The George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism is administered by the Cornell University Department of English and presented to the writer of "the best piece of drama criticism during the theatrical year (July 1 to June 30), whether it is an article, an essay, treatise or book."

The prize was established by the prominent drama critic, George Jean Nathan, who instructed in his will that the net income of half of his estate be awarded to the recipient of the award. Today, the award amounts to about $10,000. Winners are selected annually by a committee composed of the heads of the English departments at Cornell University, Princeton University, and Yale University.

Award Following his death in April 1958, George Jean Nathan bequeathed the net income of half of his estate to fund an award for the best piece of criticism in a theatrical year (July to June). The first two prizes—for the 1958-1958 year and the 1959-1960 year—were awarded in June 1961. Per Nathan's bequest, the award is decided by a committee of the English department chairs of Yale University, Princeton University, and Cornell University.

The award has become the most prestigious award specifically designated for theatre criticism. In addition to the monetary prize, the recipient receives a statuette, previously a silver medallion. The committee receives submissions each September. Four men—Robert Brustein, John Lahr, Michael Goldman, and Michael Feingold—have received the award twice.

Recipients Recipients of the George Jean Nathan Award are as follows:

1950s YearName(s)InstitutionRationaleRef.1958-1959Harold ClurmanVarious"for his book of reviews and essays, Lies Like Truth: Theatre Reviews and Essays"1959-1960C.L. BarberAmherst Collegefor the book Shakespeare's Festive Comedy: A Study of Dramatic Form and Its Relation to Social Custom

1960s YearName(s)InstitutionRationaleRef.1960-1961Jerry TallmerThe Village Voice"for reviews, particularly of Off-Broadway theatre, written for the Village Voice"1961-1962Robert BrusteinThe New Republic"for the New Republic reviews, which are characterized by a skillful blend of scholarship, acute critical judgment, wit, and graceful expression"1962-1963Walter KerrThe New York Times for the book The Theatre In Spite of Itself, which collected his regular reviews1963-1964Elliot NortonBoston Record American and Sunday Advertiser"for his daily reviews for the Boston Record American and Sunday Advertiser" 1964-1965Gerald WealesUniversity of Pennsylvania"for a series of drama reviews that appeared in Drama Survey" 1965-1966Eric Russell BentleyVarious"for a series of articles, two of which ('Tragico Imperatore' and 'An Un-American Chalk Circle') appeared in the Tulane Drama Review"1966-1967Elizabeth HardwickThe New York Review of Books"for a series of reviews and discussions published in the New York Review of Books"1967-1968Martin GottfriedWomen's Wear Daily"for A Theater Divided: The Postwar American Stage"1968-1969John LahrThe Village Voicefor his essay "In Search of a New Mythology" in the Evergreen Review1969-1970John SimonNew York "for reviews published in the Hudson Review and New York magazine"

1970s YearName(s)InstitutionRationaleRef.1970-1971Richard GilmanYale Drama School"for Common and Uncommon Masks: Writings on Theatre 1961-1970"1971-1972Jay CarrThe Detroit News"for his daily reviews in the Detroit News"1972-1973Stanley KauffmannThe New Republicfor his critical reviews of the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Much Ado About Nothing, Arthur Miller’s The Creation of the World and Other Business, David Storey’s The Changing Room, and Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, and his article 'The Sunshine Boys'"1973-1974Albert BermelThe New Leaderfor "his reviews of the recent productions of Shakespeare’s Richard II and Macbeth, Christopher Hampton’s Total Eclipse, and Leonard Bernstein’s Candide."1974-1975No award1975-1976Michael GoldmanPrinceton University"for The Actor’s Freedom: Toward a Theory of Drama."1976-1977Bernard KnoxCenter for Hellenic Studies"for his review of Andrei Serban’s production of Agamemnon at Lincoln Center, published in the New York Review of Books"1977-1978Mel GussowThe New York Times"for his essay 'A Rich Crop of Writing Talent Brings New Life to the American Theater' and for his reporting of modern and classical drama in New York and, frequently, out of town, for the New York Times."1978-1979Jack KrollNewsweekfor nine reviews "independent and courageous enough to insist upon the strengths of a play that ha[d] been ignored or panned by other reviewers"1979-1980Sean MitchellDallas Times Herald"for reviews written for the Dallas Times Herald"

1980s YearName(s)InstitutionRationaleRef.1980-1981Carolyn ClayBoston Phoenixfor running "the same risks Nathan ran—the risks of being witty, natural, and clear-headed about a subject they love, the risks of debunking intellectual pretentiousness and abstraction, the risks of remaining true to the practices of theatre people, and insisting that the stage itself deserves the most serious intellectual regard."Sylviane GoldVarious1981-1982Julius NovickThe Village Voicefor "the consistently high quality of Julius Novick’s frequent reviews in the Village Voice."1982-1983Herbert BlauVariousfor his books "Take Up The Bodies, a critical itinerary of his most recent work and thought, and Blooded Thought, a collection of essays on a variety of theatrical subjects" 1983-1984Bonnie MarrancaThe New Leaderfor her book of essays, Theatrewritings, which includes the essay "The Real Life of María Irene Fornés"1984-1985Jan KottStony Brook University"for his book of critical essays, The Theater of Essence."1985-1986Gordon RogoffThe Village Voicefor his Village Voice articles, especially "Theatre Criticism: The Elusive Object, the Fading Craft"1986-1987Robert Brustein The New Republic/Harvard University"for his collection of dramatic reviews and opinions, Who Needs Theatre."1987-1988Scott Rosenberg San Francisco Examinerfor "his September 13, 1987 review of the nine-hour epic The Mahabharata and his penetrating double review of July 3, 1988 of M. Butterfly, and Speed the Plow."1988-1989Eileen BlumenthalRutgers University"for articles on Cambodian Dance, published in the Village Voice, the New York Times, Natural History, and the Wall Street Journal"1989-1990Steven MikulanLA Weekly"for his dramatic reviews and features in the L.A. Weekly"

