Playbill News: Andrew Jackson, Red, Circle Mirror, In the Next Room and Chad Deity Named Best Plays of 2009-2010

Andrew Jackson, Red, Circle Mirror, In the Next Room and Chad Deity Named Best Plays of 2009-2010

By Adam Hetrick
July 8, 2010

The emo rock musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, the Tony Award-winning drama Red and Off-Broadway's Circle Mirror Transformation will be included among the best plays of 2009-2010 in the latest edition of "The Best Plays Theater Yearbook."

"The Best Plays Theater Yearbook," an annual publication dating back to 1920, selects ten works from the stage each year for inclusion in the tome that offers a comprehensive look at the theatrical season. The 2010 edition will be published by Limelight Editions in 2011. Jeffrey Eric Jenkins is the editor of "The Best Plays Theater Yearbook."

Works that opened between June 1, 2009, and May 31, 2010, are eligible for inclusion. Selections were made by "Yearbook" editorial board members Misha Berson, Christine Dolen, Sylviane Gold, Robert Hurwitt, John Istel, Chris Jones, Charles McNulty, Julius Novick, Christopher Rawson, Alisa Solomon, Jeffrey Sweet, Anne Marie Welsh, Linda Winer and Charles Wright. Robert Brustein is consulting editor.

A special citation was given to late Academy Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Horton Foote for his expansive, nine-play family drama The Orphans' Home Cycle, which premiered Off-Broadway last fall.

The Best Plays of 2009-2010 are:

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson by Alex Timbers and Michael Friedman (essayist, Adam Feldman)
The Brother/Sister Plays by Tarell Alvin McCraney (essayist, David Rooney)
Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker (essayist, Celia Wren)
Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris (essayist, John Istel)
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz (essayist, David Cote)
In the Next Room or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl (essayist, Michael Sommers)
Passion Play by Sarah Ruhl (essayist, Dan Bacalzo)
Red by John Logan (essayist, Chris Jones)
Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies (essayist, Charles Wright)
The Understudy by Theresa Rebeck (essayist, Jill Dolan)

Additional special citations, administered by the American Theatre Critics Association, were given to Equivocation, authored by Bill Cain ($25,000 New Play Award); Karen Zacarías' Legacy of Light ($7,500 citation); and Donald Margulies' Time Stands Still ($7,500 citation).

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