The Helen Hayes Awards are given to resident theatre productions in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. They include awards for the production itself, the direction, the acting, design and the stage plays themselves.

The awards were named after Helen Hayes, known as the First Lady of the American Theatre, who was born in Washington, DC.^[1]

The Helen Hayes Awards are traditionally given every spring. The 2023 edition will take place on May 22, 2023 at The Anthem.^[2]

Production

Best Resident Production

• 1985 Cloud 9 – Arena Stage
  • The Beautiful Lady – New Playwrights' Theatre
  • Lydie Breeze – New Playwrights' Theatre
  • Man and Superman – Arena Stage
  • My Sister in This House – The Studio Theatre

Outstanding Production of a Resident Play

• 1987 The Miser – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Christmas on Mars – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Romeo and Juliet – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Slab Boys – The Studio Theatre
  • The Birthday Party – The Studio Theatre
  • The Wild Duck – Arena Stage
  • Torch Song Trilogy – Castle Arts Center

Outstanding Resident Production

• 1988 The Crucible – Arena Stage
  • All the King's Men – Arena Stage
  • As Is – The Studio Theatre
  • Filthy Rich – Round House Theatre
  • Noises Off – Olney Theatre
  • Savage in Limbo – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
• 1989 Six Characters in Search of an Author – Arena Stage
  • Baby with the Bathwater – Round House Theatre
  • Eleemosynary – Horizons Theatre
  • Macbeth – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • The Cherry Orchard – Arena Stage
  • The Colored Museum – The Studio Theatre
• 1990 Heathen Valley – Round House Theatre
  • Bluesman – Source Theatre Company
  • The Day Room – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • The Dead Monkey – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • The Man Who Came to Dinner – Arena Stage
  • Twelfth Night – The Shakespeare Theatre
• 1991 Stand-Up Tragedy – Arena Stage
  • Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune – The Studio Theatre
  • Juno and the Paycock – Arena Stage
  • Richard III – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • The Caucasian Chalk Circle – Arena Stage
  • The Merry Wives of Windsor – The Shakespeare Theatre
• 1992 My Children! My Africa! – Arena Stage
  • Fat Men in Skirts – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Jar the Floor – Arena Stage
  • Psycho Beach Party – Source Theatre Company
  • She Stoops to Conquer – Arena Stage
  • When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout – The Studio Theatre

Outstanding Resident Play

• 1986 Execution of Justice – Arena Stage
  • Fool for Love – Round House Theatre
  • Tartuffe – Arena Stage
  • The Foreigner – Olney Theatre
  • The Good Person of Setzuan – Arena Stage
• 1993 Hamlet – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Elektra – Round House Theatre
  • Kvetch – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Life During Wartime – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • The Lisbon Traviata – The Studio Theatre
  • The School for Wives – Arena Stage
• 1994 Dancing at Lughnasa – Arena Stage
  • Free Will and Wanton Lust – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Mother Courage and Her Children – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Porcelain – Consenting Adults Theatre Company
  • Richard II – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love – Signature Theatre
• 1995 Dream of a Common Language – Theater of the First Amendment
  • Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Henry IV – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • The Price – Arena Stage
  • The Revengers' Comedies – Arena Stage
• 1996 The Pitchfork Disney – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Escape from Happiness – Round House Theatre
  • Henry V – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • I Am a Man – Arena Stage
  • Long Day's Journey Into Night – Arena Stage
  • The Three Sisters – The Studio Theatre
• 1997 Two Trains Running – The Studio Theatre
  • Arcadia – Arena Stage
  • Henry VI – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Quills – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Volpone – The Shakespeare Theatre
• 1998 Mourning Becomes Electra – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Never the Sinner – Rep Stage
  • Never the Sinner – Signature Theatre
  • Old Wicked Songs – The Studio Theatre
  • Romeo and Juliet – Folger Shakespeare Library
  • The Tempest – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Travels With My Aunt – Rep Stage
• 1999 Nijinsky's Last Dance – Signature Theatre
  • Much Ado About Nothing – Folger Shakespeare Library
  • Peer Gynt – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Seven Guitars – The Studio Theatre
  • The Old Settler – The Studio Theatre
  • You Can't Take It with You – Arena Stage
• 2000 Indian Ink – The Studio Theatre
  • Edmond – Source Theatre Company
  • How I Learned to Drive – Arena Stage
  • King John – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • The Dead Monkey – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
• 2001 The Glass Menagerie – Round House Theatre and Everyman Theatre
  • Collected Stories – Theater J
  • Heaven – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • MASTER HAROLD ... and the boys – The Studio Theatre
  • Romeo and Juliet – Folger Theatre
  • The Country Wife – The Shakespeare Theatre
• 2002 Home – Round House Theatre
  • Don Carlos – Shakespeare Theatre
  • Jitney – Studio Theatre
  • Major Barbara – Washington Stage Guild
  • The Andersonville Trial – American Century Theatre
  • The Invention of Love – Studio Theatre
• 2003 Hamlet – Synetic Theater
  • Born Guilty – Theater J
  • Host and Guest – Synetic Theater
  • She Stoops to Conquer – Folger Theatre
  • The Little Foxes – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • The Weir – Round House Theatre

