The Playgoer: Half a Pulitzer?

Custom Search

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Half a Pulitzer?

Aha! According to Backstage, there may be one technical reason why the field of plays considered by the Pulitzer peeps was indeed more limited than usual:

The 2006 Awards had marked the first time the Pulitzer for Drama was considered for plays that opened between March 2 to Dec.3 (rather than the previous time span of March 2 to March 1). For 2007, the considered plays will open between the longer period of Jan. 1 to Dec. 31.

Still, I agree with the readers so far who fault the committee for not looking more further afield at non-NY plays. Surprising since Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune was on the jury. (We assume Red Light Winter was his pick, since it started at Steppenwolf.)

Too bad, by the way, if your play opened between December 4-31, 2005...

1 comment:

Mike Mariano said...

Just FYI, all three of the Pulitzer nominees come from out of town. Miss Witherspoon and Red Light Winter are direct, unchanged transfers from the regional theatres that premiered them, while Jenny Chow's Atlantic Theatre production is helmed by the same director who staged the play at Yale Rep.

This may seem like a useless distinction, since the committee has still only recognized plays in New York. However, I've read reviews that are absolutely vicious about plays that originate elsewhere. The Pulitzer may be NYcentric, but I don't find it terminally provincial.