Pulitzer Prizes

The Pulitzer Prizes were announced at Columbia University yesterday. Congratulations to all of the winners and finalists!

The press release for the prize in Drama is as follows (from the Pulitzer Prize site): Awarded to “Next to Normal,” music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, a powerful rock musical that grapples with mental illness in a suburban family and expands the scope of subject matter for musicals. (Moved into contention by the Board within the Drama category.)

Nominated as finalists in this category were: “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” by Kristoffer Diaz, a play invoking the exaggerated role-playing of professional wrestling to explore themes from globalization to ethnic stereotyping, as the audience becomes both intimate insider and ringside spectator; “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” by Rajiv Joseph, a play about the chaotic Iraq war that uses a network of characters, including a caged tiger, to ponder violent, senseless death, blending social commentary with tragicomic mayhem, and “In the Next Room or the vibrator play,” by Sarah Ruhl, an inventive work that mixes comedy and drama as it examines the medical practice of a 19th century American doctor and confronts questions of female sexuality and emancipation.


The Prizes are never without controversy. According to Charles McNulty, member of the Pulitzer Prize drama jury, critic for the LA Times, and my former professor, the board disregarded the recommendation of the jury and awarded a visible and commercially viable piece of theatre rather than a riskier play by an emerging playwright. McNulty's insightful article can be found here.

I have questions about the awards process. How subjective are these awards? How much weight does the board give the jury? How long do they deliberate about the finalists before adding their sentimental favorites?

(image found here)