The New York Drama Critics’ Circle Names Little Bear Ridge Road Best Play
Alden Ehrenreich wins Best Individual Performance; Death of a Salesman cast earns Best Ensemble
(Photo: Julieta Cervantes)
What to Know
- Samuel D. Hunter’s Little Bear Ridge Road wins Best Play at the 2025–26 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards; no Best Musical award was given this season
- Alden Ehrenreich earns Best Individual Performance for Becky Shaw, while the cast of Death of a Salesman receives Best Ensemble Performance
- Special citations go to Ragtime revival, Wallace Shawn & André Gregory and Qween Jean, with awards presented May 7 by the NY Drama Critics’ Circle
The New York Drama Critics' Circle has named Samuel D. Hunter’s Little Bear Ridge Road Best Play of the season. No award was given for Best Musical. The selections were made at the organization’s 90th annual voting meeting. The awards will be presented at a private ceremony on May 7.
The cast of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman was awarded Best Ensemble Performance, while Alden Ehrenreich took home the award for Best Individual Performance for his Broadway debut in Becky Shaw.
Special citations were given to the Lincoln Center Theater revival of Ragtime, Wallace Shawn and André Gregory for career achievement and Qween Jean for the costume design of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Liberation and Saturday Church. The Best Play award carries a cash prize of $2,500. The prizes are made possible by a grant from the Lucille Lortel Foundation.
Hunter's Little Bear Ridge Road, directed by Joe Mantello, had its New York premiere on October 30, 2025 at Broadway’s Booth Theatre. The play received its world premiere at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company in June 2024.
The New York Drama Critics’ Circle comprises 22 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines, wire services and websites based in the New York metropolitan area. The New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, which has been awarded every year since 1936 to the best new play of the season (with optional awards for foreign or American plays, musicals and special achievements), is the nation's second-oldest playwriting award, after the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Adam Feldman, theater critic and editor for Time Out New York, has served as president of the NYDCC since 2005. Zachary Stewart of TheaterMania serves as vice president and treasurer. In addition to Feldman and Stewart, the members of the New York Drama Critics' Circle are David Barbour, David Cote, Joe Dziemianowicz, Greg Evans, Rhoda Feng, David Finkle, Elysa Gardner, Robert Hofler, Sara Holdren, Charles Isherwood, Chris Jones, Soraya Nadia McDonald, Jackson McHenry, Emily Nussbaum, Johnny Oleksinski, Frank Scheck, David Sheward, Tim Teeman, Elisabeth Vincentelli and Matt Windman. Emeritus members include Melissa Rose Bernardo, Brian Scott Lipton, Michael Sommers and Steven Suskin.
