Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play
The Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Off-Broadway Play is an annual award given to the best new (non-musical) play running Off-Broadway, as determined by Outer Critics Circle. The awards have existed since 1949–1950 season, but this category was added in 1982, when the categories split into Broadway and Off-Broadway.
Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play won the first award in 1982. Horton Foote and Joshua Harmon have won the most awards with two each. Samuel D. Hunter has received the most nominations with five, followed closely by Bruce Norris with four. Since its inception, ten women have received the award, with the first being Tina Howe in 1984 for Painting Churches.
Award winners
- Key
1980s
Year |
Production |
Author |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
1982 |
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A Soldier's Play |
Charles Fuller |
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1983 |
|||
Extremities |
William Mastrosimone |
||
1984 |
|||
Painting Churches |
Tina Howe |
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1985 |
|||
The Foreigner |
Larry Shue |
||
1986 |
|||
A Lie of the Mind |
Sam Shepard |
||
1987 |
|||
The Common Pursuit |
Simon Gray |
||
1988 |
|||
Driving Miss Daisy |
Alfred Uhry |
||
1989 |
|||
The Heidi Chronicles |
Wendy Wasserstein |
1990s
Year |
Production |
Author |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
1990 |
|||
Prelude to a Kiss |
Craig Lucas |
||
1991 |
|||
The Sum of Us |
David Stephens |
||
Unchanging Love |
Romulus Linney |
||
Remembrance |
Graham Reid |
||
Life During Wartime |
Keith Reddin |
||
1992 |
|||
Marvin's Room |
Scott McPherson |
||
Lips Together, Teeth Apart |
Terrence McNally |
||
Grandchild of Kings |
Sean O'Casey |
||
Sights Unseen |
Donald Margulies |
||
1993 |
|||
Jeffrey |
Paul Rudnick |
||
Distant Fires |
Kevin Heelan |
||
Oleanna |
David Mamet |
||
Wrong Turn at Lungfish |
Garry Marshall and Lowell Ganz |
||
1994 |
|||
Three Tall Women |
Edward Albee |
||
1995 |
|||
Camping with Henry and Tom |
Mark St. Germain |
||
Distant Fires |
Kevin Heelan |
||
London Suite |
Neil Simon |
||
Vita and Virginia |
Eileen Atkins |
||
1996 |
|||
Molly Sweeney |
Brian Friel |
||
Picasso at the Lapin Agile |
Steve Martin |
||
Mrs. Klein |
Nicholas Wright |
||
Nixon's Nixon |
Russell Lees |
||
The Food Chain |
Nicky Silver |
||
1997 |
|||
How I Learned to Drive |
Paula Vogel |
||
A Question of Mercy |
David Rabe |
||
Bunny Bunny |
Alan Zweibel |
||
Stonewall Jackson's House |
Jonathan Reynolds |
||
1998 |
|||
Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde |
Moisés Kaufman |
||
Never the Sinner |
John Logan |
||
Side Man |
Warren Leight |
||
The Cripple of Inishmaan |
Martin McDonagh |
||
1999 |
|||
Wit |
Margaret Edson |
||
The Mineola Twins |
Paula Vogel |
||
Stop Kiss |
Diana Son |
||
Snakebit |
David Marshall Grant |
2000s
Year |
Production |
Author |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
2000 |
|||
Dinner with Friends |
Donald Margulies |
||
An Experiment with an Air Pump |
Shelagh Stephenson |
||
Dirty Blonde |
Claudia Shear |
||
2001 |
|||
Jitney |
August Wilson |
||
Comic Potential |
Alan Ayckbourn |
||
Lobby Hero |
Kenneth Lonergan |
||
Ten Unknowns |
Jon Robin Baitz |
||
2002 |
|||
The Dazzle |
Richard Greenberg |
||
36 Views |
Naomi Iizuka |
||
The Matchmaker |
John B. Keane |
||
Franz Kafka's The Castle |
David Fishelson |
||
2003 |
|||
The Exonerated |
Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen |
||
Talking Heads |
Alan Bennett |
||
Kimberly Akimbo |
David Lindsay-Abaire |
||
Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme |
Frank McGuinness |
||
2004 |
|||
Intimate Apparel |
Lynn Nottage |
||
Well |
Lisa Kron |
||
Frozen |
Bryony Lavery |
||
Bug |
Tracy Letts |
||
The Beard of Avon |
Amy Freed |
||
2005 |
|||
Fat Pig |
Neil LaBute |
||
Going to St. Ives |
Lee Blessing |
||
Moonlight and Magnolias |
Ron Hutchinson |
||
Romance |
David Mamet |
||
String of Pearls |
Michele Lowe |
||
2006 |
|||
Stuff Happens |
David Hare |
||
Tryst |
Karoline Leach |
||
Beauty of the Father |
Nilo Cruz |
||
In the Continuum |
Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter |
||
2007 |
|||
Indian Blood |
A. R. Gurney |
||
The Pain and the Itch |
Bruce Norris |
||
The Scene |
Theresa Rebeck |
||
Exits and Entrances |
