Finalists are never announced in advance, but some of the works that have been submitted for consideration are known. Among them are Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?; Richard Greenberg's drama about baseball and American culture, Take Me Out; the Billy Joel-Twyla Tharp balletic musical Movin' Out; and Stephen Adly Guirgus' Our Lady of 121st Street.
Edward Albee's The Goat debuted in the 2001-02 season, but opened too late on Broadway to be eligible for the 2002 Pulitzer. Albee is already the recipient of three Pulitzers, for A Delicate Balance, Seascape and Three Tall Women. A fourth trophy would place him in a tie with Eugene O'Neill for most wins..
Movin' Out is an unusual entry, as the Pulitzer Prize in Drama is intended to honor a work of American dramatic literature. Musicals have won in the past (Of Thee I Sing, Rent), but never a collection of extant pop songs not specifically written for the stage. The award is granted "for a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life." However, as per the Pulitzer's official website's wording, the award "goes to a playwright, but production of the play as well as script are taken into account." Accordingly, the show, which credits no bookwriter, comes as an unconventional candidate for the Pulitzer. Movin' Out's submission, concocted by Tharp, featured a transcribed plot description accompanied by the musical's lyrics and photographs depicting the dance.
Greenberg, meanwhile, supplied plenty of fresh verbiage for his play Take Me Out, which received a good share of positive notices for both its Off-Broadway and Broadway incarnations. Greenberg was previously a Pulitzer nominee for Three Days of Rain—prior to Take Me Out, his most applauded title.
Guirgis, if considered, would be a newcomer to the Pulitzer competition. The fiery Our Lady of 121st Street, produced by LAByrinth Theatre Company, is his biggest physical production to date, though he got a goodly share of praise for previous efforts like Jesus Hopped the `A' Train and In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings. Scuttlebutt in the theatre community points to a race between Take Me Out and The Goat.
Of course, it is possible no award will be given at all, as has happened occasionally in the past. The last time that occurred was in 1997.
Last year's winner was Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks.
All entries for this year's Pulitzer Prize for Drama were to be submitted by a March 1, 2003, deadline. Productions that opened between March 2, 2002, and March 1, 2003, are eligible. Entries require a completed entry form, photograph and biography of the playwright, dates and place of production and six copies of the play.
The Pulitzer Prize — named for American journalist and publisher Joseph Pulitzer — was established in 1917, a stipulation of Mr. Pulitzer's will. The first Pulitzer Prize in Drama was awarded in 1918 to Jesse Lynch Williams' Why Marry?. Other recent recipients include Proof, Dinner with Friends, Wit, How I Learned to Drive, Rent, The Young Man From Atlanta, Three Tall Women and Angels in America: Millennium Approaches.
The complete list of Pulitzer Prize in Drama winners is listed below:
2001-02: Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks
2000-01: Proof by David Auburn
1999-00: Dinner with Friends by Donald Margulies
1998-99: Wit by Margaret Edson
1997-98: How I Learned To Drive by Paula Vogel
1996-97: No award
1995-96: Rent by Jonathan Larson
1994-95: The Young Man From Atlanta by Horton Foote
1993 94: Three Tall Women by Edward Albee
1992-93: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, by Tony Kushner
1991-92: The Kentucky Cycle, by Robert Schenkkan
1990-91: Lost in Yonkers, by Neil Simon
1989-90: The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson
1988-89: The Heidi Chronicles, by Wendy Wasserstein
1987-88: Driving Miss Daisy, by Alfred Uhry
1986-87: Fences, by August Wilson
1985-86: No award
1984-85: Sunday in the Park With George, by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim
1983-84: Glengarry Glen Ross, by David Mamet
1982-83: 'night, Mother, by Marsha Norman
1981 82: A Soldier's Play, by Charles Fuller
1980-81: Crimes of the Heart, by Beth Henley
1979-80: Talley's Folly, by Lanford Wilson
1978-79: Buried Child, by Sam Shepard
1977-78: The Gin Game, by D.L. Coburn
1976-77: The Shadow Box, by Michael Cristofer
1975-76: A Chorus Line, by Michael Bennett, James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante, Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban
1974-75: Seascape, by Edward Albee
1973 74: No award
1972-73: That Championship Season, by Jason Miller
1971-72: No award
1970-71: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, by Paul Zindel
1969-70: No Place To Be Somebody, by Charles Gordone
1968-69: The Great White Hope, by Howard Sackler
1967-68: No award
1966-67: A Delicate Balance, by Edward Albee
1965-66: No award
1964-65: The Subject Was Roses, by Frank D. Gilroy
1963-64: No award
1962-63: No award
1961-62: How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, by Abe Burrows, Willie Gilbert, Jack Weinstock and Frank Loesser
1960-61: All the Way Home, by Tad Mosel
1959-60: Fiorello!, by Jerome Weidman, George Abbott, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock
1958-59: J.B., by Archibald MacLeish
1957-58: Look Homeward, Angel, by Ketti Frings
1956-57: Long Day's Journey Into Night, by Eugene O'Neill
1955-56: The Diary of Anne Frank, by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
1954-55: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, by Tennessee Williams
1953-54: The Teahouse of the August Moon, by John Patrick
1952-53: Picnic, by William Inge
1951-52: The Shrike, by Joseph Kramm
1950-51: No award
1949-50: South Pacific, by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan
1948-49: Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller
1947-48: A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams
1946-47: No award
1945-46: State of the Union, by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse
1944-45: Harvey, by Mary Chase
1943-44: No award
1942-43: The Skin of Our Teeth, by Thornton Wilder
1941-42: No award
1940-41: There Shall Be No Night, by Robert E. Sherwood
1939-40: The Time of Your Life, by William Saroyan
1938-39: Abe Lincoln in Illinois, by Robert E. Sherwood
1937-38: Our Town, by Thornton Wilder
1936-37: You Can't Take It With You, by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
1935-36: Idiot's Delight, by Robert E. Sherwood
1934-35: The Old Maid, by Zoe Akins
1933-34: Men in White, by Sidney Kingsley
1932-33: Both Your Houses, by Maxwell Anderson
1931-32: Of Thee I Sing, by George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind, Ira and George Gershwin
1930-31: Alison's House, by Susan Glaspell
1929-30: The Green Pastures, by Marc Connelly
1928-29: Street Scene, by Elmer Rice
1927-28: Strange Interlude, by Eugene O'Neill
1926-27: In Abraham's Bosom, by Paul Green
1925-26: Craig's Wife, by George Kelly
1924-25: They Knew What They Wanted, by Sidney Howard
1923-24: Hell-Bent fer Heaven, by Hatcher Hughes
1922-23: Icebound, by Owen Davis
1921-22: Anna Christie, by Eugene O'Neill
1920-21: Miss Lulu Bett, by Zona Gale
1919-20: Beyond the Horizon, by Eugene O'Neill
1918-19: No award
1917-18: Why Marry?, by Jesse Lynch Williams
1916-17: No award
