Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance

The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance 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.

Drama Desk Award
for Outstanding Solo Performance
Awarded forOutstanding Solo Performance
LocationNew York City
CountryUnited States
Presented byDrama Desk
First awarded1984
Currently held byPatrick Page for All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain (2024)
Websitedramadesk.org (defunct)

The category was first presented at the 1984 ceremony, when it was known as the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One Person Show, suspended for 1988 and 1989, returning in 1990 as the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One Person Show/Solo Performance. The current name was first introduced in 1994, but then shifted across the three names until locking on the current name in 1999.

Winners and nominees

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1980s

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Year Performer Production
1984
Ian McKellen Acting Shakespeare
Phillip Baker Hall Secret Honor
Kaye Ballard Hey, Ma...Kaye Ballard
Edward Duke Jeeves Takes Charge
Estelle Parsons Orgasmo Adulto Escapes from the Zoo
Billie Whitelaw Rockaby
1985
Whoopi Goldberg Whoopi Goldberg
Avner Eisenberg Avner the Eccentric
Spalding Gray Swimming to Cambodia
Alec McCowen Kipling
Ekkehard Schall An Evening with Ekkehard Schall
Lori Wilner Hannah Senesh
1986
Eric Bogosian Drinking in America
Elisabeth Welch Time to Start Living
1987
Barbara Cook A Concert for the Theatre
1988, 1989

1990s

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Year Performer Production
1990
Robert Morse Tru
Eric Bogosian Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll
Kathryn Grody A Mom's Life
Mandy Patinkin Mandy Patinkin in Concert: "Dress Casual"
1991
Eileen Atkins A Room of One's Own
Jeffrey Essmann Artificial Reality
Spalding Gray Monster in a Box
Tracey Ullman The Big Love
1992
Patrick Stewart A Christmas Carol
Stan Freeman At Wit's End
Kevin Kling Home and Away
Josh Kornbluth Red Diaper Baby
1993
Anna Deavere Smith Fires in the Mirror
John Leguizamo Spic-O-Rama
Lynn Redgrave Shakespeare for My Father
Ron Vawter Roy Cohn/Jack Smith
1994
Anna Deavere Smith Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Eric Bogosian Pounding Nails in the Floor with my Forehead
Sherry Glaser Family Secrets
Spalding Gray Gray's Anatomy
Claudia Shear Blown Sideways Through Life
1995
Celeste Lecesne[a] Word of Mouth
Dan Butler The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me
Danny Hoch Some People
Avi Hoffman Too Jewish?
Lisa Kron 101 Humiliating Stories
1996
Mary Louise Wilson Full Gallop
Andrea Martin Nude Nude Totally Nude
Karen Trott Springhill Singing Disaster
1997
Fiona Shaw The Waste Land
Eve Ensler The Vagina Monologues
Eddie Izzard Eddie Izzard
Roger Guenveur Smith A Huey P. Newton Story
Julia Sweeney Julia Sweeney's God Said "Ha!"
1998
John Leguizamo Freak
Lewis Black Black Humor
Danny Hoch Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop
1999
David Hare Via Dolorosa
Will Bond Bob
Aviva Jane Carlin Jodie's Body
Alexander H. Cohen Star Billing
Lisa Kron 2.5 Minute Ride
Laurence Luckinbill Clarence Darrow Tonight!

2000s

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Year Performer Production
2000
Dame Edna Everage Dame Edna: The Royal Tour
Olympia Dukakis Rose
Spalding Gray Morning, Noon and Night
Mark Linn-Baker Chesapeake
Mark Setlock Fully Committed
Marc Wolf Another American: Asking and Telling
2001
Pamela Gien The Syringa Tree
Eric Bogosian Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Bette Bourne Resident Alien
Brian d'Arcy James The Good Thief
Sarah Jones Surface Transit
Ruben Santiago-Hudson Lackawanna Blues
2002
Elaine Stritch Elaine Stritch at Liberty
Dave Gorman Are You Dave Gorman?
Charles Nelson Reilly Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly
Reno Rebel Without a Pause
T. Ryder Smith Underneath the Lintel
2003
Tovah Feldshuh Golda's Balcony
Barbara Cook Mostly Sondheim
Frank Gorshin Say Goodnight, Gracie
Ricky Jay Ricky Jay: On the Stem
Priscilla Lopez Class Mother '68
Charlayne Woodard In Real Life
2004
Jefferson Mays I Am My Own Wife
Barbara Cook Barbara Cook's Broadway!
Ben Gazzara Nobody Don't Like Yogi
Sarah Jones Bridge and Tunnel
Martin Moran The Tricky Part
Will Power Flow
2005
Billy Crystal 700 Sundays
Dame Edna Everage Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance
Dave Gorman Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure
Jackie Mason Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed
Tim Miller Us
James Urbaniak Thom Pain (based on nothing)
2006
Antony Sher Primo
Judy Gold 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother
Marga Gomez Los Big Names
Jon Peterson George M. Cohan Tonight!
Janis Stevens Vivien
Michael Winther Songs from an Unmade Bed
2007
Vanessa Redgrave The Year of Magical Thinking
Iris Bahr Dai (enough)
Ed Harris Wrecks
Capathia Jenkins (mis)Understanding Mammy: The Hattie McDaniel Story
Anna Manahan Sisters
Nilaja Sun No Child...
2008
Laurence Fishburne Thurgood
Kris Anderson Dixie's Tupperware Party
Stephen Lang Beyond Glory
April Yvette Thompson Liberty City
2009
Lorenzo Pisoni Humor Abuse
Mike Birbiglia Sleepwalk with Me
Frank Blocker Southern Gothic Novel
Michael Laurence Krapp, 39
Matt Sax Clay
Campbell Scott The Atheist

