New York – The Pulitzer Prize for drama was awarded Monday to David Lindsay-Abaire for “Rabbit Hole.”
It’s about a wealthy, suburban couple trying to come to terms with the death of their young son, Danny, who is killed when he runs into the street and is struck by a car.
The Pulitzer jury had nominated three plays – “Orpheus X” by Rinde Eckert; “Bulrusher” by Eisa Davis; and “Elliot, a Soldier’s Fugue,” by Quiara Alegria Hudes. But the board decided to bypass the nominations and chose a play that hadn’t been nominated by the jury.
Lindsay-Abaire is known for quirky, freewheeling off-Broadway comedies such as “Fuddy Meers” and “Kimberly Akimbo.” His more serious “Rabbit Hole” received five Tony nominations, including best play. (It lost the best-play Tony to “The History Boys.”) Cynthia Nixon received the Tony for her performance as the mother grieving the loss of her son.
“The ‘Rabbit Hole’ rehearsal process was difficult for everybody,” playbill.com quoted Lindsay-Abaire as saying at a 2006 Tony Awards press event. “(Stars) Cynthia Nixon and John Slattery have kids the same age as the boy in the play. Once we were up and running, you sort of forgot about that for a while. Then, when I’d revisit it, with friends or relatives who were experiencing the play for the first time, it would remind me how scary the stuff was that I wrote about.”
According to playbill.com, Lindsay-Abaire wrote “Rabbit Hole” after fellow playwright Marsha Norman – who was his teacher at Juilliard – told him to write a play about something that frightened him. The play opened in February 2006 at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Biltmore Theatre on Broadway.
Other 2007 Pulitzers for arts and literature:
Fiction – Cormac McCarthy for his sparse, apocalyptic novel, “The Road.”
Biography – Debby Applegate won for “The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher,” the 19th-century abolitionist and preacher.
General nonfiction – Lawrence Wright for his book, “The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11,” a penetrating analysis of how Islamic fundamentalism has reshaped the modern world.
History – Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff for “The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation.” The book traces how the civil-rights struggle was covered by the press, breaking down prejudices within journalism as well as in American society.
Music – Jazz artist Ornette Coleman for “Sound Grammar.”
Special citations – To science-fiction icon Ray Bradbury and famed jazz saxophonist John Coltrane.
Previous Pulitzer Prizes for Drama:
2006: No award
2004-05: Doubt, by John Patrick Shanley
2003-04: I Am My Own Wife, by Doug Wright
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
