# Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play

The Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play has been given since 1960. Before 1960 there was only one award for both play direction and musical direction, then in 1960 the award was split into two categories: Dramatic and Musical. In 1976 the Dramatic category was renamed to Play. For pre-1960 direction awards please reference Tony Award for Best Director.

## Winners and nominees
### 1960s

| Year | Production | Director |
| 1960 (14th) |
| 1960 (14th) | The Miracle Worker | Arthur Penn |
| 1960 (14th) | The Best Man | Joseph Anthony |
| 1960 (14th) | A Raisin in the Sun | Lloyd Richards |
| 1960 (14th) | Sweet Bird of Youth | Elia Kazan |
| 1960 (14th) | The Tenth Man | Tyrone Guthrie |
| 1961 (15th) |
| 1961 (15th) | Big Fish, Little Fish | John Gielgud |
| 1961 (15th) | All the Way Home | Arthur Penn |
| 1961 (15th) | The Hostage | Joan Littlewood |
| 1961 (15th) | Rhinoceros | Joseph Anthony |
| 1962 (16th) |
| 1962 (16th) | A Man for All Seasons | Noel Willman |
| 1962 (16th) | The Caretaker | Donald McWhinnie |
| 1962 (16th) | Gideon | Tyrone Guthrie |
| 1962 (16th) | Great Day in the Morning | José Quintero |
| 1963 (17th) |
| 1963 (17th) | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Alan Schneider |
| 1963 (17th) | Never Too Late | George Abbott |
| 1963 (17th) | The School for Scandal | John Gielgud |
| 1963 (17th) | Tchin-Tchin | Peter Glenville |
| 1964 (18th) |
| 1964 (18th) | Barefoot in the Park | Mike Nichols |
| 1964 (18th) | The Ballad of the Sad Café | Alan Schneider |
| 1964 (18th) | The Deputy | Herman Shumlin |
| 1964 (18th) | Marathon '33 | June Havoc |
| 1965 (19th) |
| 1965 (19th) | Luv | Mike Nichols |
| 1965 (19th) | The Odd Couple | Mike Nichols |
| 1965 (19th) | The Subject Was Roses | Ulu Grosbard |
| 1965 (19th) | Tartuffe | William Ball |
| 1965 (19th) | Tiny Alice | Alan Schneider |
| 1966 (20th) |
| 1966 (20th) | Marat/Sade | Peter Brook |
| 1966 (20th) | The Lion in Winter | Noel Willman |
| 1966 (20th) | Philadelphia, Here I Come! | Hilton Edwards |
| 1966 (20th) | You Can't Take It with You | Ellis Rabb |
| 1967 (21st) |
| 1967 (21st) | The Homecoming | Peter Hall |
| 1967 (21st) | Black Comedy | John Dexter |
| 1967 (21st) | A Delicate Balance | Alan Schneider |
| 1967 (21st) | Marat/Sade | Donald Driver |
| 1968 (22nd) |
| 1968 (22nd) | Plaza Suite | Mike Nichols |
| 1968 (22nd) | A Day in the Death of Joe Egg | Michael Blakemore |
| 1968 (22nd) | Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead | Derek Goldby |
| 1968 (22nd) | You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running | Alan Schneider |
| 1969 (23rd) |
| 1969 (23rd) | Hadrian VII | Peter Dews |
| 1969 (23rd) | Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? | Michael A. Schultz |
| 1969 (23rd) | The Man in the Glass Booth | Harold Pinter |
| 1969 (23rd) | Play It Again, Sam | Joseph Hardy |