Outstanding Production in a Resident Musical

• 1987 Quilters – Castle Arts Center
  • Beehive – Arena Stage
  • Hot Mikado – Ford's Theatre
  • Little Shop of Horrors – Olney Theatre

Outstanding Resident Musical

• 1986 March of the Falsettos – The Studio Theatre
  • A Chorus Line – Harlequin Dinner Theatre
  • Baby – Olney Theatre
  • Little Me – Ford's Theatre
• 1988 A ... My Name is Alice – Horizons Theatre
  • 42nd Street – Harlequin Dinner Theatre
  • A Dance Against Darkenss: Living With AIDS – D.C. Cabaret
• 1989 The Cocoanuts – Arena Stage
  • Elmer Gantry – Ford's Theatre
  • Sanctuary D.C. – No-Neck Monsters Theatre Company
  • Side by Side by Sondheim – Olney Theatre
  • The Gifts of the Magi – The Studio Theatre
• 1990 Lucky Stiff – Olney Theatre
  • Don't Let This Dream Go (A Musical Celebration of Mahalia Jackson) – Ford's Theatre
  • On the Town – Arena Stage
  • Pins and Needles – Washington Jewish Theatre
  • The Beggar's Opera – The Shakespeare Theatre
• 1991 The Rocky Horror Show – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Amahl and the Night Visitors – The Kennedy Center
  • Children with Stones – Source Theatre Company
  • Me and My Girl – Harlequin Dinner Theatre
  • Merrily We Roll Along – Arena Stage
• 1992 Sweeney Todd – Signature Theatre
  • A Wonderful Life – Arena Stage
  • Damn Yankees – Harlequin Dinner Theatre
  • Forever Plaid – Ford's Theatre
• 1993 Assassins – Signature Theatre
  • Closer Than Ever – The Rose Organization
  • Executive Leverage – Source Theatre Company
  • Falsettoland – The Studio Theatre
  • Of Thee I Sing – Arena Stage
• 1994 The Pirates of Penzance – Interact Theatre Company
  • Five Guys Named Moe – Ford's Theatre
  • Show Me Where the Good Times Are – Olney Theatre
• 1995 Into the Woods – Signature Theatre
  • God's Trombones – DC ART/WORKS (based on the poetry book of the same name)
  • Hot Mikado – Ford's Theatre
  • Iolanthe – Interact Theatre Company
  • Wings – Signature Theatre
• 1996 Bessie's Blues – The Studio Theatre
  • Black Nativity – The Kennedy Center
  • Cabaret – Signature Theatre
  • H.M.S. Pinafore – Interact Theatre Company
  • Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris – Olney Theatre Center for the Arts
• 1997 Passion – Signature Theatre
  • Candide – Arena Stage
  • Hip 2: Birth of the Boom – The Studio Theatre
  • The Mikado – Interact Theatre Company
  • The Rink – Signature Theatre
  • Torn From the Headlines – Everyday Theatre
  • Torn From the Headlines – The African Continuum Theatre Company
• 1998 Hair, The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical – The Studio Theatre Secondstage
  • Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Toby's Dinner Theatre
  • No Way to Treat a Lady – Signature Theatre
  • Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Purloined Patience or The Scandal at the D'Oyly Carte – Interact Theatre Company
  • Sunday in the Park with George – Arena Stage
  • Sunday in the Park with George – Signature Theatre
• 1999 Thunder Knocking on the Door – Arena Stage
  • A Little Night Music – Signature Theatre
  • Brothers of the Knight – The Kennedy Center
  • Marat/Sade – Washington Shakespeare Company
  • The Fix – Signature Theatre in association with Cameron Mackintosh
• 2000 Animal Crackers – Arena Stage
  • Grimm Tales – Theater of the First Amendment
  • Guys and Dolls – Arena Stage
  • Slam! – The Studio Theatre
  • Sweeney Todd – Signature Theatre
  • The Cradle Will Rock – The American Century Theater
• 2001 Side Show – Signature Theatre
  • Dinah Was – Arena Stage
  • Play On! – Arena Stage
  • Sing Down the Moon: Appalachian Wonder Tales – Theater of the First Amendment
  • The Rhythm Club – Signature Theatre
  • You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown – Round House Theatre
• 2002 Blues in the Night – Arena Stage
  • A New Brain – Studio Theatre
  • Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Toby's Dinner Theatre
  • Perseus Bayou – Theatre of the First Amendment
  • Putting it Together – Signature Theatre
  • Spunk – African Continuum Theatre Company
• 2003 Sweeney Todd – The Kennedy Center
  • Jekyll & Hyde The Musical – Toby's Dinner Theatre
  • Polk County – Arena Stage
  • South Pacific – Arena Stage
  • Sunday in the Park with George – The Kennedy Center
  • The Gospel According to Fishman – Signature Theatre

