The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play was an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in the theatre across collective Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. The award was one of eight new acting awards first presented in 1975, when Drama Desk retired an earlier award that had made no distinction between work in plays and musicals, nor between actors and actresses, nor between lead performers and featured performers.
After the 2022 ceremony, all eight acting categories introduced in 1975 were retired. The award for Outstanding Actress in a Play, along with Outstanding Actor in a Play, were replaced in 2023 with the gender neutral category of Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play.
Winners and nominees Key
1970s Year Actress Play Character 1975 Ellen Burstyn Same Time, Next Year Doris Elizabeth Ashley Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Maggie Female Ensemble Women Behind Bars Female Ensemble Tovah Feldshuh Yentl Yentl Rita Moreno The Ritz Googie Gomez Diana Rigg The Misanthrope Celimene Maggie Smith Private Lives Amanda Prynne Liv Ullmann A Doll's House Nora Helmer 1976 Rosemary Harris The Royal Family Julie Cavendish Fran Brill What Every Woman Knows Maggie Wylie Tovah Feldshuh Yentl Yentl Lois Nettleton They Knew What They Wanted Amy Meryl Streep 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, A Memory of Two Mondays, Secret Service and Trelawny of the 'Wells' Various Characters 1977 Irene Worth The Cherry Orchard Ranevskaya Trazana Beverley For Colored Girls Lady in Red Blythe Danner The New York Idea Cynthia Karslake Cara Duff-MacCormick The Philanderer Julia Craven Diane Ladd Lu Ann Hampton Laverly Lu Ann Hampton Sofia Landon Peg o' My Heart Peg Dorothy McGuire The Night of the Iguana Hannah 1978 Jessica Tandy The Gin Game Fonsia Dorsey Helen Burns Catsplay Mrs. Bela Orban Patricia Elliott Tartuffe Dorine Tammy Grimes Tartuffe Elmire Carol Mayo Jenkins Zinnia Zinnia Shirley Knight Landscape of the Body Betty 1979 Constance Cummings Wings Emily Stilson Carole Shelley The Elephant Man Madge Kendal Kate Reid Bosoms and Neglect Henny Frances Sternhagen On Golden Pond Ethel Thayer Susan Stevens The Price of Genius Unknown
1980s Year Actress Play Character 1980 Pat Carroll Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein Blythe Danner Betrayal Emma Phyllis Frelich Children of a Lesser God Sarah Norman Mary Tyler Moore Whose Life Is it Anyway? Claire Susan Sarandon A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking Maude Mix 1981 Joan Copeland The American Clock Rose Baum Eva Le Gallienne To Grandmother's House We Go Grandie Mary Beth Hurt Crimes of the Heart Meg MaGrath Amanda Plummer A Taste of Honey Josephine Elizabeth Taylor The Little Foxes Regina Giddens 1982 Zoe Caldwell Medea Medea Barbara Bryne Entertaining Mr Sloane Kath Constance Cummings The Chalk Garden Mrs. St. Maugham Elizabeth Franz Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You Sister Mary Ignatius Bernadette Peters Sally and Marsha Sally 1983 Jessica Tandy Foxfire Annie Nations Suzanne Bertish Skirmishes Jean Colleen Dewhurst Queen and the Rebels Argia Thuli Dumakude Poppie Nongena Poppie Christine Estabrook Win/Lose/Draw Various Characters Susan Sarandon Extremities Marjorie 1984 Joan Allen And a