Drama League Awards: Eligibility Requirements

The Drama League Awards strive to:

Increase positive public and media awareness of the professional theater in New York City;
Engage the national theater community in a meaningful conversation regarding quality and critical awareness of the art form;
Empower and celebrate artists by recognizing excellence and innovation.

To be eligible for nomination consideration, a production must:

Be presented for professional, public theatrical performance within the environs of New York City by a producing or presenting organization which has legally acquired the rights to present said production and is in accordance with all legal and union regulations for said production;
Provide and schedule six (6) tickets, and preferably six (6) pairs, to accommodate evaluation by Nominators during the production’s performances, and 2-4 Administrator tickets as needed;
Present no less than four weeks of performances (including previews) in a venue holding at least 140 seats, beginning its run during the eligibility period.
Companies that fall outside of the above eligibility criteria may petition the Eligibility Committee to be included by filling out this form. Productions that are composed of more than 50% artists from underinvested communities, both onstage and off, that may not meet the above criteria may also petition the Eligibility Committee.
The Drama League will not consider collegiate, cabaret, or workshop productions, and will exclude presentations in related performing arts genres (opera, dance, etc.), unless deemed appropriate by the Eligibility Committee;
For the Distinguished Performance Award, only actors who perform during the opening night performance will be eligible for consideration. The Distinguished Performance Award can be won only once in a performer’s lifetime; while previous recipients may be honored for their work during a given season, they will be ineligible to win Distinguished Performance a second time.
Productions that transfer within two separate seasons, but that are materially similar in the creative team, design, and acting company, may be considered in both seasons.
In rare cases, the Eligibility Committee may, at their discretion, exempt a venue or company from the theater size or performance requirements, allowing it to be eligible for consideration.

Process of Determinations

At their meetings, the Eligibility Committee will tabulate the scores from the Nominators, who have submitted numerics gauging a production’s Concept, Composition, Execution and Impact. These are aggregated in a statistical formula created by independent statisticians, which result in a list of nominees. At a statistically significant drop in scores, the Eligibility closes the category; there is no set minimum or maximum number of nominees, although the committee does acknowledge historical precedent in its deliberations. Production scores will be ranked in order from highest aggregate to lowest; Performance scores will be placed in order of the number of nominators choosing that performer, and then order of the highest averaged score.

Membership and Voting

All members of The Drama League in good standing, on a date in mid-April to be determined annually by The Drama League of the awards year, are eligible to vote via email balloting.
Duplicate, fraudulent and anonymous ballots will be discarded. There is only one vote ballot per membership.
In the case of a tie, the Programs Committee Chair of the Board of Directors will serve as the tie-breaking vote.

Recipient Eligibility

To win a Drama League Award, the recipient must be present at the annual Awards Ceremony, unless given special dispensation by the Eligibility Committee.
For the awards received by productions, the lead producer or their representative must be present at the annual Awards Ceremony, unless given special dispensation by the Eligibility Committee Chairperson.