Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play#2010s
{{Infobox award
| name = Drama Desk Award
for Outstanding Play
| awarded_for = Outstanding Play
| presenter = Drama Desk
| location = New York City
| country = United States
| year = 1955
| holder = Purpose (2025)
| website = {{Website|dramadesk.org}}
}}
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play is 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 initially introduced in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre, before being removed from the ceremony between 1960 and 1974. The award returned in the 1975 ceremony, with its current title.
Winners and nominees
=1950s=
| class="wikitable" style="width:98%;" |
| style="background:#bebebe;"
! style="width:10%;"| Year ! style="width:45%;"| Play ! style="width:45%;"| Writer |
| rowspan="6"| 1955 |
|---|
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| rowspan="2"| 1956 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| 1957–59
| colspan="2" {{n/a}} |
=1960s=
| class="wikitable" style="width:98%;" |
| style="background:#bebebe;"
! style="width:10%;"| Year ! style="width:45%;"| Play ! style="width:45%;"| Writer |
| 1960–69
| colspan="2" {{n/a|not awarded}} |
|---|
=1970s=
| class="wikitable" style="width:98%;" |
| style="background:#bebebe;"
! style="width:10%;"| Year ! style="width:45%;"| Play ! style="width:45%;"| Writer |
| 1970–74
| colspan="2" {{n/a|not awarded}} |
|---|
| rowspan="13"| 1975 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE"
| Equus |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Absurd Person Singular |
| All Over Town |
| Hosanna |
| In Praise of Love |
| Naomi Court
| Michael Sawyer |
| The National Health |
| P.S. Your Cat Is Dead |
| The Ritz |
| Seascape |
| Sizwe Banzi Is Dead / The Island
| Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona |
| rowspan="6"| 1976 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Kennedy's Children |
| Lamppost Reunion
| Louis Larusso |
| Medal of Honor Rag
| Tom Cole |
| Vanities
| Jack Heifner |
| rowspan="10"| 1977 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| American Buffalo |
| Comedians |
| Gemini |
| G. R. Point |
| No Man's Land |
| The Shadow Box |
| The Transfiguration of Benno Blimpie |
| rowspan="7"| 1978 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE"
| Da |
| Fifth of July |
| The Gin Game |
| Landscape of the Body |
| The Merchant |
| The Water Engine |
| rowspan="6"| 1979 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Nevis Mountain Dew |
| On Golden Pond |
| Talley's Folly |
| Wings |
=1980s=
| class="wikitable" style="width:98%;" |
| style="background:#bebebe;"
! style="width:10%;"| Year ! style="width:45%;"| Play ! style="width:45%;"| Writer |
| rowspan="7"| 1980 |
|---|
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Home |
| The Irish Hebrew Lesson |
| Night and Day |
| Talley's Folly |
| Teibele and Her Demon
| Isaac Bashevis Singer and Eve Friedman |
| rowspan="5"| 1981 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE"
| Amadeus |
| Crimes of the Heart |
| Fifth of July |
| Mass Appeal
| Bill C. Davis |
| rowspan="7"| 1982 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| A Soldier's Play |
| The Dance and the Railroad |
| The Dining Room |
| Family Devotions |
| Grown Ups |
| rowspan="7"| 1983 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Brighton Beach Memoirs |
| Edmond |
| Extremities |
| Geniuses |
| True West |
| rowspan="7"| 1984 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| And a Nightingale Sang |
| A Private View |
| Glengarry Glen Ross |
| Isn't It Romantic |
| Noises Off |
| rowspan="5"| 1985 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE"
| As Is |
| Biloxi Blues |
| Digby |
| Ma Rainey's Black Bottom |
| rowspan="7"| 1986 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Aunt Dan and Lemon |
| Benefactors |
| Execution of Justice |
| Marriage of Bette and Boo |
| Precious Sons |
| rowspan="8"| 1987 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE"
| Fences |
| Broadway Bound |
| The Common Pursuit |
| Driving Miss Daisy |
| Les Liaisons Dangereuses |
| North Shore Fish |
| Wild Honey |
| rowspan="7"| 1988 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Boys' Life |
| Joe Turner's Come and Gone |
| The Road to Mecca |
| Speed-the-Plow |
| Woman in Mind |
| rowspan="7"| 1989 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| The Cocktail Hour |
| The Film Society |
| Only Kidding!