### 1970s

| Year | Production | Director |
| 1970 (24th) |
| 1970 (24th) | Child's Play | Joseph Hardy |
| 1970 (24th) | Borstal Boy | Tómas Mac Anna |
| 1970 (24th) | Butterflies Are Free | Milton Katselas |
| 1970 (24th) | Last of the Red Hot Lovers | Robert Moore |
| 1971 (25th) |
| 1971 (25th) | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Peter Brook |
| 1971 (25th) | Home | Lindsay Anderson |
| 1971 (25th) | The School for Wives | Stephen Porter |
| 1971 (25th) | Sleuth | Clifford Williams |
| 1972 (26th) |
| 1972 (26th) | The Prisoner of Second Avenue | Mike Nichols |
| 1972 (26th) | Old Times | Peter Hall |
| 1972 (26th) | Sticks and Bones | Jeff Bleckner |
| 1972 (26th) | The Trial of the Catsville Nine | Gordon Davidson |
| 1973 (27th) |
| 1973 (27th) | That Championship Season | A. J. Antoon |
| 1973 (27th) | The Changing Room | Michael Rudman |
| 1973 (27th) | Much Ado About Nothing | A. J. Antoon |
| 1973 (27th) | The Sunshine Boys | Alan Arkin |
| 1974 (28th) |
| 1974 (28th) | A Moon for the Misbegotten | José Quintero |
| 1974 (28th) | Chemin de Fer | Stephen Porter |
| 1974 (28th) | Find Your Way Home | Edwin Sherin |
| 1974 (28th) | Ulysses in Nighttown | Burgess Meredith |
| 1974 (28th) | Uncle Vanya | Mike Nichols |
| 1975 (29th) |
| 1975 (29th) | Equus | John Dexter |
| 1975 (29th) | London Assurance | Ronald Eyre |
| 1975 (29th) | The National Health | Arvin Brown |
| 1975 (29th) | Same Time, Next Year | Gene Saks |
| 1975 (29th) | Scapino | Frank Dunlop |
| 1975 (29th) | Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island | Athol Fugard |
| 1976 (30th) |
| 1976 (30th) | The Royal Family | Ellis Rabb |
| 1976 (30th) | Ah, Wilderness! | Arvin Brown |
| 1976 (30th) | Knock Knock | Marshall W. Mason |
| 1976 (30th) | Travesties | Peter Wood |
| 1977 (31st) |
| 1977 (31st) | The Shadow Box | Gordon Davidson |
| 1977 (31st) | American Buffalo | Ulu Grosbard |
| 1977 (31st) | Comedians | Mike Nichols |
| 1977 (31st) | Streamers | Mike Nichols |
| 1978 (32nd) |
| 1978 (32nd) | Da | Melvin Bernhardt |
| 1978 (32nd) | Deathtrap | Robert Moore |
| 1978 (32nd) | Dracula | Dennis Rosa |
| 1978 (32nd) | The Gin Game | Mike Nichols |
| 1979 (33rd) |
| 1979 (33rd) | The Elephant Man | Jack Hofsiss |
| 1979 (33rd) | Bedroom Farce | Alan Ayckbourn and Peter Hall |
| 1979 (33rd) | The Crucifer of Blood | Paul Giovanni |
| 1979 (33rd) | Whose Life Is It Anyway? | Michael Lindsay-Hogg |

### 1980s

| Year | Production | Director |
| 1980 (34th) |
| 1980 (34th) | Morning's at Seven | Vivian Matalon |
| 1980 (34th) | Betrayal | Peter Hall |
| 1980 (34th) | Children of a Lesser God | Gordon Davidson |
| 1980 (34th) | Talley's Folly | Marshall W. Mason |
| 1981 (35th) |
| 1981 (35th) | Amadeus | Peter Hall |
| 1981 (35th) | Fifth of July | Marshall W. Mason |
| 1981 (35th) | A Life | Peter Coe |
| 1981 (35th) | The Little Foxes | Austin Pendleton |
| 1982 (36th) |
| 1982 (36th) | The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby | John Caird and Trevor Nunn |
| 1982 (36th) | Crimes of the Heart | Melvin Bernhardt |
| 1982 (36th) | Mass Appeal | Geraldine Fitzgerald |
| 1982 (36th) | "Master Harold"...and the Boys | Athol Fugard |
| 1983 (37th) |
| 1983 (37th) | Brighton Beach Memoirs | Gene Saks |
| 1983 (37th) | All's Well That Ends Well | Trevor Nunn |
| 1983 (37th) | Angels Fall | Marshall W. Mason |
| 1983 (37th) | 'Night, Mother | Tom Moore |
| 1984 (38th) |
| 1984 (38th) | The Real Thing | Mike Nichols |
| 1984 (38th) | Glengarry Glen Ross | Gregory Mosher |
| 1984 (38th) | A Moon for the Misbegotten | David Leveaux |
| 1984 (38th) | Noises Off | Michael Blakemore |
| 1985 (39th) |
| 1985 (39th) | Biloxi Blues | Gene Saks |
| 1985 (39th) | As Is | Marshall W. Mason |
| 1985 (39th) | Much Ado About Nothing | Terry Hands |
| 1985 (39th) | Strange Interlude | Keith Hack |
| 1986 (40th) |
| 1986 (40th) | The House of Blue Leaves | Jerry Zaks |
| 1986 (40th) | The Iceman Cometh | José Quintero |
| 1986 (40th) | Long Day's Journey Into Night | Jonathan Miller |
| 1986 (40th) | Loot | John Tillinger |
| 1987 (41st) |
| 1987 (41st) | Fences | Lloyd Richards |
| 1987 (41st) | Asinamali! | Mbongeni Ngema |
| 1987 (41st) | Coastal Disturbances | Carole Rothman |
| 1987 (41st) | Les Liaisons Dangereuses | Howard Davies |
| 1988 (42nd) |
| 1988 (42nd) | M. Butterfly | John Dexter |
| 1988 (42nd) | Breaking the Code | Clifford Williams |
| 1988 (42nd) | Joe Turner's Come and Gone | Lloyd Richards |
| 1988 (42nd) | Speed-the-Plow | Gregory Mosher |
| 1989 (43rd) |
| 1989 (43rd) | Lend Me a Tenor | Jerry Zaks |
| 1989 (43rd) | The Heidi Chronicles | Daniel J. Sullivan |
| 1989 (43rd) | Largely New York | Bill Irwin |
| 1989 (43rd) | Our Town | Gregory Mosher |