Athol Fugard |
||
2008 |
|||
Dividing the Estate |
Horton Foote |
||
The Receptionist |
Adam Bock |
||
The Drunken City |
|||
From Up Here |
Liz Flahive |
||
2009 |
|||
Ruined |
Ayad Akhtar |
||
Shipwrecked! An Entertainment |
Donald Margulies |
||
Why Torture Is Wrong, And The People Who Love Them |
Christopher Durang |
||
Farragut North |
Beau Willimon |
2010s
Year |
Production |
Author |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
2010 |
|||
The Orphans' Home Cycle |
Horton Foote |
||
The Temperamentals |
Jon Marans |
||
The Pride |
Alexi Kaye Campbell |
||
Clybourne Park |
Bruce Norris |
||
2011 |
|||
Other Desert Cities |
Jon Robin Baitz |
||
The Other Place |
Sharr White |
||
Kin |
Max Dickins |
||
Blood From a Stone |
Tommy Nohilly |
||
2012 |
|||
Sons of the Prophet |
Stephen Karam |
||
Blood and Gifts |
JT Rogers |
||
The School for Lies |
David Ives |
||
Tribes |
Nina Raine |
||
2013 |
|||
My Name Is Asher Lev |
Chaim Potok |
||
The Whale |
Samuel D. Hunter |
||
Really Really |
Paul Downs Colaizzo |
||
Cock |
Mike Bartlett |
||
Bad Jews |
Joshua Harmon |
||
2014 |
|||
The Explorers Club |
Nell Benjamin |
||
Appropriate |
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins |
||
Choir Boy |
Tarell Alvin McCraney |
||
The Heir Apparent |
David Ives |
||
Stage Kiss |
Sarah Ruhl |
||
2015 |
|||
Between Riverside and Crazy |
Stephen Adly Guirgis |
||
The City of Conversation |
Anthony Giardina |
||
The Nether |
Jennifer Haley |
||
Rasheeda Speaking |
Joel Drake Johnson |
||
The Village Bike |
Penelope Skinner |
||
2016 |
|||
The Christians |
Lucas Hnath |
||
Familiar |
Danai Gurira |
||
Gloria |
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins |
||
Hold On to Me Darling |
Kenneth Lonergan |
||
The Legend of Georgia McBride |
Matthew Lopez |
||
2017 |
|||
If I Forget |
Steven Levenson |
||
Familiar |
Danai Gurira |
||
Incognito |
Nick Payne |
||
Linda |
Penelope Skinner |
||
Love, Love, Love |
Mike Bartlett |
||
2018 |
|||
Admissions |
Joshua Harmon |
||
Mlima's Tale |
Lynn Nottage |
||
The Low Road |
Bruce Norris |
||
Cost of Living |
Martyna Majok |
||
Hangmen |
Martin McDonagh |
||
2019 |
|||
White Noise |
Suzan-Lori Parks |
||
Fairview |
Jackie Sibblies |
||
The House That Will Not Stand |
Marcus Gardley |
||
Lewiston/Clarkston |
Samuel D. Hunter |
||
The Light |
Loy A. Webb |
2020s
Year |
Production |
Author |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
2020 (Honorees) |
Cambodian Rock Band |
Lauren Yee |
|
Greater Clements |
Samuel D. Hunter |
||
Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven |
Stephen Adly Guirgis |
||
Make Believe |
Bess Wohl |
||
Seared |
Theresa Rebeck |
||
2021 |
No awards given due to COVID-19 pandemic. |
||
2022 |
|||
Prayer for the French Republic |
Joshua Harmon |
||
Morning Sun |
Simon Stephens |
||
On Sugarland |
Aleshea Harris |
||
Sanctuary City |
Martyna Majok |
||
The Chinese Lady |
Lloyd Suh |
||
2023 |
|||
Downstate |
Bruce Norris |
||
Becomes a Woman |
Betty Smith |
||
Letters from Max, a Ritual |
Sarah Ruhl |
||
A Case for the Existence of God |
Samuel D. Hunter |
||
Chester Bailey |
Joseph Dougherty |
||
2024 |
|||
Primary Trust |
Eboni Booth |
||
King of the Jews |
Leslie Epstein |
||
Dig |
Theresa Rebeck |
||
Swing State |
Rebecca Gilman |
||
King James |
Rajiv Joseph |
||
2025 |
|||
Liberation |
Bess Wohl |
||
Here There Are Blueberries |
Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich |
||
Grangeville |
Samuel D. Hunter |
||
The Antiquities |
Jordan Harrison |
||
Table 17 |
Douglas Lyons |
||
2026 |
|||
Meet the Cartozians |
Talene Monahon |
||
Angry Alan |
Penelope Skinner |
||
The Monsters |
Ngozi Anyanwu |
||
Prince Faggot |
Jordan Tannahill |
||
The Reservoir |
Jake Brasch |
||
Multiple wins
- 2 wins
- Horton Foote
- Joshua Harmon
Multiple nominations
- 5 nominations
- Samuel D. Hunter
- 4 nominations
- Bruce Norris
- 3 nominations
- Donald Margulies
- David Mamet
- Danai Gurira
- Theresa Rebeck
- Joshua Harmon
- Penelope Skinner
- 2 nominations
- Paula Vogel
- Moisés Kaufman
- Martin McDonagh
- Kenneth Lonergan
- Jon Robin Baitz
- Lynn Nottage
- Adam Bock
- David Ives
- Mike Bartlett
- Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
- Sarah Ruhl
- Stephen Adly Guirgis
- Martyna Majok
- Bess Wohl
- Horton Foote
See also
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play
- Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play