Finalists are never announced in advance, but some of the works that have been submitted for consideration are known, and a few have been recognized as strong contenders. Among the front runners—in what is generally regarded as having been a lean season—are I Am My Own Wife, the Doug Wright drama about a playwright's search for the truth behind the life of German transvestite and Nazi- and Communist-era survivor Charlotte von Mahlsdorf; Caroline, or Change, the Tony Kushner-Jeanine Tesori musical about tensions between a black maid and her Jewish employers in Civil Rights-era Louisiana; Omnium Gatherum, the topical absurdist dinner party where pundits and plutocrats dine while the world burns, created by Theresa Rebeck and Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros; and The Light in the Piazza, Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas' musical love story of a young American woman who falls for a young Italian man while on holiday, which has seen productions in Seattle and Chicago.
Other scripts being considered include Paula Vogel's theatrical look at one family's emotional legacy, The Long Christmas Ride Home; and Avenue Q, the satirical puppet musical by Jeff Whitty, Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx.
Also submitted, and a possible dark horse winner, is Lisa Loomer's drama of mothers and nannies in modern America, Living Out. The show received some of the best reviews of the season and was one a candidate for a commercial transfer. Though that trasfer never materialized, some critics still regard it as one of the best plays of the season.
Pulitzer rules state the prize go to "a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life." While much of Wife is set in von Mahlsdorf's Germany, the story is told from the viewpoint of playwright Wright, who is himself a character in the play. Advocates of the script could argue the story is as much Wright's as von Mahlsdorf's.
If Piazza prevailed, it would be the second time in two years—following last year's victor Anna in the Tropics—that a play still unseen on New York boards seized the honor. The last musical to win was Rent by Jonathan Larson in 1996. Kushner previously won the prize in 1993 for Angels in America: Millennium Approaches. Vogel won in 1998 for How I Learned To Drive
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. And there is always room for a dark horse; Anna in the Tropics was on no prognosticator's radar as a potential winner last year.
All entries for this year's Pulitzer Prize for Drama were to be submitted by a March 1, 2004, deadline. Productions that opened between March 2, 2003 and March 1, 2004, 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?. The complete list of Pulitzer Prize in Drama winners is listed below:
2002-03: Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz
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
