2024 Tony Awards could feature the most women directing nominees in history

Sam Eckmann
·4 min read
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Since their inception, the directing categories at the Tony Awards have mostly been a boys’ club. Not only are the vast majority of winners men, but so are most (and in many years, all) of the nominees. But the 2024 ceremony could upend these statistics as more women are helming Broadway shows than ever before. This could finally be the year where they make up the majority of directing nominees.

This season there are 13 women directors on Broadway. Four of them will contend for Best Director of a Play: Lila Neugebauer (“Appropriate” and “Uncle Vanya”), Anne Kauffman (“Mary Jane”), Tina Landau (“Mother Play”), and Whitney White (“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”). Another nine women will vie for Best Director of a Musical: Sammi Canold (“How to Dance in Ohio”), Rachel Chavkin (“Lempicka”), Rebecca Frecknall (“Cabaret”), Maria Friedman (“Merrily We Roll Along“), Mari Madrid (“Once Upon a One More Time,” co-directed with Keone Madrid), Leigh Silverman (“Suffs”), Jessica Stone (“Water for Elephants”), Danya Taymor (“The Outsiders”), and Schele Williams (“The Notebook” and “The Wiz”).

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As of this writing Gold Derby’s exclusive odds, based on the combined predictions of our users, find Lila Neugebauer in third place for Best Director of a Play thanks to the surprise hit of the season, “Appropriate.” The director’s second contender, Lincoln Center Theater’s “Uncle Vanya,” lands just outside of our predicted nominees in sixth place. Whitney White and Tina Landau currently reside in seventh and eighth place, respectively, so they’re very much in the conversation for noms as well.

SEE Maria Friedman: From ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ leading lady to director

Over in Best Director of a Musical, women are even more dominant. Maria Friedman has cemented herself as the frontrunner for breathing new life into “Merrily We Roll Along.” But Rebecca Frecknall is right behind her in second place for her immersive London import of “Cabaret.” Rachel Chavkin, a previous winner for “Hadestown,” lands in fourth place. The odds also place Schele Williams in fifth position for “The Notebook,” which she co-directs with Michael Greif. Williams is on the cusp of landing a second nomination as well, with our odds slotting her solo effort on “The Wiz” in seventh place. Past Tony nominee Leigh Silverman sits in sixth place for “Suffs.”

If those prediction center odds hold true, women would claim five directing slots across the two categories. That’s already more female directing nominees than at any single ceremony, as neither category has ever had more than two female nominees at one time.

The 2022 Tony Awards currently holds the record for most women directing nominees, with four total across the two races. Marianne Elliott won the musical prize for the revival of “Company” and Lucy Moss was a fellow nominee for “Six,” which she co-directed with Jamie Armitage. Camille A. Brown (“For Colored Girls”) and Lileana Blain-Cruz (“The Skin of Our Teeth”) were both nominated in the play category.

SEE Who Needs a Tony to Reach EGOT?

To date 23 women have been nominated for Best Director of a Play, with six of them emerging victorious. Those winners were Garry Hynes (“The Beauty Queen of Leenane”) in 1998, Mary Zimmerman (“Metamorphoses”) in 2002, Anna D. Shapiro (“August: Osage County”) in 2008, Marianne Elliott (“War Horse” with co-director Tom Morris and “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”) in 2011 and 2015, Pam MacKinnon (“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”) in 2013, and Rebecca Taichman (“Indecent”) in 2017.

Thus far 24 women have been nominated for Best Director of a Musical, with five of them winning. Those previous winners were Julie Taymor (“The Lion King”) in 1998, Susan Stroman (“The Producers”) in 2001, Diane Paulus (“Pippin”) in 2013, Rachel Chavkin (“Hadestown”) in 2019, and Marianne Elliott (“Company”) in 2022.

Elliott is the winningest female director in Tony history to date, and indeed the only woman to win either category more than once. Rachel Chavkin is the only previous female winner who contends in 2024, and as such is the only woman who has the potential to join Elliott in the multiple-wins club this year. Even if that win doesn’t come to pass, though, women are still poised to outnumber the men in directing nominations for the first time in history.

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