Nightingale Sang Hellen Stott Rosemary Harris Heartbreak House Hesione Hushabye Kate Nelligan A Moon for the Misbegotten Josie Hogan Natsuko Ohama Sound and Beauty Woman Marilyn Rockafellow Open Admissions Ginny Carlsen Irene Worth The Golden Age Isabel Hastings Hoyt 1985 Rosemary Harris Pack of Lies Barbara Jackson Stockard Channing A Day in the Death of Joe Egg Sheila Roxanne Hart Digby Faye Lynn Redgrave Aren't We All? Mrs. W. Tatham Elizabeth Wilson Salonika Enid 1986 Lily Tomlin The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe Various Characters Joan Allen The Marriage of Bette and Boo Bette Brennan Stockard Channing The House of Blue Leaves Bunny Flingus Judith Ivey Precious Sons Bea Swoosie Kurtz The House of Blue Leaves Bananas Shaughnessy Kathryn Pogson Aunt Dan and Lemon Lemon 1987 Linda Lavin Broadway Bound Kate Jerome Robin Bartlett The Early Girl Jean Lindsay Duncan Les Liaisons Dangereuses Marquise de Merteuil Dana Ivey Driving Miss Daisy Daisy Werthan Amy Madigan The Lucky Spot Sue Jack Dianne Wiest Hunting Cockroaches Anka 1988 Stockard Channing Woman in Mind Susan Kathy Bates Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune Frankie Amy Irving The Road to Mecca Elsa Glenda Jackson Macbeth Lady Macbeth E. Katherine Kerr Laughing Wild Woman Gordana Rashovich Shayna Maidel Luisa 1989 Pauline Collins Shirley Valentine Shirley Valentine Joan Allen The Heidi Chronicles Heidi Holland Robin Bartlett Reckless Rachel Colleen Dewhurst Long Day's Journey into Night Mary Cavan Tyrone Gloria Foster The Forbidden City Miss Molly Hoffenburg Nancy Marchand The Cocktail Hour Ann
1990s Year Actress Play Character 1990 Geraldine James The Merchant of Venice Portia Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio Twelfth Night Viola S. Epatha Merkerson The Piano Lesson Berniece Mary-Louise Parker Prelude to a Kiss Rita Boyle 1991 Mercedes Ruehl Lost in Yonkers Bella Kurnitz Stockard Channing Six Degrees of Separation Ouisa Kittredge Angela Goethals The Good Times Are Killing Me Edna Arkins Audra Lindley About Time Old Woman 1992 Laura Esterman Marvin's Room Bessie Jane Alexander The Visit Claire Zachanassian Glenn Close Death and the Maiden Paulina Salas Escobar Deborah Hedwall Sight Unseen Patricia 1993 Jane Alexander The Sisters Rosensweig Sara Goode Juliana Carneiro da Cunha Les Atrides Clytemnestra Christine Lahti Three Hotels Barbara Hoyle Debra Monk Redwood Curtain Geneva Riordan Natasha Richardson Anna Christie Anna Christopherson 1994 Myra Carter Three Tall Women A Kathleen Chalfant Angels in America: Perestroika Various Characters Amy Irving Broken Glass Sylvia Gellburg Diana Rigg Medea Medea Joan Rivers Sally Marr...and Her Escorts Sally Marr Harriet Walter Three Birds Alighting on a Field Biddy 1995 Cherry Jones The Heiress Catherine Sloper Mary Alice Having Our Say Bessie Delany Stockard Channing Hapgood Mother Linda Lavin Death Defying Acts Dorothy / Carol Helen Mirren A Month in the Country Natalia Petrovna Mercedes Ruehl The Rose Tattoo Serafina Delle Rose 1996 Zoe Caldwell Master Class Maria Callas Catherine Byrne Molly Sweeney Molly Uta Hagen Mrs. Klein Mrs. Klein Lisa Gay Hamilton Valley Song Veronica Rosemary Harris A Delicate Balance Agnes Sarah Jessica Parker Sylvia Sylvia 1997 Janet McTeer A Doll's House Nora Helmer Jayne Atkinson The Skriker The