### 1990s

| Year | Production | Director |
| 1990 (44th) |
| 1990 (44th) | The Grapes of Wrath | Frank Galati |
| 1990 (44th) | Lettice and Lovage | Michael Blakemore |
| 1990 (44th) | The Merchant of Venice | Peter Hall |
| 1990 (44th) | The Piano Lesson | Lloyd Richards |
| 1991 (45th) |
| 1991 (45th) | Six Degrees of Separation | Jerry Zaks |
| 1991 (45th) | La Bête | Richard Jones |
| 1991 (45th) | Lost in Yonkers | Gene Saks |
| 1991 (45th) | Our Country's Good | Mark Lamos |
| 1992 (46th) |
| 1992 (46th) | Dancing at Lughnasa | Patrick Mason |
| 1992 (46th) | Conversations with My Father | Daniel J. Sullivan |
| 1992 (46th) | Four Baboons Adoring the Sun | Peter Hall |
| 1992 (46th) | Two Shakespearean Actors | Jack O'Brien |
| 1993 (47th) |
| 1993 (47th) | Angels in America: Millennium Approaches | George C. Wolfe |
| 1993 (47th) | Anna Christie | David Leveaux |
| 1993 (47th) | The Sisters Rosensweig | Daniel J. Sullivan |
| 1993 (47th) | The Song of Jacob Zulu | Eric Simonson |
| 1994 (48th) |
| 1994 (48th) | An Inspector Calls | Stephen Daldry |
| 1994 (48th) | Abe Lincoln in Illinois | Gerald Gutierrez |
| 1994 (48th) | Angels in America: Perestroika | George C. Wolfe |
| 1994 (48th) | Timon of Athens | Michael Langham |
| 1995 (49th) |
| 1995 (49th) | The Heiress | Gerald Gutierrez |
| 1995 (49th) | Having Our Say | Emily Mann |
| 1995 (49th) | Indiscretions | Sean Mathias |
| 1995 (49th) | Love! Valour! Compassion! | Joe Mantello |
| 1996 (50th) |
| 1996 (50th) | A Delicate Balance | Gerald Gutierrez |
| 1996 (50th) | Buried Child | Gary Sinise |
| 1996 (50th) | An Ideal Husband | Peter Hall |
| 1996 (50th) | Seven Guitars | Lloyd Richards |
| 1997 (51st) |
| 1997 (51st) | A Doll's House | Anthony Page |
| 1997 (51st) | The Gin Game | Charles Nelson Reilly |
| 1997 (51st) | Skylight | Richard Eyre |
| 1997 (51st) | Stanley | John Caird |
| 1998 (52nd) |
| 1998 (52nd) | The Beauty Queen of Leenane | Garry Hynes |
| 1998 (52nd) | 'Art' | Matthew Warchus |
| 1998 (52nd) | The Chairs | Simon McBurney |
| 1998 (52nd) | A View from the Bridge | Michael Mayer |
| 1999 (53rd) |
| 1999 (53rd) | Death of a Salesman | Robert Falls |
| 1999 (53rd) | The Iceman Cometh | Howard Davies |
| 1999 (53rd) | The Lonesome West | Garry Hynes |
| 1999 (53rd) | Not About Nightingales | Trevor Nunn |

