Martin McDonagh gets another chance at winning Broadway's biggest prize as his The Lonesome West goes up against Not About Nightingales, Side Man and Closer for Best Play. Last year, McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane nabbed a number of Tonys (including nods for director Garry Hynes, who also staged Lonesome West, and three of the four cast-members) but was beaten out for the top slot by Art.

Lonesome West is part of the playwright's "Leenane" trilogy, which also includes A Skull in Connemara. Lonesome West studies bickering brothers -- a la Sam Shepard's True West -- who spar over everything "from snack foods to hairstyles." Into this maelstrom step a tough but lovestruck teen and a lonely priest who tries to make peace.

Now all of 28 years old, author McDonagh has also penned The Pillowman, The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Barney Nenagh's Shotgun Circus. He's a writer-in-residence with Hynes's Druid Theatre Company in Ireland and resident playwright for the UK's Royal National Theatre.

Other 1999 Lonesome West nominations:
Leading Actor - Play: Brian O'Byrne
Featured Actress - Play: Dawn Bradfield
Director - Play: Garry Hynes.