The Tenth Annual David Desk Awards

Paul Alexander Nolan and Teyonah Parris in Slave Play.
Credit: Joan Marcus

We're well into the summer and I've finally gotten around to posting the winners of the 10th annual David Desk Awards for excellence in Broadway and Off-Broadway theater for the 2018-19 season. Slave Play, one of my choices for Best Play, had a run at New York Theater Workshop and is transferring to a limited 17-week Broadway run at the Golden Theater with previews beginning Sept. 10, and opening Oct. 6. At 30, playwright Jeremy O. Harris will be the youngest black male dramatist to make his Broadway debut. How will Broadway audiences take this dangerous, risky work which boldly faces racial tensions and anger in unconventional ways. It's not a safe, comfortable melodrama like last season's American Son. It's not British and loaded with snob appeal like The Ferryman which was a magnificent show, but since it dealt with Irish people and their problems, rich white Yankee liberals did not have to face their own prejudices and national dilemmas.

But to the matter at hand, here are my picks for the tops of the last season: 

Play

Fairview (Jackie Sibblies Drury)

The Ferryman (Jez Butterworth)

The Lehman Trilogy (Stefano Massini, translated by Ben Power)

Mary Page Marlowe (Tracey Letts)

Slave Play (Jeremy O. Harris)

What the Constitution Means to Me (Heidi Schreck)

Musical

The Prom

Tootsie

Twelfth Night

Revival (Play)

By the Way, Meet Vera Stark

The Waverly Gallery

Revival (Musical)

Carmen Jones

Fiddler on the Roof

Kiss Me, Kate

Oklahoma!

Actor (Play)

Bryan Cranston, Network

Raul Esparza, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

Tracey Letts, All My Sons

Jeremy Pope, Choir Boy

Actor (Musical)

Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom

Will Chase, Kiss Me, Kate

Santino Fontina, Tootsie

Steven Skybell, Fiddler on the Roof

Actress (Play)

Jessica Francis Dukes, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark

Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery

Janet McTeer, Bernhardt/Hamlet

Laurie Metcalf, Hillary and Clinton

Heidi Schrek, What the Constitution Means to Me

Actress (Musical)

Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show

Beth Leavel, The Prom

Caitlin Kinnunen, The Prom

Kelli O’Hara, Kiss Me, Kate

Anika Noni Rose, Carmen Jones

Featured Actor (Play)

Bertie Carvell, INK

Hugh Dancy, Apologia

Justin Edward, The Ferryman

Gideon Glick, To Kill a Mockingbird

Max Gordon Moore, The Nap

Featured Actress (Play)

Joan Allen, The Waverly Gallery

Fionnula Flanagan, The Ferryman

Dearbhla Molloy, The Ferryman

Kelly Overbey, Mary Page Marlowe 

Teyonah Parris, Slave Play

Rita Wilson, King Lear

Featured Actor (Musical)

Andre De Shields, Hadestown

Ephraim Sykes, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations

Patrick Vaill, Oklahoma!

Featured Actress (Musical)

Stephanie Hsu, Be More Chill

Leslie Kritzer, Beetlejuice

Bonnie Milligan, Head Over Heels

Sarah Stiles, Tootsie

Aly Stroker, Oklahoma!

Emily Young, Merrily We Roll Along

Director (Play)

Rupert Goold, INK

Sam Mendes, The Ferryman, The Lehman Trilogy

Bartlett Sher, To Kill a Mockingbird

Ivo van Hove, Network

Director (Musical)

Daniel Fish, Oklahoma!

Joel Grey, Fiddler on the Roof

John Doyle, Carmen Jones

Casey Nicholaw, The Prom

Choreography

Warren Carlyle, Kiss Me, Kate

Spencer Liff, Head Over Heels

Set Design

Bunny Christie, INK

Es Devlin, The Lehman Trilogy

Rob Howell, The Ferryman

David Korins, Beetlejuice

Clint Ramos, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark

Jan Versweyveld, Network

Costume Design

Dede M. Ayite, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark

Bob Mackie, The Cher Show

Ann Roth, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Lighting Design

Neil Austin, INK

Jane Cox, Tess James, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

Jan Versweyveld, Network

Sound Design

Adam Cork, INK

Drew Levy, Oklahoma!

Eric Sleichim, Network