### 2000s

| Year | Production | Director |
| 2000 (54th) |
| 2000 (54th) | Copenhagen | Michael Blakemore |
| 2000 (54th) | Dirty Blonde | James Lapine |
| 2000 (54th) | The Real Thing | David Leveaux |
| 2000 (54th) | True West | Matthew Warchus |
| 2001 (55th) |
| 2001 (55th) | Proof | Daniel J. Sullivan |
| 2001 (55th) | The Invention of Love | Jack O'Brien |
| 2001 (55th) | King Hedley II | Marion McClinton |
| 2001 (55th) | Stones in His Pockets | Ian McElhinney |
| 2002 (56th) |
| 2002 (56th) | Metamorphoses | Mary Zimmerman |
| 2002 (56th) | The Crucible | Richard Eyre |
| 2002 (56th) | Morning's at Seven | Daniel J. Sullivan |
| 2002 (56th) | Private Lives | Howard Davies |
| 2003 (57th) |
| 2003 (57th) | Take Me Out | Joe Mantello |
| 2003 (57th) | A Day in the Death of Joe Egg | Laurence Boswell |
| 2003 (57th) | Long Day's Journey Into Night | Robert Falls |
| 2003 (57th) | Medea | Deborah Warner |
| 2004 (58th) |
| 2004 (58th) | Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2 | Jack O'Brien |
| 2004 (58th) | Frozen | Doug Hughes |
| 2004 (58th) | I Am My Own Wife | Moises Kaufman |
| 2004 (58th) | Jumpers | David Leveaux |
| 2005 (59th) |
| 2005 (59th) | Doubt | Doug Hughes |
| 2005 (59th) | Glengarry Glen Ross | Joe Mantello |
| 2005 (59th) | The Pillowman | John Crowley |
| 2005 (59th) | Twelve Angry Men | Scott Ellis |
| 2006 (60th) |
| 2006 (60th) | The History Boys | Nicholas Hytner |
| 2006 (60th) | Awake and Sing! | Bartlett Sher |
| 2006 (60th) | The Lieutenant of Inishmore | Wilson Milam |
| 2006 (60th) | Rabbit Hole | Daniel J. Sullivan |
| 2007 (61st) |
| 2007 (61st) | The Coast of Utopia | Jack O'Brien |
| 2007 (61st) | Coram Boy | Melly Still |
| 2007 (61st) | Frost/Nixon | Michael Grandage |
| 2007 (61st) | Journey's End | David Grindley |
| 2008 (62nd) |
| 2008 (62nd) | August: Osage County | Anna D. Shapiro |
| 2008 (62nd) | Boeing Boeing | Matthew Warchus |
| 2008 (62nd) | The Seafarer | Conor McPherson |
| 2008 (62nd) | The 39 Steps | Maria Aitken |
| 2009 (63rd) |
| 2009 (63rd) | God of Carnage | Matthew Warchus |
| 2009 (63rd) | Joe Turner's Come and Gone | Bartlett Sher |
| 2009 (63rd) | Mary Stuart | Phyllida Lloyd |
| 2009 (63rd) | The Norman Conquests | Matthew Warchus |