Direction

Outstanding Director of a Resident Production

• 1985 Gary Pearle – Cloud 9 – Arena Stage
  • Dorothy Neumann – Top Girls – Horizons Theatre
  • Douglas C. Wager – Man and Superman – Arena Stage
  • Elinor Renfield – Passion Play – Arena Stage
  • Elizabeth Swados – The Beautiful Lady – New Playwrights' Theatre
  • Joy Zinoman – My Sister in This House – The Studio Theatre
• 1986 Douglas C. Wager – Execution of Justice – Arena Stage
  • Garland Wright – The Good Person of Setzuan – Arena Stage
  • Leslie Bravman Jacobson – Miss Lulu Bett – Horizons Theatre
  • Lucian Pintilie – Tartuffe – Arena Stage
  • Peter Sellars – The Count of Monte Cristo – American National Theatre
  • Susann Brinkley – Fool for Love – Round House Theatre
• 1987 John Going – The Miser – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Dorothy Neumann – Johnny Bull – Horizons Theatre
  • Douglas C. Wager – The Taming of the Shrew – Arena Stage
  • Gillian Drake – The Water Engine – Round House Theatre
  • Joy Zinoman – Slab Boys – The Studio Theatre
  • Lucian Pintilie – The Wild Duck – Arena Stage
  • Michael Kahn – Romeo and Juliet – The Shakespeare Theatre
• 1988 Zelda Fichandler – The Crucible – Arena Stage
  • Douglas C. Wager – All the King's Men – Arena Stage
  • James C. Nicola – Filthy Rich – Round House Theatre
  • John Going – Noises Off – Olney Theatre
  • Leslie Bravman Jacobson – A ... My Name is Alice – Horizons Theatre
  • Michael Kahn – All's Well That Ends Well – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Yuri Lyubimov – Crime and Punishment – Arena Stage
• 1989 Liviu Ciulei – Six Characters in Search of an Author – Arena Stage
  • Douglas C. Wager – The Cocoanuts – Arena Stage
  • Joe Banno – Tartuffe – Source Theatre Company
  • Kim Rubinstein – Baby with the Bathwater – Round House Theatre
  • Leslie Bravman Jacobson – Eleemosynary – Horizons Theatre
  • Michael Kahn – Macbeth – The Shakespeare Theatre
• 1990 Michael Kahn – Twelfth Night – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Douglas C. Wager – On the Town – Arena Stage
  • Douglas C. Wager – The Man who Came to Dinner – Arena Stage
  • Edward Morgan – Heathen Valley – Round House Theatre
  • Howard Shalwitz – The Dead Monkey – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • John Going – Lucky Stiff – Olney Theatre
• 1991 Max Mayer – Stand-Up Tragedy – Arena Stage
  • Joe Dowling – Juno and the Paycock – Arena Stage
  • Joy Zinoman – Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune – The Studio Theatre
  • Michael Kahn – Richard III – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Michael Kahn – The Merry Wives of Windsor – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Tazewell Thompson – Fences – Arena Stage
• 1992 Eric D. Schaeffer – Sweeney Todd – Signature Theatre
  • Jim Stone – Julius Caesar – Washington Shakespeare Company
  • Joe Dowling – She Stoops to Conquer – Arena Stage
  • Joy Zinoman – When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout – The Studio Theatre
  • Max Mayer – My Children! My Africa! – Arena Stage
  • Stuart Ross – Forever Plaid – Ford's Theatre
  • Tazewell Thompson – Jar the Floor – Arena Stage
• 1994 Michael Kahn – Mother Courage and Her Children – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Catherine Flye – The Pirates of Penzance – Interact Theatre Company
  • Dorothy Neumann – Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love – Signature Theatre
  • Eric D. Schaeffer – Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love – Signature Theatre
  • Kyle Donnelly – Dancing at Lughnasa – Arena Stage
  • Ron Himes – Spunk – The Studio Theatre
  • Van Riley – Porcelain – Consenting Adults Theatre Company

