Tony Awards name 2026 nominating committee, including Tony winners Victoria Clark and BD Wong. Here’s how they’ll pick the contenders
Tony Award-winning performers Victoria Clark and BD Wong and nominated playwrights Jocelyn Bioh, Jordan E. Cooper, Joshua Harmon, and James Ijames are among the 64 theater experts who will decide the nominees for the 2026 Tony Awards.
The 2025-26 Broadway season's Nominating Committee features a total of 21 new members, including Bioh and Harmon, who both earned Tony nominations in the Best Play category in 2024 for Jaja’s African Hair Braiding and Prayer for the French Republic, respectively. Other newcomers include A Strange Loop star and Tony nominee L Morgan Lee and Wong, who won the Featured Actor in a Play award in 1988 for M. Butterfly. Each committee member serves a three-year term, though the three years do not need to be consecutive.
Nominators need not be past Tony nominees or winners. The Tony Administration Committee invites an array of practitioners from Broadway and beyond who have past or present professional or educational ties to the theater across myriad disciplines. This year’s committee includes two sound designers, three costume designers, seven choreographers, a former theater critic, and a retired general manager.
According to the Tony rules and regulations, the Nominating Committee cannot have fewer than 15 members and cannot exceed 65. Every nominator must commit to seeing each eligible production in a season and must recuse themselves if they are unable to attend every eligible show, miss an eligible performer or element of a production, or participate in any capacity in an eligible production.
After the season’s eligibility period concludes in late April, the committee convenes to cast their ballots for the nominees. The group may hold an open discussion of the season for a maximum of two hours before each member submits their secret ballot.
Although the new Broadway season is still coming into focus, the nominators are going to have their work cut out for them. The next nine months will feature high-profile musical revivals Chess and Ragtime, as well as the Pulitzer finalist plays Marjorie Prime and Becky Shaw.
Marquee names will also be returning to the stage, including two-time Tony winner Laurie Metcalf in Little Bear Ridge Road, Kristen Chenoweth in a musical version of Lauren Greenfield's 2014 documentary The Queen of Versailles, and Mark Strong and Lesley Manville in a contemporary reimagining of Oedipus. Plus, Keanu Reeves is the latest movie star making his Broadway debut, headlining director Jamie Lloyd’s Waiting for Godot opposite his Bill & Ted costar Alex Winter.
See the complete list of Tony nominators below, with ** denoting new committee members.
2025-26 Tony Awards Nominating Committee
Bob Balaban — Actor/Producer/Director/Writer
Dani Barlow — Theater Administrator
Mark Benett — Sound Designer**
Sarah Benson — Director
Rob Berman — Music Director**
Jocelyn Bioh — Playwright**
Jeremy Blocker — Creative Director/Executive Producer for Audible Theater**
Rick Boynton — Creative Producer, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Brian Harlan Brooks - Director/Choreographer/DEI Director
Dr. Jamie Cacciola-Price — Theater Educator/Director
Kevin Cahoon — Actor/Director
Jade King Carroll — Director/Producing Artistic Director, Chautauqua Theater Company**
Adam Chanler-Berat — Actor/Playwright
Victoria Clark — Actor/Director/Educator
Jordan E. Cooper — Playwright/Actor/Director/Producer
Will Davis — Choreographer/Director**
Ty Defoe — Interdisciplinary Artists/Writer/Storyteller
Andy Einhorn — Music Supervisor/Conductor
Dan Foster — Actor/Director/Producer
Donald P. Gagnon, Ph.D. — Theater Arts Professor/Dramaturg
Deeksha Gaur — Executive Director, Theater Development Fund
Tiffani Gavin — Executive Director, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center**
Daniel Goldstein — Director/Writer**
Linda Goodrich — Director/Choreographer
Joshua Harmon - Playwright**
Miranda Haymon — Director
Ricky Hinds — Associate Director/Choreographer**
Timothy Huang — Composer/Lyricist/Librettist**
James Ijames — Playwright/Director/Educator
Anna K. Jacobs — Composer/Lyricist/Librettist**
Jessica Jahn — Costume Designer**
Christine Toy Johnson — Playwright/Actor/Director
Rosalie Joseph — Casting Director
Rod Kaats — Producer/Director
Peter Kaczorowski — Lighting Designer**
Glen Kelly — Amanuensis/Composer**
Michael Korie — Librettist/Lyricist
L Morgan Lee - Actor**
Peter Marks — Former Chief Theater Critic, Washington Post
Lisa McNulty — Producing Artistic Director WP Theater
Danny Mefford - Choreographer**
Ira Mont — Production Stage Manager
Jacqueline Diane Moscou — Actor/Director
Helen Park — Composer/Lyricist
Jessica Paz — Sound Designer
Georgina Pazcoguin — Actress/Producer/Diversity Advocate
Karen Perry — Costume Designer
Jill Rafson — Producing Artist Director, Classic Stage Co.
T. Oliver Reid — Actor/Director/Choreographer/Activist/Musical Theater Professor at Rider University
Liam Robinson — Composer/Arranger/Music Supervisor
Carole Rothman — Co-Founder and Former Artistic Director, Second Stage Theater
Rafael Sánchez — Executive Artistic Director, Repertorio Español**
Florie Seery — Associate Dean/Managing Director, David Geffen School of Drama/Yale Repertory Theater
Walt Spangler — Scenic Designer
Mark Stanley — Lighting Designer
Susan Soon He Stanton — Playwright/Television Writer/Screenwriter
Jeffrey Sweet — Playwright/Librettist**
Jason Tam — Actor
Cori Thomas — Playwright/Actor
Alexandria Wailes — Actor/Director/Choreographer
Charlotte Wilcox — Retired General Manager**
Patricia Wilcox — Choreographer
BD Wong — Actor/Director/Playwright/Author**
David C. Woolard — Costume Designer
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