### 2010s

| Year | Production | Director |
| 2010 (64th) |
| 2010 (64th) | Red | Michael Grandage |
| 2010 (64th) | Fences | Kenny Leon |
| 2010 (64th) | Next Fall | Sheryl Kaller |
| 2010 (64th) | A View from the Bridge | Gregory Mosher |
| 2011 (65th) |
| 2011 (65th) | War Horse | Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris |
| 2011 (65th) | The Merchant of Venice | Daniel J. Sullivan |
| 2011 (65th) | The Motherfucker with the Hat | Anna D. Shapiro |
| 2011 (65th) | The Normal Heart | Joel Grey and George C. Wolfe |
| 2012 (66th) |
| 2012 (66th) | Death of a Salesman | Mike Nichols |
| 2012 (66th) | Clybourne Park | Pam MacKinnon |
| 2012 (66th) | One Man, Two Guvnors | Nicholas Hytner |
| 2012 (66th) | Peter and the Starcatcher | Roger Rees and Alex Timbers |
| 2013 (67th) |
| 2013 (67th) | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Pam MacKinnon |
| 2013 (67th) | Golden Boy | Bartlett Sher |
| 2013 (67th) | Lucky Guy | George C. Wolfe |
| 2013 (67th) | Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike | Nicholas Martin |
| 2014 (68th) |
| 2014 (68th) | A Raisin in the Sun | Kenny Leon |
| 2014 (68th) | The Cripple of Inishmaan | Michael Grandage |
| 2014 (68th) | The Glass Menagerie | John Tiffany |
| 2014 (68th) | Twelfth Night | Tim Carroll |
| 2015 (69th) |
| 2015 (69th) | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | Marianne Elliott |
| 2015 (69th) | Hand to God | Moritz von Stuelpnagel |
| 2015 (69th) | Skylight | Stephen Daldry |
| 2015 (69th) | Wolf Hall Parts One & Two | Jeremy Herrin |
| 2015 (69th) | You Can't Take It with You | Scott Ellis |
| 2016 (70th) |
| 2016 (70th) | A View from the Bridge | Ivo van Hove |
| 2016 (70th) | Eclipsed | Liesl Tommy |
| 2016 (70th) | The Humans | Joe Mantello |
| 2016 (70th) | King Charles III | Rupert Goold |
| 2016 (70th) | Long Day's Journey into Night | Jonathan Kent |
| 2017 (71st) |
| 2017 (71st) | Indecent | Rebecca Taichman |
| 2017 (71st) | A Doll's House, Part 2 | Sam Gold |
| 2017 (71st) | Jitney | Ruben Santiago-Hudson |
| 2017 (71st) | The Little Foxes | Daniel J. Sullivan |
| 2017 (71st) | Oslo | Bartlett Sher |
| 2018 (72nd) |
| 2018 (72nd) | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child | John Tiffany |
| 2018 (72nd) | Angels in America | Marianne Elliott |
| 2018 (72nd) | The Iceman Cometh | George C. Wolfe |
| 2018 (72nd) | Three Tall Women | Joe Mantello |
| 2018 (72nd) | Travesties | Patrick Marber |
| 2019 (73rd) |
| 2019 (73rd) | The Ferryman | Sam Mendes |
| 2019 (73rd) | Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus | George C. Wolfe |
| 2019 (73rd) | Ink | Rupert Goold |
| 2019 (73rd) | Network | Ivo van Hove |
| 2019 (73rd) | To Kill a Mockingbird | Bartlett Sher |

### 2020s

| Year | Production | Director |
| 2020 (74th) |
| 2020 (74th) | The Inheritance | Stephen Daldry |
| 2020 (74th) | Betrayal | Jamie Lloyd |
| 2020 (74th) | Slave Play | Robert O'Hara |
| 2020 (74th) | A Soldier's Play | Kenny Leon |
| 2020 (74th) | The Sound Inside | David Cromer |
| 2022 (75th) |
| 2022 (75th) | The Lehman Trilogy | Sam Mendes |
| 2022 (75th) | American Buffalo | Neil Pepe |
| 2022 (75th) | Dana H. | Les Waters |
| 2022 (75th) | for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf | Camille A. Brown |
| 2022 (75th) | The Skin of Our Teeth | Lileana Blain-Cruz |
| 2023 (76th) |
| 2023 (76th) | Leopoldstadt | Patrick Marber |
| 2023 (76th) | Ain't No Mo' | Stevie Walker-Webb |
| 2023 (76th) | Cost of Living | Jo Bonney |
| 2023 (76th) | A Doll's House | Jamie Lloyd |
| 2023 (76th) | Fat Ham | Saheem Ali |
| 2023 (76th) | Life of Pi | Max Webster |
| 2024 (77th) |
| 2024 (77th) | Stereophonic | Daniel Aukin |
| 2024 (77th) | Appropriate | Lila Neugebauer |
| 2024 (77th) | Jaja's African Hair Braiding | Whitney White |
| 2024 (77th) | Mary Jane | Anne Kauffman |
| 2024 (77th) | Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp through the Cotton Patch | Kenny Leon |

## Female winners

Only 6 women have won this award:
* Garry Hynes – The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1998)
* Mary Zimmerman – Metamorphoses (2002)
* Anna D. Shapiro – August: Osage County (2008)
* Pam MacKinnon – Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? revival (2013)
* Marianne Elliott – War Horse (2011) (shared with Tom Morris) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2015), making her the only woman to win this award more than once
* Rebecca Taichman – Indecent (2017)