Outstanding Director of a Resident Play

• 1993 Michael Kahn – Hamlet – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Bill Alexander – Troilus and Cressida – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Howard Shalwitz – Kvetch – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • John Going – The Lisbon Traviata – The Studio Theatre
  • Kyle Donnelly – The School for Wives – Arena Stage
  • Lee Mikeska Gardner – Life During Wartime – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
• 1995 Michael Kahn – Henry IV – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Douglas C. Wager – The Revengers' Comedies – Arena Stage
  • Heather McDonald – Dream of a Common Language – Theater of the First Amendment
  • Howard Shalwitz – Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Lee Mikeska Gardner – Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Nick Olcott – All in the Timing – Round House Theatre
• 1996 Douglas C. Wager – Long Day's Journey Into Night – Arena Stage
  • Daniel DeRaey – Escape from Happiness – Round House Theatre
  • Donald Douglass – I Am a Man – Arena Stage
  • Joy Zinoman – Three Sisters – The Studio Theatre
  • Michael Kahn – Henry V – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Rob Bundy – The Pitchfork Disney – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
• 1997 Michael Kahn – Henry VI – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Douglas C. Wager – Arcadia – Arena Stage
  • Howard Shalwitz – Quills – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • JoAnne Akalaitis – Dance of Death – Arena Stage
  • Joe Banno – Cymbeline – Washington Shakespeare Company
  • Thomas W. Jones II – Two Trains Running – The Studio Theatre
• 1998 Joe Banno – Romeo and Juliet – Folger Shakespeare Library
  • Ethan McSweeny – Never the Sinner – Rep Stage
  • Ethan McSweeny – Never the Sinner – Signature Theatre
  • Kasi Campbell – Travels With My Aunt – Rep Stage
  • Mark A. Rhea – Translations – The Keegan Theatre
  • Michael Kahn – Mourning Becomes Electra – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Serge Seiden – Old Wicked Songs – The Studio Theatre
• 1999 Joe Calarco – Nijinsky's Last Dance – Signature Theatre
  • Douglas C. Wager – You Can't Take It with You – Arena Stage
  • Michael Kahn – Peer Gynt – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Seret Scott – The Old Settler – The Studio Theatre
  • Thomas W. Jones II – Seven Guitars – The Studio Theatre
  • Zeljko Djukic – Quartet – Open Theatre/TUTA
• 2000 Joy Zinoman – Indian Ink – The Studio Theatre
  • Andrei Malaev-Babel – The Idiot – Stanislavsky Theater Studio
  • Hugo Medrano – La Dama Boba – GALA Hispanic Theatre
  • Joe Banno – Edmond – Source Theatre Company
  • Michael Kahn – King John – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Molly Smith – How I Learned to Drive – Arena Stage
  • Paata Tsikurishvili – The Idiot – Stanislavsky Theater Studio
• 2001 Donald Hicken – The Glass Menagerie – Round House Theatre and Everyman Theatre
  • Howard Shalwitz – Heaven – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Jim Petosa – Collected Stories – Theater J
  • Joe Calarco – Shakespeare's R & J – Folger Theatre
  • Kasi Campbell – The Lonesome West – Rep Stage
  • Michael Kahn – Timon of Athens – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • Thomas W. Jones II – MASTER HAROLD ... and the boys – The Studio Theatre
• 2002 Thomas Jones – Home – Round House Theatre
  • John MacDonald – Major Barbara – Washington Stage Guild
  • Joy Zinoman – Far East – Studio Theatre
  • Joy Zinoman – The Invention of Love – Studio Theatre
  • Michael Kahn – Don Carlos – Shakespeare Theatre
  • Molly Smith – Agamemnon and His Daughters – Arena Stage
• 2003 Paata Tsikurishvili – Hamlet – Synetic Theater
  • Doug Hughes – The Little Foxes – The Shakespeare Theatre
  • John Vreeke – Born Guilty – Theater J
  • Joy Zinoman – Prometheus – The Studio Theatre
  • Nick Olcott – The Weir – Round House Theatre
  • Paata Tsikurishvili – Host and Guest – Synetic Theater

