Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play

The Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play has been given since 1960. Before 1960 there was only one award for both play direction and musical direction, then in 1960 the award was split into two categories: Dramatic and Musical. In 1976 the Dramatic category was renamed to Play. For pre-1960 direction awards please reference Tony Award for Best Director.

Award winners

1960s

• 1960 Arthur Penn – The Miracle Worker
  • Joseph Anthony – The Best Man
  • Tyrone Guthrie – The Tenth Man
  • Elia Kazan – Sweet Bird of Youth
  • Lloyd Richards – A Raisin in the Sun

• 1961 John Gielgud – Big Fish, Little Fish
  • Joseph Anthony – Rhinoceros
  • Joan Littlewood – The Hostage
  • Arthur Penn – All the Way Home

• 1962 Noel Willman – A Man for All Seasons
  • Tyrone Guthrie – Gideon
  • Donald McWhinnie – The Caretaker
  • José Quintero – Great Day in the Morning

• 1963 Alan Schneider – Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
  • George Abbott – Never Too Late
  • John Gielgud – The School for Scandal
  • Peter Glenville – Tchin-Tchin

• 1964 Mike Nichols – Barefoot in the Park
  • June Havoc – Marathon '33
  • Alan Schneider – The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
  • Herman Shumlin – The Deputy

• 1965 Mike Nichols – The Odd Couple and Luv
  • William Ball – Tartuffe
  • Ulu Grosbard – The Subject Was Roses
  • Alan Schneider – Tiny Alice

• 1966 Peter Brook – Marat/Sade
  • Hilton Edwards – Philadelphia, Here I Come!
  • Ellis Rabb – You Can't Take It with You
  • Noel Willman – The Lion in Winter

• 1967 Peter Hall – The Homecoming
  • John Dexter – Black Comedy
  • Donald Driver – Marat/Sade
  • Alan Schneider – A Delicate Balance

• 1968 Mike Nichols – Plaza Suite
  • Michael Blakemore – A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
  • Derek Goldby – Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
  • Alan Schneider – You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running

• 1969 Peter Dews – Hadrian VII
  • Joseph Hardy – Play It Again, Sam
  • Harold Pinter – The Man in the Glass Booth
  • Michael A. Schultz – Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?

1970s

• 1970 Joseph Hardy – Child's Play
  • Milton Katselas – Butterflies Are Free
  • Thomas MacAnna – Borstal Boy
  • Robert Moore – Last of the Red Hot Lovers

• 1971 Peter Brook – A Midsummer Night's Dream
  • Lindsay Anderson – Home
  • Stephen Porter – The School for Wives
  • Clifford Williams – Sleuth

• 1972 Mike Nichols – The Prisoner of Second Avenue
  • Jeff Bleckner – Sticks and Bones
  • Gordon Davidson – The Trial of the Catsville Nine
  • Peter Hall – Old Times

• 1973 A. J. Antoon – That Championship Season
  • A. J. Antoon – Much Ado About Nothing
  • Alan Arkin – The Sunshine Boys
  • Michael Rudman – The Changing Room

• 1974 José Quintero – A Moon for the Misbegotten
  • Burgess Meredith – Ulysses in Nighttown
  • Mike Nichols – Uncle Vanya
  • Stephen Porter – Chemin de Fer
  • Edwin Sherin – Find Your Way Home

• 1975 John Dexter – Equus
  • Arvin Brown – The National Health
  • Frank Dunlop – Scapino
  • Ronald Eyre – London Assurance
  • Athol Fugard – Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island
  • Gene Saks – Same Time Next Year

• 1976 Ellis Rabb – The Royal Family
  • Arvin Brown – Ah Wilderness
  • Marshall W. Mason – Knock Knock
  • Peter Wood – Travesties

• 1977 Gordon Davidson – The Shadow Box
  • Ulu Grosbard – American Buffalo
  • Mike Nichols – Comedians
  • Mike Nichols – Streamers

• 1978 Melvin Bernhardt – Da
  • Robert Moore – Deathtrap
  • Mike Nichols – The Gin Game
  • Dennis Rosa – Dracula

• 1979 Jack Hofsiss – The Elephant Man
  • Alan Ayckbourn/Peter Hall – Bedroom Farce
  • Paul Giovanni – The Crucifier of Blood
  • Michael Lindsay-Pegg – Whoose Life Is It Anyway?

1980s

• 1980 Vivian Matalon – Morning's at Seven
  • Gordon Davidson – Children of a Lesser God
  • Peter Hall – Betrayal
  • Marshall W. Mason – Taley's Folly

• 1981 Peter Hall – Amadeus
  • Peter Coe – A Life
  • Marshall W. Mason -Fifth of July
  • Austin Pendleton – The Little Foxes

• 1982 Trevor Nunn / John Caird – The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
  • Melvin Bernhardt – Crimes of the Heart
  • Geraldine Fitzgerald – Mass Appeal
  • Athol Fugard – Master Harold...and the Boys

• 1983 Gene Saks – Brighton Beach Memoirs
  • Marshall W. Mason – Angels Fall
  • Tom Moore – 'Night, Mother
  • Trevor Nunn – All's Well That Ends Well

• 1984 Mike Nichols – The Real Thing
  • Michael Blakemore – Noises Off
  • David Leveaux – A Moon for the Misbegotten
  • Gregory Mosher – Glengarry Glen Ross

