are complaining that other plays are just "ordinary." On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised to see NEXT TO NORMAL win the Big P. God knows if they can give it to that tired TOPDOG/UNDERDOG thing ANYTHING can happen...

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 6:44pm

I would have loved ADDING MACHINE to win too, but it premiered in 2007 (in Chicago). It's not eligible this year. Dammit.

Updated On: 3/31/09 at 06:44 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 6:46pm

I really don't think N2N will win the Pulitzer. I mean...they hardly ever choose musicals and when they do, they're usually musicals that follow suit in winning Best Musical, which is just not in the cards for N2N.

I'd like to see it win, but does it really deserve to win? I don't know if the material, although great, is really Pulitzer-worthy.

I think RUINED will win.

[Actorman112]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 11:40pm

Id really like to see Farragut North Win, but I'd love to see Next To Normal as a nominee!

[MrJNLong]

Posted: 4/1/09 at 12:33am

Sunday in the Park with George was one of the few musicals to win...and it didn't go on to win Best Musical...

The Pulitzer is supposed to go to a piece that "preferrably" deals with American Life...which actually sounds like Next to Normal and reasons to be pretty fit the bill. Irena's Vow however doesn't really. Is that insensitive? I know the affects of the Holocaust should and do affect Americans...but its not really about American life...of course there have been exceptions to that rule (Sunday in the Park fitting that bill as well).

Any way...

[scott68]

Posted: 4/1/09 at 1:39am

I actually think the framing device of Irena's Vow (mild spoilers... but the play is framed as a lecture given by Irena to an audience of high school students) could conceivably make it fall within the "dealing with American life" constraints of the Pulitzer. That said, I don't think the play itself, despite the strengths of the production, is strong enough to even put it in any kind of consideration for the prize.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/1/09 at 2:08am

>Sunday in the Park with George was one of the few musicals to win...and it didn't go on to win Best Musical... <

Sunday won the Pulitzer about a year after it had lost the Tony for Best Musical. It opened in the 1984 season, lost the 1984 Tony Award for Best Musical but won the 1985 Pulitzer for Drama.

>The Pulitzer is supposed to go to a piece that "preferrably" deals with American Life...which actually sounds like Next to Normal and reasons to be pretty fit the bill. Irena's Vow however doesn't really.<

The stage adaptation of Diary of Anne Frank, Anna in the Tropics and I Am My Own Wife all won the Pulitzer for Drama. The wording, "preferably" dealing with American life, doesn't rule out works with no American character or theme.

Ruined feels like the American play with most heat to me, even if it doesn't deal with a topic of American life.