2010s

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Year Performer Production
2010
Jim Brochu Zero Hour
Theodore Bikel Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears
Colman Domingo A Boy and His Soul
Carrie Fisher Wishful Drinking
Judith Ivey The Lady with All the Answers
Anna Deavere Smith Let Me Down Easy
2011
John Leguizamo Ghetto Klown
Daniel Beaty Through the Night
Mike Birbiglia Mike Birbiglia's My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
Juliette Jeffers Batman and Robin in the Boogie Down
Colin Quinn Colin Quinn: Long Story Short
Joanna Tope The Promise
2012
Cillian Murphy Misterman
Baba Brinkman The Rap Guide to Evolution
Suli Holum Chimera
Jeff Key The Eyes of Babylon
Denis O'Hare An Iliad
Stephen Spinella An Iliad
2013
Michael Urie Buyer & Cellar
Joel de la Fuente Hold These Truths
Kathryn Hunter Kafka's Monkey
Bette Midler I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers
Julian Sands A Celebration of Harold Pinter
Holland Taylor Ann
2014
John Douglas Thompson Satchmo at the Waldorf
David Barlow This is My Office
Jim Brochu Character Man
Hannah Cabell Grounded
Debra Jo Rupp Becoming Dr. Ruth
Ruben Santiago-Hudson August Wilson's How I Learned What I Learned
2015
Benjamin Scheuer The Lion
Christina Bianco Application Pending
Jonny Donahoe Every Brilliant Thing
Tom Dugan Wiesenthal
Mona Golabek The Pianist of Willesden Lane
Joely Richardson The Belle of Amherst
2016
Jesse Tyler Ferguson Fully Committed
Simon Callow Tuesdays at Tesco's
Kathleen Chalfant Rose
Celeste Lecesne[a] The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey
Daphne Rubin-Vega Empanada Loca
2017
Ed Dixon Georgie: My Adventures with George Rose
Nancy Anderson The Pen (Inner Voices)
Marin Ireland On the Exhale
Sarah Jones Sell/Buy/Date
Brian Quijada Where Did We Sit on the Bus?
Anna Deavere Smith Notes from the Field
2018
Billy Crudup Harry Clarke
David Greenspan Strange Interlude
Jon Levin A Hunger Artist
Lesli Margherita Who's Holiday!
Sophie Melville Iphigenia in Splott
2019
Mike Birbiglia The New One
Carey Mulligan Girls & Boys
Liza Jessie Peterson The Peculiar Patriot
Erin Treadway Spaceman
Phoebe Waller-Bridge Fleabag

2020s

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Year Performer Production
2020
Laura Linney My Name Is Lucy Barton
David Cale We're Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time
Kate del Castillo the way she spoke
Jacqueline Novak Get on Your Knees
Deirdre O'Connell Dana H.
2021 No awards: New York theatres shuttered, March 2020 to September 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City[1]
2022
Kristina Wong Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord
Alex Edelman Just for Us
Arturo Luís Soria Ni Mi Madre
2023
Jodie Comer Prima Facie
David Greenspan Four Saints in Three Acts
Jessica Hendy Walking With Bubbles
Anthony Rapp Without You
Tracy Thorne Jack Was Kind
2024[2]
Patrick Page All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain
Michael Cruz Kayne Sorry for Your Loss
Madeleine MacMahon Breathless
Wade McCollum Make Me Gorgeous!
Robert Montano SMALL

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Nominated as James Lecesne.

References

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  1. ^ Evans, Greg (2021-05-05). "Broadway To Reopen Sept. 14, Says Gov. Andrew Cuomo; Broadway League "Cautiously Optimistic"". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
  2. ^ "Stereophonic Leads 2024 Drama Desk Awards with 7 Wins Including Outstanding Play - Playbill.com". 2024-06-10. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
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