Spotlight on Excellence: The Drama Desk Award for Featured Actress
Celebrating Stellar Supporting Performances in New York Theatre.
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Award Context
Purpose and Scope
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play was an annual accolade presented by Drama Desk. It recognized exceptional supporting acting performances in theatrical productions staged across New York City's professional theatre landscape, encompassing Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway venues.
Historical Timeline
This award was established in 1975 as part of an expansion of acting categories designed to provide more specific recognition. It was presented annually until its final award ceremony in 2022. Following the 2022 season, this category, along with its male counterpart, was retired.
Evolution of Categories
In 2023, the Drama Desk Awards transitioned to gender-neutral acting categories. The former awards for Outstanding Featured Actor and Actress in a Play were consolidated into the new category of Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, reflecting a broader approach to recognizing theatrical talent.
Origin and Presentation
The Drama Desk Awards are presented annually in New York City, recognizing achievements in professional theatre. The organization, Drama Desk, comprises theatre critics, journalists, and editors who cover the New York theatre scene.
Distinguished Honorees
Winners and Nominees (1975-2022)
The following table details the recipients and nominees for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play throughout its history.
| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | |||
| Frances Sternhagen | Equus | Dora Strang | |
| Polly Adams | London Assurance | Grace Harkaway | |
| Maureen Anderman | Seascape | Sarah | |
| Caroline Lagerfelt | The Constant Wife | Marie-Louise Durham | |
| Carole Shelley | Absurd Person Singular | Jane | |
| Elizabeth Spriggs | London Assurance | Lady Gay Spanker | |
| Marcia Wallace | Avon Lady | Avon Lady | |
| 1976 | |||
| Rachel Roberts | Habeas Corpus | Mrs. Wicksteed | |
| Toni Darnay | The Heiress | Mrs. Montgomery | |
| Alice Drummond | A Memory of Two Mondays | Agnes | |
| June Havoc | Habeas Corpus | Mrs. Swabb | |
| Kaiulani Lee | Kennedy's Children | Rona | |
| Lynn Ann Leveridge | Yentl | Hadass | |
| 1977 | |||
| Rosemary De Angelis | The Transfiguration of Benno Blimpie | Mother | |
| Joyce Ebert | The Shadow Box | Maggie | |
| Rose Gregorio | The Shadow Box | Agnes | |
| Cecilia Hart | Dirty Linen | Maddie | |
| Patricia Roe | The Oldest Living Graduate | Maureen Kinkaid | |
| Meryl Streep | The Cherry Orchard | Dunyasha | |
| Gretchen Wyler | Sly Fox | Miss Fancy | |
| 1978 | |||
| Eileen Atkins | The Night of the Tribades | Marie Caroline David | |
| Martha Gaylord | The Elusive Angel | Bo-Peep Braxton | |
| Carol Kane | The Effect of Gamma Rays | Matilda "Tillie" Hunsdorfer | |
| Swoosie Kurtz | Uncommon Women and Others | Rita Altabel | |
| Pamela Reed | Curse of the Starving Class | Emma | |
| 1979 | |||
| Pamela Reed | Getting Out | Arlie | |
| Dixie Carter | Fathers and Sons | Martha "Calamity Jane" Canary | |
| Frances Foster | Nevis Mountain Dew | Everalda Philibert Griffin | |
| Joan Hickson | Bedroom Farce | Delia | |
| Laurie Kennedy | Man and Superman | Violet Robinson | |
| Susan Littler | Bedroom Farce | Kate | |
| 1980 | |||
| Lois de Banzie | Morning's at Seven | Myrtle Brown | |
| Pamela Brook | Goodbye Fidel | Peggy Sinclair | |
| Frances Conroy | Othello | Desdemona | |
| Mia Dillon | Once a Catholic | Mary Mooney | |
| Dianne Wiest | The Art of Dining | Elizabeth Barrow Colt | |
| 1981 | |||
| Swoosie Kurtz | Fifth of July | Gwen Landis | |
| Fran Brill | Knuckle | Jenny | |
