Ken Rex, the off-Broadway play about Ken Rex McElroy in Skidmore, won two Drama Desk Awards on May 17. It was nominated for a third award Outstanding Sound Design of a Play for Giles Thomas.
The 2026 Drama Desk Award winners have been announced, honoring the best of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway theatre, competing against each other in all categories.
Presented on Sunday, May 17 at the historic Town Hall in New York City – for the first time since the Covid pandemic – the 2026 Drama Desk Awards were hosted by Titanique’s Marla Mindelle. This year’s Drama Desk Awards were the largest gathering of Drama Desk winners and nominees, past and present, ever assembled for this celebration of artists, institutions, and communities that have defined seventy years of New York theater – from the Off-Off-Broadway movement to the great Broadway houses, from the city’s longest-running musicals to its boldest new work.
Outstanding Solo Performance
- Savon Bartley, Holes in the Shape of My Father
- Jack Holden, Kenrex (WINNER)
- Hailey McAfee, and her Children
- Natalie Palamides, Weer
- Julia McDermott, Weather Girl
- Josh Sharp, ta-da!
Outstanding Music in a Play
- John Patrick Elliott, Kenrex (WINNER)
- Donald Lawrence, Oh Happy Day!
- Stan Mathabane (composer) and Munir Zakee (musician), The Brothers Size
- Johnathan Moore, The Imaginary Invalid (Molière in the Park)
- Ro Reddick, Cold War Choir Practice
- Darron L West and Alexander Sovronsky, The Wild Duck
Nominated was:
Outstanding Sound Design of a Play
- Angela Baughman, Initiative
- Caroline Eng, The Unknown
- Tom Gibbons, Oedipus (WINNER)
- Kieran Lucas, Weather Girl
- Nevin Steinberg, Anna Christie
- Giles Thomas, Kenrex
Drama Desk Explained
The Drama Desk Awards are a major annual New York theater honor that recognizes outstanding achievement across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions. First bestowed in 1955, they are unique as the only major New York City theater awards where productions of all sizes compete against each other in the same categories
Key Characteristics
- Voters: Unlike many peer-voted awards, the Drama Desk Awards are determined by a nominating committee of theater critics, journalists, editors, and publishers covering the industry.
- Gender-Free Categories: The awards use gender-neutral acting categories (Outstanding Lead Performance and Outstanding Featured Performance), with twice as many nominees and two winners in each category.
- Scope: Productions are eligible for consideration if they opened in New York City during the theater season and ran for at least 21 performances.
Details on Awards
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance has been awarded since 1984.
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play recognizes the composer who creates the best original incidental music, underscore, or themes for a non-musical play. Distinguishes musical works that enhance traditional stage plays from full-scale musical theatre scores. The category was introduced at the 1980 ceremony and handed out seven times until 2008, before becoming an annual fixture in 2009.
Outstanding Sound Design of a Play is a theatrical category that honors the creation, mixing, and implementation of a play’s overall auditory environment. This encompasses environmental audio cues, amplification, and sound effects to drive the narrative, distinct from Outstanding Music, which specifically recognizes the composition of original musical scores or songs. Sound design has been recognized by the Drama Desk Awards for 47 years, since the category was first introduced in 1980. The Drama Desk Awards have honored theatrical audio for decades but have restructured the category over the years to adapt to evolving technical standards: 1980 to 2009: The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design was a single, combined category that recognized excellent audio work in both plays and musicals in a single pool. 2010 to Present: The singular category was retired and split into two distinct, discipline-specific categories: Outstanding Sound Design of a Play and Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical
- KenRex beat Broadway for two Drama Desks — proof you don’t need Times Square lights, just a really good monologue and a tougher hairline.
- Developed in London, set in Skidmore, and winning in NYC — KenRex is the international man of mystery… who also happens to own a very convincing Missouri accent.
- Broadway: big budgets. KenRex: Two Drama Desk awards. Moral of the story — bring a great story and an even better hat.
- Outstanding Solo Performance and Outstanding Music in a Play — it’s the theatrical version of showing up to a sword fight with a ukulele…and winning.
- Critics said it had heart, grit, and a killer soundtrack. Nobody specified which part of that sentence was literal.
- KenRex went from Skidmore to London to New York — the only tour more effective than most musicals’ marketing teams.
- People asked how a show from Skidmore developed in London beat Broadway. I said: It’s simple — export the charm, import the awards.
- Broadway brought the chorus; KenRex brought one guy and a playlist. Two Drama Desks later, who’s laughing? Everyone — loudly.
- Imagine the meeting: “We developed KenRex in London.” Producers: “So it’s posh?” Writer: “No, it’s about a guy from Skidmore.” Producers: “So it’s small?” Writer: “It’s intimate.” Producers: “So it’ll fit in a Broadway theater?” Writer: “No, but it’ll fit in an award envelope.” Fast forward: two Drama Desks later, Broadway’s asking for the recipe. Turns out the secret ingredient was honesty, a killer score, and not spending $20 on lights.
- Broadway may have scale, but KenRex proved that awards aren’t decided by budget meetings — they’re decided by whether you made someone cry, clap, and then look very sheepish about rooting for the underdog.
- KenRex beat Broadway, and all it took was one actor, one guitar, and zero marketing meetings.
- From Skidmore to London to NYC — the show’s travel agent deserves a Drama Desk, too.
- Broadway had chandeliers; KenRex had character. The Drama Desk prefers character.
- They developed it in London to get the accents right, then brought it to New York to get the awards.
- KenRex beat Broadway. Industry response: “We’ll file this under ‘uncomfortable learning experience.’”
- The play won two Drama Desks. Producers called it “a scalable surprise.” 9. The budget was small, the heart was large, and the acceptance speech was economical.
- Broadway: “We spent millions.” KenRex: “We spent our dignity.” Drama Desk: “Dignity not required.”
- KenRex took home awards while Broadway was recalibrating its lighting budget.
- Developed in London, about a man in Skidmore, loved in NYC — KenRex is the theatrical version of a long-distance relationship that actually works.
- The show proved you don’t need a billboard on 42nd Street to make someone feel seen — just tell a true story very well.
- “Give it up for KenRex — the only show that traveled from Skidmore to London to Manhattan and still avoided tour insurance.”
- 17. “KenRex winning Outstanding Solo Performance proves one man can do what 20. Give it up for KenRex — the only show that traveled from Skidmore to London to Manhattan and still avoided tour insurance.”
- “KenRex winning Outstanding Solo Performance proves one man can do what 20 ensemble members could not: make you feel something.”
- “Give it up for KenRex — the only show that traveled from Skidmore to London to Manhattan and still avoided tour insurance.”
- “KenRex winning Outstanding Solo Performance proves one man can do what 20 ensemble members could not: make you feel something.” ensemble members could not: make you feel something.”
- KenRex: developed in London, set in Skidmore, crowned in NYC. Two Drama Desks later — miracles do wear travel stamps.”
- “When a play about a small-town man wins big in the big city, you know the story traveled farther than the budget.”
- KenRex beat Broadway without a chorus line — just one chorus in his head and impeccable timing.