Outstanding Director of a Resident Musical

• 1993 Eric D. Schaeffer – Assassins – Signature Theatre
  • Douglas C. Wager – Of Thee I Sing – Arena Stage
  • Joy Zinoman – Falsettoland – The Studio Theatre
  • Mary Hall Surface – Tintypes – Round House Theatre
  • Ron O'Leary – Closer Than Ever – The Rose Organization
• 1995 David H. Bell – Hot Mikado – Ford's Theatre
  • Catherine Flye – Iolanthe – Interact Theatre Company
  • Eric D. Schaeffer – Into the Woods – Signature Theatre
  • Eric D. Schaeffer – Wings – Signature Theatre
  • Mike Malone – God's Trombones – DC ART/WORKS
• 1996 James A. Petosa – Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris – Olney Theatre Center for the Arts
• Thomas W. Jones II – Bessie's Blues – The Studio Theatre
  • Catherine Flye – H.M.S. Pinafore – Interact Theatre Company
  • Eric D. Schaeffer – Cabaret – Signature Theatre
  • Mike Malone – Black Nativity – The Kennedy Center
• 1997 Eric D. Schaeffer – Passion – Signature Theatre
  • Catherine Flye – The Mikado – Interact Theatre Company
  • Douglas C. Wager – Candide – Arena Stage
  • Eric D. Schaeffer – The Rink – Signature Theatre
  • Marsha A. Jackson-Randolph – Hip 2: Birth of the Boom – The Studio Theatre
• 1998 Keith Alan Baker – Hair, The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical – The Studio Theatre Secondstage
  • Catherine Flye – Down at the Old Bull & Bush – Interact Theatre Company
  • Catherine Flye – Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Purloined Patience or The Scandal at the D'Oyly Carte – Interact Theatre Company
  • Eric D. Schaeffer – Sunday in the Park with George – Arena Stage
  • Eric D. Schaeffer – Sunday in the Park with George – Signature Theatre
  • Toby Orenstein – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Toby's Dinner Theatre
• 1999 Jesse Berger – Marat/Sade – Washington Shakespeare Company
  • Carole Lehan – Children of Eden – Toby's Dinner Theatre
  • Toby Orenstein – Children of Eden – Toby's Dinner Theatre
  • Catherine Flye – Great Expectations, the Musical – Interact Theatre Company
  • Eric D. Schaeffer – The Fix – Signature Theatre in association with Cameron Mackintosh
  • Keith Glover – Thunder Knocking on the Door – Arena Stage
• 2000 Douglas C. Wager – Animal Crackers – Arena Stage
  • Charles Randolph-Wright – Guys and Dolls – Arena Stage
  • Eric D. Schaeffer – Sweeney Todd – Signature Theatre
  • Jack Marshall – The Cradle Will Rock – The American Century Theater
  • Mary Hall Surface – Grimm Tales – Theater of the First Amendment
  • Thomas W. Jones II – Slam! – The Studio Theatre
• 2001 Joe Calarco – Side Show – Signature Theatre
  • David Petrarca – Dinah Was – Arena Stage
  • Eric Schaeffer – The Rhythm Club – Signature Theatre
  • Jerry Whiddon – You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown – Round House Theatre
  • Mary Hall Surface – Sing Down the Moon: Appalachian Wonder Tales – Theater of the First Amendment
  • Sheldon Epps – Play On! – Arena Stage
• 2002 Mary Hall Surface – Perseus Bayou – Theatre of the First Amendment
  • Catherine Flye – The Pirates of Penzance – Interact Theatre Company
  • Darryl V. Jones – Spunk – African Continuum Theatre Company
  • Eric D. Schaeffer – Putting it Together – Signature Theatre
  • Kenny Leon – Blues in the Night – Arena Stage
  • Toby Orenstein – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Toby's Dinner Theatre
• 2003 Christopher Ashley – Sweeney Todd – The Kennedy Center
• Toby Orenstein – Jekyll & Hyde The Musical – Toby's Dinner Theatre
  • Eric Schaeffer – Sunday in the Park with George – The Kennedy Center
  • Eric Schaeffer – The Gospel According to Fishman – Signature Theatre
  • Kyle Donnelly – Polk County – Arena Stage
  • Molly Smith – South Pacific – Arena Stage

