J.T. Rogers' "Oslo" is keeping him busy during New York theatre awards season

New York theatre award season is a busy time this year for UNCSA School of Drama alumnus J.T. Rogers ('90), whose critically acclaimed play Oslo has won four Lucille Lortel Awards and an Outer Critics Circle Award and is nominated for seven Tony Awards and two Drama Desk Awards. Its lead actress, Winston-Salem native and UNCSA Drama alumna Jennifer Ehle ('88), is being recognized as well, winning the Lortel Award and a Tony nomination for her work.

Oslo won the Lortel Award for Outstanding Play and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Broadway Play, and is nominated for best play Tony and Drama Desk awards.

Lortel Awards, recognizing achievement in off-Broadway theatre, were announced May 7. Oslo also won the awards for Outstanding Director and Outstanding Featured Actor, making it the most honored play. The awards are named for the actress and theatre producer who produced or co-produced nearly 500 plays, five of which were nominated for Tony Awards.

Outer Critics Circle Award winners were announced May 8. Oslo also was nominated for Outstanding Featured Actor and Outstanding Projection Design by the Outer Critics Circle, an organization of theatre critics who review for newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets outside of New York City. Awards are given productions both on- and off-Broadway.

... hands down the best new play of the season

The Washington Post

Oslo opened off Broadway in June 2016 and ran for 10 weeks before transferring to Broadway in April 2017. Of the play’s move to Broadway, Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times, “This rich drama of quixotic politics fills to the bursting point its capacious new home at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Staged (and admired) last summer at the Lincoln Center Theater’s smaller downstairs space … Oslo has now become the colossus it was always meant to be, while giving an even sharper focus to the urgent behind-the-scenes intimacy at its fast-beating heart.”

Rogers’ gripping drama about the negotiations that led to the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord of 1993 is nominated for Tony Awards for Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Lighting Design and Best Scenic Design, in addition to Best Play and Best Actress. Tony Awards will be presented June 11.

Hailed by The Washington Post as “hands down the best new play of the season,” Oslo is nominated for Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Featured Actor. Drama Desk Awards are the only major New York City theatre honors for which productions on Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off Broadway compete against each other in the same category. They will be presented June 4.

by Lauren Whitaker