I heard from a friend that he was certain the three Pulitzer frontrunners were The Niceties, What the Constitution Means to Me, and the upcoming Slaveplay at New York Theatre Workshop, which seemed like an odd list, but I didn't have too many titles that seemed like Pulitzer bait to refute. Can anybody think of any other plays that seem destined to be nominated for that increasingly dubious award? Dance Nation is probably the only contender I can think of.
Niceties and Constitution seem like topical candidates, maybe also Pass Over, School Girls, or I Was Most Alive With You. Miss You Like Hell orSoft Power if they include a musical?
The new Broadway plays do not seem like worthy contenders, even the Critics Picks. And remember, sometimes they pick an oddball finalist or something that hasn't played NYC.
The announcement may be 5 months away, but there's only a month and a half left for a play to be submitted for qualification.
Pass Over definitely will be a contender. Perhaps The Revolving Cycles too? If the committee had any sense, Mlima's Tale, Is God Is, Miles for Mary, and Emma and Max would be major contenders as well.
Downstate should be on the list, but of course, the Pulitzer committee does not often honor work outside of New York. Perhaps it will have an off-broadway run next year and be honored in the next cycle
Columbia University, on the recommendation of The Pulitzer Prize Board, annually awards a Pulitzer Prize in drama of $15,000 "for a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life."
Productions opening in the United States between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018 are eligible. Submit playscripts of productions to the Pulitzer Office for forwarding to the Drama Jury. Entries should be made in advance of the December 31, 2018 deadline.
I find it very difficult to predict the Pulitzer, so I'll just name some ones that I PERSONALLY think should be considered, assuming they are eligible. Some of them might not be eligible due to the cutoff dates/premier dates, etc. but I don't feel like Googling all of those right now.
--Miles For Mary by The Mad Ones
--Mankind by Robert O'Hara
--The Low Road by Bruce Norris
--This Flat Earth by Lindsay Ferrentino
--Mlima's Tale by Lyyn Nottage
--Paradise Blue by Dominique Morisseau
--Soft Power by David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori
--Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury
--Collective Rage... by Jen Silverman
--Days of Rage by Steven Levinson
And here are a few that I personally disliked, or had very mixed feelings about, but still might make good candidates based on the criteria:
Alex Kulak2 said: "I heardDays of Ragewasn't Steven Levenson's best work, but that man islongoverdue for a Pulitzer."
Long overdue? Are you joking? His entire career is about 10 years old.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
AC126748 said: "Alex Kulak2 said: "I heardDays of Ragewasn't Steven Levenson's best work, but that man islongoverdue for a Pulitzer."
Long overdue? Are you joking? His entire career is about 10 years old."
Maybe "long" overdue is a stretch, but he has written some of the best plays of the 2010s. The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin, Core Values, and If I Forget are all incredible portraits of socioeconomic American life in the 21st century.
I just read Downstate by Bruce Norris, and this play deserves the Pulitzer like no other. There has never been a play as incendiary or as thought-provoking as Downstate.
My money would be on Downstate.... though plays out of NYC are rarely awarded, this is a play by an author who already has a pulitzer at a theatre that already has a few pulitzers - in Chicago no less, New Yorker's weekend getaway spot. This is at least on their radar.
My other two bets for the "nominee" slots would be SLAVE PLAY by Jeremy Harris and USUAL GIRLS by Ming Peiffer.
It's definitely between Slave Play and Downstate...
I'd love to see Robert O'Hara get a nomination at some point though. He continues to push the limits of theatre and they need to take notice.
Holy smokes, Downstate hadn't been on my radar, but I just read Chris Jones's review and Jesse Green's review. It sounds like Norris has deftly handled awful subject matter...
I could see What the Constitution Means to Me being one of the finalists because of its topicality, though I think it's too "small" to win. And by all accounts, Slave Play is a worthwhile candidate.