| Jim Geoghan |
| Reckless |
| Shirley Valentine |
=1990s=
| class="wikitable" style="width:98%;" |
| style="background:#bebebe;"
! style="width:10%;"| Year ! style="width:45%;"| Play ! style="width:45%;"| Writer |
| rowspan="6"| 1990 |
|---|
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| The Lisbon Traviata |
| Prelude to a Kiss |
| The Secret Rapture |
| Some Americans Abroad |
| rowspan="5"| 1991 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| La Bête |
| Six Degrees of Separation |
| The Wash |
| rowspan="7"| 1992 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| A Small Family Business |
| Dancing at Lughnasa |
| Lips Together, Teeth Apart |
| Mad Forest |
| Sight Unseen |
| rowspan="7"| 1993 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Jeffrey |
| Joined at the Head |
| Oleanna |
| The Sisters Rosensweig |
| Three Hotels |
| rowspan="7"| 1994 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| All in the Timing |
| The Kentucky Cycle |
| The Lights |
| Pterodactyls |
| Three Tall Women |
| rowspan="7"| 1995 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Arcadia |
| The Cryptogram |
| Missing Persons |
| Raised in Captivity |
| subUrbia |
| rowspan="7"| 1996 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| The Model Apartment |
| Molly Sweeney |
| Seven Guitars |
| Sylvia |
| Valley Song |
| rowspan="6"| 1997 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Dealer's Choice |
| The Last Night of Ballyhoo |
| The Skriker |
| This is Our Youth |
| rowspan="7"| 1998 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| 'Art' |
| As Bees In Honey Drown |
| Collected Stories |
| Side Man |
| Three Days of Rain |
| rowspan="7"| 1999 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE"
| Wit |
| Betty's Summer Vacation |
| Closer |
| Not About Nightingales |
| The Ride Down Mt. Morgan |
| Snakebit |
=2000s=
| class="wikitable" style="width:98%;" |
| style="background:#bebebe;"
! style="width:10%;"| Year ! style="width:45%;"| Play ! style="width:45%;"| Writer |
| rowspan="7"| 2000 |
|---|
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Contact with the Enemy |
| Dinner with Friends |
| Dirty Blonde |
| Jitney |
| The Tale of the Allergist's Wife |
| rowspan="7"| 2001 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE"
| Proof |
| Boy Gets Girl |
| Comic Potential |
| The Invention of Love |
| Lobby Hero |
| The Unexpected Man |
| rowspan="7"| 2002 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Franny's Way |
| The Shape of Things |
| Thief River |
| Topdog/Underdog |
| rowspan="7"| 2003 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Buicks
| Julian Sheppard |
| Our Lady of 121st Street |
| Peter and Vandy
| Jay DiPietro |
| Talking Heads |
| Yellowman |
| rowspan="7"| 2004 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| The Beard of Avon |
| The Distance from Here |
| Humble Boy |
| Moby-Dick
| Julian Rad |
| The Tricky Part |
| rowspan="7"| 2005 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE"
| Doubt |
| Democracy |
| Pentecost |
| The Pillowman |
| Sailor's Song |
| Sin (A Cardinal Deposed)
| Michael Murphy |
| rowspan="7"| 2006 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams |
| The Lieutenant of Inishmore |
| No Foreigners Beyond This Point |
| The Pavilion |
| Stuff Happens |
| rowspan="7"| 2007 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| The Accomplices |
| Blackbird |
| Frost/Nixon |
| Radio Golf |
| Some Men |
| rowspan="7"| 2008 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Dividing the Estate |
| From Up Here
| Liz Flahive |
| Horizon
| Rinde Eckert |
| Intimate Exchanges |
| Rock 'n' Roll |
| rowspan="7"| 2009 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE"
| Ruined |
| Becky Shaw |
| Body Awareness |
| Fifty Words |
| Lady |
| reasons to be pretty |
=2010s=
| class="wikitable" style="width:98%;" |
| style="background:#bebebe;"
! style="width:10%;"| Year ! style="width:45%;"| Play ! style="width:45%;"| Writer |
| rowspan="7"| 2010 |
|---|
| style="background:#B0C4DE"
| Red |
| Circle Mirror Transformation |
| Clybourne Park |
| Happy Now? |
| My Wonderful Day |
| Next Fall
| Geoffrey Nauffts |
| rowspan="8"| 2011 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| A Bright New Boise |
| A Small Fire |
| Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo |
| Good People |
| The Motherf**ker with the Hat |
| Other Desert Cities |
| rowspan="8"| 2012 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE"
| Tribes |
| The Big Meal
| Dan LeFranc |
| By the Way, Meet Vera Stark |
| Chinglish |
| Completeness |
| The Lyons |
| Unnatural Acts
| Members of Plastic Theatre |
| rowspan="8"| 2013 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| The Assembled Parties |
| Belleville |
| Falling
| Deanna Jent |
| Finks
| Joe Gilford |
| The Flick |
| Sorry |
| rowspan="8"| 2014 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Core Values |
| Domesticated |
| The Explorers Club |
| The Night Alive |
| Outside Mullingar |
| Regular Singing |
| rowspan="8"| 2015 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| You Got Older |
| Airline Highway |
| The City of Conversation |
| Between Riverside and Crazy |
| My Manãna Comes
| Elizabeth Irwin |
| Let the Right One In |
| style="background:#B0C4DE"
! rowspan="5" |2016 |
| The Christians |
| John |
| King Charles III |
| The Royale
| Marco Ramírez |
| rowspan="6" |2017 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE"
|Oslo |
| If I Forget |
| Indecent |
| A Life |
| Sweat |
| rowspan="6" |2018 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE"
|Admissions |
| Mary Jane |
| Miles for Mary
|The Mad Ones |
| People, Places and Things |
| School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play |
| rowspan="6" |2019 |
| style="background:#B0C4DE" |
| Fairview |
| Lewiston/Clarkston |
| Usual Girls |
| What the Constitution Means to Me |