| Carrie Nye | The Man Who Came to Dinner | Lorraine Sheldon | |
| Jean Smart | Last Summer at Bluefish Cove | Lil | |
| Jessica Tandy | Rose | Rose's Mother | |
| Zoรซ Wanamaker | Piaf | Tione | |
| 1982 | |||
| Amanda Plummer | Agnes of God | Agnes | |
| Pauline Flanagan | Medea | The First Woman of Corinth | |
| Estelle Getty | Torch Song Trilogy | Mrs. Beckoff | |
| Cheryl Giannini | Grown Ups | Louise | |
| E. Katherine Kerr | Cloud Nine | Ellen / Mrs. Saunders | |
| Aideen O'Kelly | Othello | Emilia | |
| 1983 | |||
| Judith Ivey | Steaming | Josie | |
| Maureen Anderman | You Can't Take It with You | Alice Sycamore | |
| Dana Ivey | Present Laughter | Monica Reed | |
| Dana Ivey | Quartermaine's Terms | Melanie Garth | |
| Kate McGregor-Stewart | Beyond Therapy | Charlotte | |
| Anne Twomey | Vieux Carrรฉ | Jane | |
| 1984 | |||
| Christine Baranski | The Real Thing | Charlotte | |
| Lisa Banes | Isn't it Romantic | Harriet Cornwall | |
| Dody Goodman | Ah, Wilderness! | Essie Miller | |
| Jo Henderson | Isn't it Romantic | Lillian Cornwall | |
| Amy Irving | Heartbreak House | Ellie Dunn | |
| Dianne Wiest | Serenading Louie | Gabby | |
| Dianne Wiest | Other Places | Deborah | |
| 1985 | |||
| Judith Ivey | Hurlyburly | Bonnie | |
| Sudie Bond | The Foreigner | Betty Meeks | |
| Joanna Gleason | A Day in the Death of Joe Egg | Pam | |
| Nancy Marchand | The Octette Bridge Club | Connie Emerson | |
| Anne Pitoniak | The Octette Bridge Club | Martha McDermitt | |
| Margaret Tyzack | Tom and Viv | Rose Robinson Haigh-Wood | |
| 1986 | |||
| Joanna Gleason | Social Security | Trudy Heyman | |
| Joanna Gleason | It's Only a Play | Virginia Noyes | |
| Elizabeth Berridge | Cruise Control | Suze | |
| Elizabeth Berridge | Wrestlers | Angie | |
| Kathryn Grody | The Marriage of Bette and Boo | Emily Brennan | |
| Zoรซ Wanamaker | Loot | Fay | |
| Ann Wedgeworth | A Lie of the Mind | Meg | |
| 1987 | |||
| Mary Alice | Fences | Rose Maxson | |
| Suzanne Burden | Dangerous Liaisons | Madame de Tourvel | |
| Jane Carr | The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby | Various Characters | |
| Janet Eilber | Stepping Out | Andy | |
| Christine Estabrook | North Shore Fish | Florence Rizzo | |
| Vickilyn Reynolds | The Colored Museum | Lawanda / Mama | |
| 1988 | |||
| Christine Estabrook | The Boys Next Door | Sheila | |
| Kimberleigh Aarn | Joe Turner's Come and Gone | Mattie Cambell | |
| Frances McDormand | A Streetcar Named Desire | Stella Kowalski | |
| Kimberly Scott | Joe Turner's Come and Gone | Molly Cunningham | |
| 1989 | |||
| Tovah Feldshuh | Lend Me a Tenor | Maria Merelli | |
| Joanne Camp | The Heidi Chronicles | Fran / Molly / Betsy / April | |
| Margaret Colin | Aristocrats | Alice | |
| Penelope Ann Miller | Our Town | Emily Webb | |
| Alice Playten | Spoils of War | Emma | |
| Holland Taylor | The Cocktail Hour | Nina | |
| 1990 | |||
| Frances Conroy | The Secret Rapture | Marion French | |
| Jayne Atkinson | The Art of Success | Sarah Sprackling | |
| Kate Burton | Some Americans Abroad | Betty McNeil | |
| Marcia Jean Kurtz | When She Danced | Miss Belzer | |
| Stephanie Roth | Artist Descending a Staircase | Sophie | |
| 1991 | |||
| Irene Worth | Lost in Yonkers | Grandma Kurnitz | |
| Jane Adams | I Hate Hamlet | Deirdre McDavey | |
| Tracey Ellis | Our Country's Good | Lieutenant George Johnston | |
| Julie Halston | Red Scare on Sunset | Pat Pilford | |
| Deirdre O'Connell | Love and Anger | Sarah Downey | |
| 1992 | |||
| Christine Baranski | Lips Together, Teeth Apart | Chloe Haddock | |
| Lisa Emery | Marvin's Room | Lee | |
| Harriet Sansom Harris | Bella, Bell of Byelorussia | Ludmilla / Waitress | |
| Laura Linney | Sight Unseen | Grete | |
