NEW YORK CITY: The New York Drama Critics’ Circle has chosen playwright Samuel D. Hunter’s A Case for the Existence of God as the best play of 2021-22, and Kimberly Akimbo, by composer Jeanine Tesori and playwright-librettist David Lindsay-Abaire has been selected as best musical. A Case for the Existence of God tells the story of two Idaho men trying to reach an agreement on the terms of a loan, currently playing at Signature Theatre Company where it premiered this month. Kimberly Akimbo follows a New Jersey teen living with an aging disease; the musical premiered at Atlantic Theater Company in December and is slated for a Broadway run in the fall.
Two special citations were awarded to actor and director Austin Pendleton and for emerging talent to Sanaz Toossi for her plays English and Wish You Were Here. The awards will be presented during a private ceremony on May 20 and come with a cash prize of $2,500, made possible by a grant from the Lucille Lortel Foundation.
The New York Drama Critics’ Circle consists of 22 drama critics from the New York metropolitan area. The New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award has been awarded to the best new play of the season since 1936 and is the nation’s second-oldest playwriting award after the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