Writing

Best New Play

• 1985 The Beautiful Lady – New Playwrights' Theatre
  • Burial Customs – New Playwrights' Theatre
  • The Shady Side – Source Theatre

Outstanding New Play

• 1986 Ralph Hunt – Metamorphosis – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Alex Finlayson – Ladies' Side – Source Theatre Company
  • Jr.,Paul J. Donnelly – After My Own Heart – New Playwrights' Theatre
  • Phoef Sutton – Thin Wall – New Playwrights' Theatre
• 1987 T J Edwards – New York Mets – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Julie Jensen – Stray Dogs – Arena Stage
• 1988 T J Edwards – National Defense – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Bari Biern, Fred Anzevino, Paula Burns, Roberta Gasbarre, Roy Barber – A Dance Against Darkeness: Living With AIDS – D.C. Cabaret
  • Ron Wood – Four Men from Annapolis – Touchstone Theatre Company
• 1989 Larry L. King – The Night Hank Williams Died – New Playwrights' Theatre
  • David Henry Hwang – M. Butterfly – The National Theatre
  • David Lemos – More Than Names – New Playwrights' Theatre
  • Heather McDonald – The Rivers and Ravines – Arena Stage
  • John Bishop – Elmer Gantry – Ford's Theatre

The Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play

• 1990 Deborah Pryor – Briar Patch – Arena Stage
  • Aaron Sorkin – A Few Good Men – The Kennedy Center
  • Bruce Clarke – Bluesman – Source Theatre Company
  • Nick Olcott – A Turn of the Screw – The Washington Stage Guild
  • Queen Esther Marrow – Don't Let This Dream Go (A Musical Celebration of Mahalia Jackson) – Ford's Theatre
  • Stephen Wade – On the Way Home – Arena Stage
• 1991 Oni Faida Lampley – Mixed Babies – The Washington Stage Guild
  • Cornerstone Theater Company – The Video Store Owner's Significant Other – American Playwrights Theatre
  • Barbara McConagha – Mother's Day – Source Theatre Company
  • Dale Stein – A Fresh of Breath Air – Smallbeer Theatre Company
  • Nick Mathwick – Waiting for Marge – Smallbeer Theatre Company
  • Roy Barber – Children With Stones – Source Theatre Company
  • Stuart Browne – Angel – No-Neck Monsters Theatre Company
• 1992 Cheryl L. West – Before It Hits Home – Arena Stage
  • Ari Roth – Born Guilty – Arena Stage
  • Chandler Burr – Exquisite – Consenting Adults Theatre Company
  • Christi Stewart-Brown – Do Not Use If Seal Is Broken – Consenting Adults Theatre Company
  • Nick Olcott – Aspern Papers – The Washington Stage Guild
  • Sherry Kramer – David's Redhaired Death – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Steve Carter – Spiele '36 or The Fourth Medal – Theater of the First Amendment
• 1993 Lucy Tom Lehrer – Those Sweet Caresses – Source Theatre Company
  • Christi Stewart-Brown – Morticians in Love – Consenting Adults Theatre Company
  • Christi Stewart-Brown – Three More Sisters – Consenting Adults Theatre Company
  • Drury L. Pifer – African Tourist – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Stanley Rutherford – Billy Nobody – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
• 1994 Nicky Silver – Free Will and Wanton Lust – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Aubrey Wertheim – Make Way for Dyklings – Consenting Adults Theatre Company
  • Aubrey Wertheim – Make Way for Dyklings – District of Columbia Arts Center
  • Drury L. Pifer – Strindberg in Hollywood – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Harry Kondoleon – Half Off – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Janusz Glowacki – Antigone in New York – Arena Stage
  • Karen L. B. Evans – My Girlish Days – MetroStage
• 1995 Chris White – Rhythms – Horizons Theatre
  • Diane Ney – Great Hunger – Consenting Adults Theatre Company
  • John Strand – Otabenga – Signature Theatre
  • Mustapha Matura – A Small World – Arena Stage
  • Nicky Silver – The Food Chain – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
• 1996 Amy Freed – The Psychic Life of Savages – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Charisma – A Night with Jackie "Moms" Mabley – American Theatre Project
  • Adam Long, Austin Tichenor, Reed Martin – The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged) – The Kennedy Center