1990s YearName(s)InstitutionRationaleRef.1990-1991Jonathan KalbNew York University Tisch School of the Arts"for Beckett in Performance and his articles and reviews in the Village Voice"1991-1992Kevin KellyThe Boston Globe"for his reviews for the Boston Globe"1992-1993David ColeVarious"for Acting as Reading: The Place of the Reading Process in the Actor’s Work"1993-1994Marvin CarlsonCUNY Graduate Centerfor "his retrospective on the Shakespearean productions of Daniel Mesguich in France, published in Foreign Shakespeare: Contemporary Performance, [which] was felt by the Committee to be the most illuminating single piece of theatre criticism this year." John LahrThe New Yorker"for reviews published in The New Yorker."1994-1995Robert HurwittSan Francisco Examinerfor "his reviews of the New York productions of Stoppard’s Arcadia and Turgenev’s A Month in the Country and of Euripides' Hecuba as produced in San Francisco."1995-1996Michael FeingoldThe Village Voice"for reviews published in the Village Voice"1996-1997Ben BrantleyThe New York Times"for his reviews in the New York Times"Elinor FuchsVarious"for her book The Death of Character"Todd LondonAmerican Theatre"for contributions to American Theatre"1997-1998Alisa SolomonVarious"for Re-Dressing the Canon: Essays on Theatre and Gender"1998-1999Michael GoldmanPrinceton University"for Ibsen: The Dramaturgy of Fear"1999-2000Albert WilliamsChicago Reader"for his reviews for the Chicago Reader"

2000s YearName(s)InstitutionRationaleRef.2000-2001Laurence SenelickVariousfor "The Changing Room: Sex, Drag, and Theatre, [. . .]an encyclopedic study of the history of crossdressing, onstage and off2001-2002Daniel MendelsohnThe New York Review of Booksfor "three articles for the New York Review of Books"2002-2003Hilton AlsThe New Yorkerfor "his passion for great acting, his admiration for theatrical style, and his sense of the importance of historical and cultural context in a series of witty, intelligent, and sometimes deliciously argumentative reviews for The New Yorker." 2003-2004Trey GrahamWashington City Paperfor a "review of Caryl Churchill's Far Away—a moving display of how the pressures exerted by a new and difficult theatrical work can produce a gem of a critical essay."2004-2005Raymond KnappUniversity of California, Los Angeles"for The American Musical and the Formation of National Identity"2005-2006Charles IsherwoodThe New York Timesfor "penetrating analyses of the contemporary theatre, with cogent appraisals of all production elements and careful attention to the interplay of acting, directing, design, and dramaturgy."2006-2007H. Scott McMillin, Jr.Cornell Universityfor The Musical as Drama2007-2008Randy GenerAmerican Theatre"for his essays in American Theatre"2008-2009Marc RobinsonYale University"for his book The American Play 1787-2000"2009-2010Charles McNultyLos Angeles Times"for his theatre reviews and essays published in the Los Angeles Times."

2010s YearName(s)InstitutionRationaleRef.2010-2011Jill DolanPrinceton University" for her consistently thoughtful and articulate discussions of the contemporary stage", especially in The Feminist Spectator blog2011-2012Kenneth GrossUniversity of Rochester"for Puppet: An Essay on Uncanny Life"Jonathan KalbNew York University Tisch School of the Arts"for Great Lengths: Seven Works of Marathon Theater" 2012-2013Scott BrownNew Yorkfor reviews of David M. Levine's Habit and Richard Nelson's Sorry2013-2014Michael FeingoldTheatermaniafor his bi-monthly "Thinking About Theatre" for Theatermania2014-2015Brian Eugenio HerreraVarious"for Latin Numbers: Playing Latino in Twentieth-Century U.S. Popular Performance"Chris JonesChicago Tribune"for his theater criticism for the Chicago Tribune", especially a review of American Theater Company's The Project(s)2015-2016Shonni EnelowFordham University"for Method Acting and Its Discontents: On American Psycho-Drama"2016-2017Sara HoldrenNew Yorkfor her essay "The Revolution Will Not Be Hashtagged: A Misguided Joan of Arc at the Public Theatre”2017-2018John H. MuseUniversity of Chicagofor Microdramas: Crucibles for Theater and TimeHelen ShawVariousfor her reviews in different publications, especially a review of Théâtre du Soleil's A Room in India 2018-2019Soraya Nadia McDonaldThe Undefeatedfor her theater essays for The Undefeated, especially a review of King Kong2019-2020Alexis SoloskiThe New York Timesfor her reviews of theater performances during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the essay "There’s No Place Like Home (Theater)

2020s YearName(s)InstitutionRationaleRef.2020-2021Maya PhillipsThe New York Timesfor "her reviews of James Ijames’s “brutal” comedy, The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington, and Claudia Rankine’s November, the latter published on the eve of the 2020 election"2021-2022Vinson CunninghamThe New Yorkerfor his reviews in The New Yorker2022-2023Rhoda FengVariousfor her freelance reviews, especially a "combined review of Shaina Taub’s Suffs and Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, published in LIBER: A Feminist Review"2023-2024Brittani Samuel3Viewsfor "her New York Times review of Raja Feather Kelly’s The Fires"2024-2025Masi AsareNorthwestern Universityfor Blues Mamas & Broadway Belters: Black Women, Voice, and the Musical StageBilly McEntreeThe Brooklyn Railfor his criticism with The Brooklyn Rail and other outlets, especially a review of Redwood

See also Theatre criticism

References