| Nancy Marchand | The End of the Day | Rosamund Brackett / Jocelyn Massey | |
| 1993 | |||
| Madeline Kahn | The Sisters Rosensweig | Gorgeous Teitlebaum | |
| Kathleen Chalfant | Angels in America: Millennium Approaches | Various Characters | |
| Marcia Gay Harden | Angels in America: Millennium Approaches | Various Characters | |
| Harriet Harris | Jeffrey | Ann Marwood Bartle | |
| Kathryn Meisle | As You Like It | Rosalind | |
| 1994 | |||
| Jane Adams | An Inspector Calls | Sheila Biring | |
| Frances Conroy | In the Summer House | Mrs. Constable | |
| Hope Davis | Pterodactyls | Emma | |
| Marcia Gay Harden | Angels in America: Perestroika | Various Characters | |
| Kristen Johnston | The Lights | Rose | |
| 1995 | |||
| Tara Fitzgerald | Hamlet | Ophelia | |
| Hallie Foote | The Horton Foote Plays | Performer | |
| Penny Fuller | Three Viewings | Virginia | |
| Camryn Manheim | Missing Persons | Gemma | |
| J. Smith-Cameron | The Naked Truth | Sissy Bermiss Darnley | |
| Sheila Tousey | Iphigenia and Other Daughters | Electra | |
| 1996 | |||
| Elaine Stritch | A Delicate Balance | Claire | |
| Viola Davis | Seven Guitars | Vera | |
| Eileen Heckart | Northeast Local | Mair | |
| Donna Murphy | Twelve Dreams | Dorothy Trowbridge | |
| Roberta Wallach | The Model Apartment | Debby | |
| Amy Wright | Mrs. Klein | Paula | |
| 1997 | |||
| Dana Ivey | Sex and Longing | Bridget McCrea | |
| Dana Ivey | The Last Night of Ballyhoo | Boo Levy | |
| Kathleen Chalfant | Nine Armenians | Marie | |
| Linda Emond | Nine Armenians | Armine | |
| Melissa Errico | The Importance of Being Earnest | Gwendolen Fairfax | |
| Allison Janney | Present Laughter | Liz | |
| Celia Weston | The Last Night of Ballyhoo | Aunt Reba | |
| 1998 | |||
| Allison Janney | A View from the Bridge | Beatrice Carbone | |
| Patricia Clarkson | The Maiden's Prayer | Libby | |
| Linda Lavin | The Diary of Anne Frank | Mrs. Van Daan | |
| Patti LuPone | The Old Neighborhood | Jolly | |
| Marian Seldes | Ivanov | Zinaida Savishna | |
| Carolyn Seymour | Goose-Pimples | Jackie | |
| 1999 | |||
| Anna Friel | Closer | Alice Ayers | |
| Viola Davis | Everybody's Ruby | Ruby McCollum | |
| Kristine Nielsen | Betty's Summer Vacation | Mrs. Siezmagraff | |
| Natasha Richardson | Closer | Anna | |
| Marian Seldes | Ring Round the Moon | Madame Desmermortes | |
| Mary Louise Wilson | Bosoms and Neglect | Henny | |
| 2000 | |||
| Marylouise Burke | Fuddy Meers | Gertie | |
| Jillian Armenante | The Cider House Rules, Part One | Melony | |
| Seana Kofoed | An Experiment with an Air Pump | Isobel Bridie | |
| Phyllis Newman | The Moment When | Paula | |
| รiฤdem Onat | The Time of the Cuckoo | Signora Fioria | |
| Amy Sedaris | The Country Club | Froggy | |
| 2001 | |||
| Viola Davis | King Hedley II | Tonya | |
| Anita Durst | The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant | Marlene | |
| Barbara Jefford | Coriolanus | Volumnia | |
| Marthe Keller | Judgment at Nuremberg | Mrs. Bertholt | |
| Marian Seldes | The Butterfly Collection | Margaret | |
| Robin Weigert | Madame Melville | Ruth | |
| 2002 | |||
| Katie Finneran | Noises Off | Brooke Ashton | |
| Jennifer Coolidge | The Women | Edith / Mrs. Phelps Potter | |
| Kathleen Doyle | Kilt | Mary | |
| Linda Emond | Homebody/Kabul | The Homebody | |
| Elizabeth Franz | Morning's at Seven | Aaronetta Gibbs | |
| Kathleen Widdoes | Franny's Way | Marjorie | |
| 2003 | |||
| Lynn Redgrave | Talking Heads | Miss Fozzard | |
| Christine Ebersole | Talking Heads | Irene | |
| Jan Maxwell | My Old Lady | Chloe Giffard | |
| Helen McCrory | Uncle Vanya | Elena | |
| Nancy Opel | Polish Joke | Various Characters | |
| Jeanine Serralles | Hold Please | Jessica | |
| 2004 | |||
| Audra McDonald | A Raisin in the Sun | Ruth Younger | |