  • Dianne McIntyre – I Could Stop on a Dime and Get Ten Cents Change – Theater of the First Amendment
  • Ernest Joselovitz – Catskills Tzimmis – Theater J
  • Susan Altman – Out of the Whirlwind – American Theatre Project
• 1997 Jennifer L. Nelson – Torn From the Headlines – Everyday Theatre
• Jennifer L. Nelson – Torn From the Headlines – The African Continuum Theatre Company
  • Allyson Currin – Amstel in Tel Aviv – Source Theatre Company
  • Barbara McConagha – The Obituary Bowl – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Didier Rousselet, Monica Neagoy, Susan Haedicke – The Man Who Laughs – Le Neon French-American Theatre Company
  • Ron O'Leary – They Never Said a Word – The Rose Organization
• 1998 Nick Olcott – Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Purloined Patience or The Scandal at the D'Oyly Carte – Interact Theatre Company
  • Carole Lehan, Jim Petosa – Look! We Have Come Through! – Olney Theatre Center for the Arts
  • Norman Allen – Melville Slept Here – Signature Theatre
  • Regina Porter – Tripping Through the Car House – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Sherry Kramer – Things That Break – Theater of the First Amendment
• 1999 John Strand – Lovers and Executioners – Arena Stage
  • Caleen Sinnette Jennings – Playing Juliet/Casting Othello – Folger Shakespeare Library
  • Caleen Sinnette Jennings – Playing Juliet/Casting Othello – Source Theatre Company
  • Christi Stewart-Brown – The Gene Pool – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Lisa Loomer – Expecting Isabel – Arena Stage
  • Norman Allen – Nijinsky's Last Dance – Signature Theatre
  • Norman Allen – Waiting In Tobolsk: the Children of the Last Tsar – Moonlight Theatre Company
• 2000 Karen Zacar as – The Sins of Sor Juana – Theater of the First Amendment
  • Caleen Sinnette Jennings – Inns & Outs – Source Theatre Company
  • Chris Stezin – Hoboken Station – Charter Theatre
  • Oni Faida Lampley – The Dark Kalamazoo – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Robert Alexander – The Last Orbit of Billy Mars – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • Sam Schwartz, Jr. – Courting Chris – The Church Street Theater
  • Sam Schwartz, Jr. – Courting Chris – The Theater Alliance
• 2001 Peter Coy – A House in the Country – Charter Theatre
  • Ari Roth – Life in Refusal – Theater J
  • Chad Beguelin, Matthew Sklar – The Rhythm Club – Signature Theatre
  • Charles Randolph-Wright – Blue – Arena Stage
  • David Lindsay-Abaire – Wonder of the World – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • David Maddox, Mary Hall Surface – Sing Down the Moon: Appalachian Wonder Tales – Theater of the First Amendment
• 2002 Norman Allen – In the Garden – Signature Theatre
  • David Maddox, Mary Hall Surface – Perseus Bayou – Theatre of the First Amendment
  • Martha King De Silva – Stretch Marks – Charter Theatre
  • Paul D'Andrea – Nathan the Wise – Theatre of the First Amendment
  • Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa – The Muckle Man – Source Theatre Company
• 2003 Ernie Joselovitz – Shakespeare, Moses, and Joe Papp – Round House Theatre
  • Allyson Currin – Church of the Open Mind – Charter Theatre
  • Craig Wright – Recent Tragic Events – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
  • John Strand – The Diaries – Signature Theatre
  • Joshua Ford – Miklat – Theater J
  • Paul Donnelly – The Taste of Fire – Charter Theatre

The Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Musical

• 2003 Dorothy Waring, Kathy Madison, Kyle Donnelly, Stephen Wade, Zora Neale Hurston – Polk County – Arena Stage
  • David Maddox, Mary Hall Surface – Mississippi Pinocchio – Theater of the First Amendment
  • Thomas W. Jones, II – Harlem Rose, A Love Song to Langston Hughes – MetroStage
  • Thomas W. Jones, II – Three Sistahs – MetroStage
  • Janet Pryce, William Hubbard – Three Sistahs – MetroStage
  • Michael Lazar, Richard Oberacker – The Gospel According to Fishman – Signature Theatre
  • Norman Allen – The Christmas Carol Rag – Signature Theatre