Skriker Frances Conroy The Rehearsal The Countess Shirley Knight The Young Man From Atlanta Lily Dale Kidder Vanessa Redgrave Antony and Cleopatra Cleopatra Lia Williams Skylight Kyra Hollis 1998 Cherry Jones Pride's Crossing Mabel Edie Falco Side Man Terry Marie Mullen The Beauty Queen of Leenane Maureen Folan J. Smith-Cameron As Bees In Honey Drown Alexa Frances Sternhagen Long Day's Journey into Night Mary Cavan Tyrone 1999 Kathleen Chalfant Wit Vivian Bearing Judi Dench Amy's View Esme Allen Lindsay Duncan Ashes to Ashes Rebecca Elizabeth Franz Death of a Salesman Linda Loman Swoosie Kurtz The Mineola Twins Myra / Myrna Zoë Wanamaker Electra Electra
2000s Year Actress Play Character 2000 Eileen Heckart The Waverly Gallery Gladys Green Sinéad Cusack Our Lady of Sligo Mai O'Hara Linda Lavin The Tale of the Allergist's Wife Marjorie Claudia Shear Dirty Blonde Jo / Mae West Lynne Thigpen Jar the Floor Lola Charlayne Woodard In the Blood Hester, La Negrita 2001 Mary-Louise Parker Proof Catherine Eileen Atkins The Unexpected Man Woman Janie Dee Comic Potential Jacie Triplethree Mary Beth Fisher Boys Get Girl Caroline Marian Seldes The Play About the Baby The Woman Lili Taylor The Dead Eye Boy Shirley / Diane 2002 Lindsay Duncan Private Lives Amanda Prynne Robin Bartlett Everett Beekin Sophie Anna Paquin The Glory of Living Lisa Sarah Jessica Parker Wonder of the World Cass Mercedes Ruehl The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? Stevie Meryl Streep The Seagull Arkadina 2003 Vanessa Redgrave Long Day's Journey into Night Mary Cavan Tyrone Jayne Atkinson Enchanted April Lotty Wilton Marylouise Burke Kimberly Akimbo Kimberly Claire Higgins Vincent in Brixton Ursula Loyler Dael Orlandersmith Yellowman Alma Fiona Shaw Medea Medea 2004 Viola Davis Intimate Apparel Esther Phylicia Rashad A Raisin in the Sun Lena Younger Eileen Atkins The Retreat from Moscow Alice Shannon Cochran Bug Agnes White Lizan Mitchell The Trojan Women Hecuba J. Smith-Cameron Sarah, Sarah Sarah 2005 Cherry Jones Doubt Sister Aloysius Beauvier Veanne Cox Last Easter June Judy Kaye Souvenir Florence Foster Jenkins Laura Linney Sight Unseen Patricia Frances Sternhagen Echoes of the War Mrs. Dowey Kathleen Turner Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Martha 2006 Lois Smith The Trip to Bountiful Carrie Watts Margaret Colin Defiance Margaret Cherry Jones Faith Healer Grace Jennifer Jason Leigh Abigail's Party Beverly Jan Maxwell Entertaining Mr Sloane Kath Julie White The Little Dog Laughed Diane 2007 Eve Best A Moon for the Misbegotten Josie Hogan Orlagh Cassidy The Field Maimie Flanagan Blythe Danner Suddenly, Last Summer Mrs. Venable Jennifer Mudge Dutchman Lula Sandra Oh Satellites Nina Annie Parisse The Internationalist Sara Meryl Streep Mother Courage and Her Children Mother Courage 2008 Deanna Dunagan August: Osage County Violet Weston Sinéad Cusack Rock 'n' Roll Eleanor / Esme Frances McDormand The Country Girl Georgie Elgin Amy Morton August: Osage County Barbara Weston Fordham Fiona Shaw Happy Days Winnie Julie White From Up Here Grace 2009 Janet McTeer Mary Stuart Mary Stuart Saidah Arrika Ekulona Ruined Mama Nadi Jane Fonda 33 Variations Katherine Brandt Marcia Gay Harden God of Carnage Veronica Elizabeth Marvel Fifty Words Jan Jan Maxwell Scenes from an Execution Galactia
2010s