• 1985 Gene Saks – Biloxi Blues
  • Keith Hack – Strange Interlude
  • Terry Hands – Much Ado About Nothing
  • Marshall W. Mason – As Is

• 1986 Jerry Zaks – The House of Blue Leaves
  • Jonathan Miller – Long Day's Journey Into Night
  • José Quintero – The Iceman Cometh
  • John Tillinger – Loot

• 1987 Lloyd Richards – Fences
  • Howard Davies – Les Liaisons Dangereuses
  • Mbongeni Ngema – Asinamali!
  • Carole Rothman – Coastal Disturbances

• 1988 John Dexter – M. Butterfly
  • Gregory Mosher – Speed-the-Plow
  • Lloyd Richards – Joe Turner's Come and Gone
  • Clifford Williams – Breaking the Code

• 1989 Jerry Zaks – Lend Me a Tenor
  • Bill Irwin – Largely New York
  • Gregory Mosher – Our Town
  • Daniel J. Sullivan – The Heidi Chronicles

1990s

• 1990 Frank Galati – The Grapes of Wrath
  • Michael Blakemore – Lettice and Lovage
  • Peter Hall – The Merchant of Venice
  • Lloyd Richards – The Piano Lesson

• 1991 Jerry Zaks – Six Degrees of Separation
  • Richard Jones – La Bête
  • Mark Lamos – Our Country's Good
  • Gene Saks – Lost in Yonkers

• 1992 Patrick Mason – Dancing at Lughnasa
  • Peter Hall – Four Baboons Adoring the Sun
  • Jack O'Brien – Two Shakespearean Actors
  • Daniel J. Sullivan – Conversations with My Father

• 1993 George C. Wolfe – Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
  • David Leveaux – Anna Christie
  • Eric Simonson – The Song of Jacob Zulu
  • Daniel J. Sullivan – The Sisters Rosensweig

• 1994 Stephen Daldry – An Inspector Calls
  • Gerald Gutierrez – Abe Lincoln in Illinois
  • Michael Langham – Timon of Athens
  • George C. Wolfe – Angels in America: Perestroika

• 1995 Gerald Gutierrez – The Heiress
  • Emily Mann – Having Our Say
  • Joe Mantello – Love! Valour! Compassion!
  • Sean Mathias – Indiscretions

• 1996 Gerald Gutierrez – A Delicate Balance
  • Peter Hall – An Ideal Husband
  • Lloyd Richards – Seven Guitars
  • Gary Sinise – Buried Child

• 1997 Anthony Page – A Doll's House
  • John Caird – Stanley
  • Richard Eyre – Skylight
  • Charles Nelson Reilly – The Gin Game

• 1998 Garry Hynes – The Beauty Queen of Leenane
  • Michael Mayer – A View from the Bridge
  • Simon McBurney – The Chairs
  • Matthew Warchus – 'Art'

• 1999 Robert Falls – Death of a Salesman
  • Howard Davies – The Iceman Cometh
  • Garry Hynes – The Lonesome West
  • Trevor Nunn – Not About Nightingales

2000s

• 2000 Michael Blakemore – Copenhagen
  • James Lapine – Dirty Blonde
  • David Leveaux – The Real Thing
  • Matthew Warchus – True West

• 2001 Daniel J. Sullivan – Proof
  • Marion McClinton – King Hedley II
  • Ian McElhinney – Stones in His Pockets
  • Jack O'Brien – The Invention of Love

• 2002 Mary Zimmerman – Metamorphoses
  • Howard Davies – Private Lives
  • Richard Eyre – The Crucible
  • Daniel J. Sullivan – Morning's at Seven

• 2003 Joe Mantello – Take Me Out
  • Laurence Boswell – A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
  • Robert Falls – Long Day's Journey Into Night
  • Deborah Warner – Medea

• 2004 Jack O'Brien – Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2
  • Doug Hughes – Frozen
  • Moises Kaufman – I Am My Own Wife
  • David Leveaux – Jumpers

• 2005 Doug Hughes – Doubt: A Parable
  • John Crowley – The Pillowman
  • Scott Ellis – Twelve Angry Men
  • Joe Mantello – Glengarry Glen Ross

• 2006 Nicholas Hytner – The History Boys
  • Wilson Milam – The Lieutenant of Inishmore
  • Bartlett Sher – Awake and Sing!
  • Daniel J. Sullivan – Rabbit Hole

• 2007 Jack O'Brien – The Coast of Utopia
  • Michael Grandage – Frost/Nixon
  • David Grindley – Journey's End
  • Melly Still – Coram Boy

• 2008 Anna D. Shapiro – August: Osage County
  • Maria Aitken – The 39 Steps
  • Conor McPherson – The Seafarer
  • Matthew Warchus – Boeing Boeing

• 2009 Matthew Warchus – God of Carnage
  • Phyllida Lloyd – Mary Stuart
  • Bartlett Sher – Joe Turner's Come and Gone
  • Matthew Warchus – The Norman Conquests

2010s

• 2010 Michael Grandage – Red
  • Sheryl Kaller – Next Fall
  • Kenny Leon – Fences
  • Gregory Mosher – A View from the Bridge

• 2011 Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris – War Horse
  • Joel Grey & George C. Wolfe – The Normal Heart
  • Anna D. Shapiro – The Motherfucker with the Hat
  • Daniel J. Sullivan – The Merchant of Venice

External links

• Tony Awards official site
• Tony Awards, Best Direction of a Play at ibdb.com