| Jayne Houdyshell | Well | Ann Kron | |
| Mikel Sarah Lambert | The Daughter-in-Law | Mrs. Gascoyne | |
| Margo Martindale | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | Big Mama | |
| Jan Maxwell | Sixteen Wounded | Sonya | |
| Mary Louise Wilson | The Beard of Avon | Queen Elizabeth I | |
| 2005 | |||
| Adriane Lenox | Doubt | Mrs. Miller | |
| Julie Halston | White Chocolate | Vivian Beale Somerset | |
| Portia | McReele | Opal | |
| Lily Rabe | Steel Magnolias | Annelle | |
| Lee Roy Rogers | Orson's Shadow | Vivien Leigh | |
| Mary Testa | String of Pearls | Various Characters | |
| 2006 | |||
| Frances de la Tour | The History Boys | Mrs. Lintott | |
| Lisa Emery | Abigail's Party | Susan | |
| Judith Hawking | A Soldier's Wife | Florence | |
| Michele Pawk | The Paris Letter | Katie | |
| Lynn Redgrave | The Constant Wife | Mrs. Culver | |
| Marian Seldes | Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams | Annabelle Willard | |
| 2007 | |||
| Martha Plimpton | The Coast of Utopia | Various Characters | |
| Myriam Acharki | Woyzeck | Marie | |
| Xanthe Elbrick | Coram Boy | Alexander Ashbrook / Aaron | |
| Sarah Nina Hayon | Rearviewmirror | Inez | |
| Jan Maxwell | Coram Boy | Mrs. Lynch | |
| Rita Wolf | The American Pilot | Sarah | |
| 2008 | |||
| Linda Lavin | The New Century | Helene Nadler | |
| Elizabeth Ashley | Dividing the Estate | Stella | |
| Johanna Day | Peter and Jerry | Ann | |
| Zoe Kazan | 100 Saints You Should Know | Abby | |
| Rondi Reed | August: Osage County | Mattie Fae Aiken | |
| Marisa Tomei | Top Girls | Isabella Bird / Joyce / Mrs. Kidd | |
| 2009 | |||
| Angela Lansbury | Blithe Spirit | Madame Arcati | |
| Rebecca Hall | The Cherry Orchard | Varya | |
| Zoe Kazan | The Seagull | Masha | |
| Andrea Martin | Exit the King | Juliette | |
| Carey Mulligan | The Seagull | Nina | |
| Condola Rashad | Ruined | Sophie | |
| 2010 | |||
| Viola Davis | Fences | Rose Maxson | |
| Victoria Clark | When the Rain Stops Falling | Older Gabrielle York | |
| Xanthe Elbrick | Candida | Proserpine Garnett | |
| Mary Beth Hurt | When the Rain Stops Falling | Older Elizabeth Law | |
| Scarlett Johansson | A View from the Bridge | Catherine Carbone | |
| Andrea Riseborough | The Pride | Sylvia | |
| 2011 | |||
| Edie Falco | The House of Blue Leaves | Bananas Shaughnessy | |
| Lisa Emery | The Collection and A Kind of Alaska | Deborah | |
| Julie Halston | The Divine Sister | Sister Acacius | |
| Sarah Nina Hayon | A Bright New Boise | Anna | |
| Celia Keenan-Bolger | Peter and the Starcatcher | Molly | |
| Linda Lavin | Other Desert Cities | Silda Grauman | |
| Judith Light | Lombardi | Marie Lombardi | |
| 2012 | |||
| Judith Light | Other Desert Cities | Silda Grauman | |
| Stephanie J. Block | By the Way, Meet Vera Stark | Gloria Mitchell | |
| Anna Camp | All New People | Kim | |
| Kimberly Hebert Gregory | By the Way, Meet Vera Stark | Lottie | |
| Lisa Joyce | The Ugly One | Fanny | |
| Joaquina Kalukango | Hurt Village | Cookie | |
| Angela Lansbury | The Best Man | Sue Ellen Gamadge | |
| 2013 | |||
| Judith Light | The Assembled Parties | Faye | |
| Tasha Lawrence | The Whale | Mary | |
| Kellie Overbey | Sleeping Rough | Joanna | |
| Maryann Plunkett | Sorry | Barbara Apple | |
| Condola Rashad | The Trip to Bountiful | Thelma | |
| Laila Robins | Sorry | Marian Apple | |
| 2014 | |||
| Celia Keenan-Bolger | The Glass Menagerie | Laura Wingfield | |
| Betty Buckley | The Old Friends | Gertrude Hayhurst Sylvester Ratliff | |
| Julia Coffey | London Wall | Miss Janus | |
| Diane Davis | The Model Apartment | Debby | |
| Jan Maxwell | The Castle | Skinner | |
| Sophie Okonedo | A Raisin in the Sun | Ruth Younger | |
| 2015 | |||
| Annaleigh Ashford | You Can't Take It with You | Essie Carmichael | |
