Updated
June 7, 2026, 9:25 p.m. ET
“Liberation,” a Pulitzer-winning drama about a 1970s women’s consciousness-raising group, won the Tony Award for best new play on Sunday night, the first time a play by an American woman has won that prize in 37 years.
The play, written by Bess Wohl, is set on a basketball court at an Ohio recreation center, and imagines the effects of second wave feminism on a group of everyday women. Its victory is a bit of a surprise: The season began with an assumption by many in the theater industry that the best play prize would go to a British drama, “Giant,” about the antisemitism of the children’s author Roald Dahl, which received rapturous reviews in London before transferring to New York.
The last time a drama by a woman won the Tony Award for best play was in 2009 (“God of Carnage,” by Yasmina Reza of France); the last time an American woman won that prize was even further back, in 1989 (“The Heidi Chronicles,” by Wendy Wasserstein).
“I want to honor women everywhere who have the courage to use their voice,” a jubilant Wohl, surrounded by the large group of people who backed her play, said in accepting the award at Radio City Music Hall. “And to all the girls out there, may you speak your truth, and may the world be wise enough to listen.”
Here’s what else to know:
‘Salesman’ shines: A much-praised and strong-selling Broadway revival of “Death of a Salesman” picked up five early trophies, suggesting a significant amount of enthusiasm for a production that marked the comeback of the producer Scott Rudin and that featured starring performances by Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf. The play’s director, Joe Mantello, won in his category, as did Metcalf, who won for a third time. The show also won prizes for sound, lighting and scenic design. While accepting his trophy, Mantello called “Salesman” “this magnificent work that still talks to us through time, and yet it just feels like it was written yesterday.”
Early wins for ‘Schmigadoon!’: “Schmigadoon!,” a musical comedy about a bickering couple trapped in a town whose residents keep bursting into song, won several key prizes in a preshow ceremony, picking up the trophies for a musical’s book, score and orchestrations. “Schmigadoon!” is among the leading contenders for the all-important best musical prize, which will be decided at the end of the night. The show is facing off against “The Lost Boys,” “Titaníque” and “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).”
Lithgow wins third Tony: John Lithgow, the star of “Giant,” won the best lead actor in a play prize, besting Lane, the star of “Death of a Salesman,” among others. “I’ve had dozens and dozens of ecstatic moments onstage, but I have to tell you, right now, this moment has got to be one of the best,” Lithgow said.
Pink hosts: Pink, the Grammy-winning, arena-filling pop singer, kicked off the ceremony at Radio City Music Hall with a nine-minute-long, 170-person opening number packed with inside jokes, celebrity shout-outs and loving nods to musicals past, present and even future. The casts of all the nominated musicals joined her for the spectacle, which was set to the tune of “Lady Marmalade,” a song prominently featured in the current Broadway production of “Moulin Rouge!”
A history-making trophy: Qween Jean won for best costume design of a musical (for “Cats: The Jellicle Ball”), becoming the first openly transgender person to win a Tony Award, according to a “Cats” publicist. “We are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people,” Qween Jean said in her acceptance speech, adding, “We have to take up space, we have to shift the paradigm.” “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” also won the prize for best direction of musical, awarded to its two co-directors, Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch.
Anniversaries galore: Leslie Odom Jr. is singing “Without You” from “Rent” as part of the ceremony’s In Memoriam segment, and Rachel Zegler is performing a song from “A Chorus Line” in recognition of that show’s 50th anniversary. The original cast of “The Book of Mormon” is reuniting to perform in honor of that show’s 15th anniversary, and Pink is joining a variety of “Chicago” alumni, some of them well-known, to celebrate the half-century since that show’s original production.
How to watch: The telecast is scheduled to run until 11 p.m. Eastern time on CBS and can be streamed live by Paramount+ Premium subscribers.
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