| Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Outstanding Director of a Play |
| Location | New York City |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Drama Desk |
| First awarded | 1975 |
| Currently held by | Max Webster for Life of Pi (2023) |
| Website | dramadesk.org (defunct) |
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play 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. The awards were established in 1955, with the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director being presented each year to a director from any play or musical production. Starting in 1975, the singular director's award was replaced by separate play and musical categories.
| Year | Director | Production |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | ||
| John Dexter | Equus | |
| Frank Dunlop | Sherlock Holmes | |
| Athol Fugard | Sizwe Banzi Is Dead | |
| The Island | ||
| Peter H. Hunt | Goodtime Charlie | |
| Ron Link | Women Behind Bars | |
| Gene Saks | Same Time, Next Year | |
| 1976 | ||
| Ellis Rabb | The Royal Family | |
| Edward Albee | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | |
| Arvin Brown | Dual Bill | |
| Mike Nichols | Streamers | |
| Stephen Porter | They Knew What They Wanted | |
| Tom Signorelli | Lamppost Reunion | |
| 1977 | ||
| Mike Nichols | Comedians | |
| Alan Schneider | A Texas Trilogy | |
| Frank Dunlop | The New York Idea | |
| Tony Giordano | G.R. Point | |
| Ulu Grosbard | American Buffalo | |
| Oz Scott | For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf | |
| 1978 | ||
| Melvin Bernhardt | Da | |
| Peter Bennett | Dracula | |
| Joseph Chaikin | The Dybbuk | |
| Mike Nichols | The Gin Game | |
| Steven Robman | Uncommon Women | |
| Garland Wright | K | |
| 1979 | ||
| Jack Hofsiss | The Elephant Man | |
| Alan Ayckbourn | Bedroom Farce | |
| John Madden | Wings | |
| Stephen Porter | Man and Superman | |
| Horacena J. Taylor | Nevis Mt. Dew | |
| Ted Weiant | The Miracle Worker |
| Year | Director | Production |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | ||
| Stephen Daldry | The Inheritance | |
| Jessica Blank | Coal Country | |
| John Ortiz | Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven | |
| Tina Satter | Is This A Room | |
| Erica Schmidt | Mac Beth | |
| 2021 | No awards: New York theatres shuttered, March 2020 to September 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City[1] | |
| 2022 | ||
| Rebecca Frecknall | Sanctuary City | |
| Knud Adams | English | |
| Saheem Ali | Merry Wives | |
| Taibi Magar | Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 | |
| Whitney White | On Sugarland | |
| 2023 | ||
| Max Webster | Life of Pi | |
| Zi Alikhan | On That Day in Amsterdam | |
| Shayok Misha Chowdhury | Public Obscenities | |
| Miranda Cromwell | Death of a Salesman | |
| Adam Meggido | Peter Pan Goes Wrong | |
| Alexander Zeldin | Love | |