| Beth Dixon | The City of Conversation | Jean Swift | |
| Julie Halston | You Can't Take It with You | Gay Wellington | |
| Paola Lรกzaro-Muรฑoz | To the Bone | Lupe | |
| Lydia Leonard | Wolf Hall Parts One & Two | Anne Boleyn | |
| Julie White | Airline Highway | Tanya | |
| 2016 | |||
| Saycon Sengbloh | Eclipsed | Helena | |
| Brooke Bloom | Cloud 9 | Edward / Betty | |
| Megan Hilty | Noises Off | Brooke Ashton | |
| Kellie Overbey | Women Without Men | Miss Connor | |
| Jeanine Serralles | Gloria | Gloria | |
| 2017 | |||
| Cynthia Nixon | The Little Foxes | Birdie Hubbard | |
| Jayne Houdyshell | A Doll's House, Part 2 | Anne-Marie | |
| Randy Graff | The Babylon Line | Frieda Cohen | |
| Marie Mullen | The Beauty Queen of Leenane | Mag Folan | |
| Emily Skinner | Picnic | Rosemary | |
| Kate Walsh | If I Forget | Holly | |
| 2018 | |||
| Jamie Brewer | Amy and the Orphans | Amy | |
| Jocelyn Bioh | In the Blood | The Welfare Lady | |
| Barbara Marten | People, Places and Things | Doctor and Mum | |
| Deirdre O'Connell | Fulfillment Center | Suzan | |
| Constance Shulman | Bobbie Clearly | Darla London | |
| 2019 | |||
| Celia Keenan-Bolger | To Kill a Mockingbird | Scout Finch | |
| Harriett D. Foy | The House That Will Not Stand | Makeda | |
| Megan Hill | Eddie and Dave | Dave | |
| Ruth Wilson | King Lear | Cordelia / Fool | |
| Alison Wright | Othello | Emilia | |
| 2020 | |||
| Lois Smith | The Inheritance | Margaret | |
| Patrice Johnson Chevannes | runboyrun & In Old Age | Abasiama Ufot | |
| Kristina Poe | Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven | Betty Woods | |
| Belange Rodrรญguez | The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao | Ybรณn | |
| Elizabeth Rodriguez | Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven | Miss Rivera | |
| 2021 | No awards: New York theatres shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | ||
| 2022 | |||
| Francis Benhamou | Prayer for the French Republic | Elodie | |
| Stephanie Berry | On Sugarland | Evelyn | |
| Sonnie Brown | what you are now | Chantrea | |
| Page Leong | Out of Time | Woman | |
| Kenita R. Miller | for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf | Lady in Red | |
| Kara Young | Clyde's | Letitia | |
Distinguished Performers
Multiple Accolades
Several actresses have been honored with this award more than once, demonstrating sustained excellence in their craft. The following performers have received two wins:
- Christine Baranski
- Viola Davis
- Judith Ivey
- Judith Light
- Celia Keenan-Bolger
Notable Insights
Shared Recognition
A unique instance of shared recognition occurred when both Mary Alice and Viola Davis received the award for portraying the same character, Rose Maxson, in the play Fences. This highlights the profound impact and varied interpretations of a singular role.
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Important Notice
This content has been generated by an Artificial Intelligence and is intended for informational and educational purposes only. The information presented is derived from publicly available data, primarily Wikipedia, and may not represent the most current or exhaustive details. While efforts have been made to ensure accuracy and adherence to the source material, the AI cannot guarantee the absolute completeness or timeliness of the information.
This is not professional advice. The information provided on this website is not a substitute for professional consultation regarding theatre, acting, awards, or any related field. Readers are advised to consult official sources and qualified professionals for specific inquiries or guidance. The creators of this page assume no liability for any errors, omissions, or actions taken based on the information herein.