Spotlight’s on Purchase for Tony and Drama Desk Nominations
Alumni Marjan Nashat and Jay O. Sanders receive nods for performances, and faculty members Andrea Thome and Matt Otto for creative work.
Once again, the Tony and Drama Desk award nominations spotlight talented Purchase alumni and faculty, underscoring their significant impact on the performing arts and steadfast dedication to storytelling and theatre-making on and off Broadway.
Marjan Neshat ’98
Tony for Best Performance
Marjan Neshat (acting) has earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Marjan in Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play English.
“Neshat, a radiant presence who could have modeled a Botticelli Madonna, holds the center of the tale with good humor (and painful flickers of self-doubt).”
Set in a 2008 Iranian classroom, the play delves into the complexities of language and identity as it follows four adults preparing for the TOEFL exam. Neshat reprised her Obie Award-winning role from the off-Broadway debut of English in 2022; the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2023.
English premiered on Broadway at the Todd Haimes Theatre and ran January 3 through March 2, 2025.
Jay O. Sanders
Drama Desk for Outstanding Lead Performance
Jay O. Sanders (acting) received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play for his role as Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV.
“But for the play to work you need a pitch perfect Falstaff and Jay O. Sanders, veteran character actor of stage and screen, is up to the task, generating the laughs Shakespeare has generously written for him throughout, but also bringing that touch of self-awareness the character needs.”
Sanders’ performance received further praise as a, “rich, marvelously full performance of the plays’ plum role.” —timeout.com
This adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic, directed by Eric Tucker, was staged in the round at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center by Theatre for a New Audience and ran January 30 through March 2, 2025.
Andrea Thome
Drama Desk for Outstanding Adaptation
Playwright and Assistant Professor of Theatre and Performance Andrea Thome earned a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Adaptation for Cymbeline.
A modern verse translation of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline—“an all femme, all Asian American production” commissioned by Play On Shakespeare and presented by the National Asian American Theatre Company—Thome’s adaptation reimagines the classic tale while preserving its intricate narrative of love, betrayal, and political intrigue.
The production, featuring “…a neatly freshened text of the play…” (Nystagereview.com), described as both a “punch to the gut” and a “Cymbeline for our time,” (This Week in New York), ran at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater from January 18 through February 15, 2025.
Matt Otto
Drama Desk for Outstanding Sound Design
Matt Otto, lecturer of theatre design/technology, received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Sound Design of a Play for his work on All of Me.
Written by Laura Winters, the romantic comedy explores love and disability through the story of two individuals who use text-to-speech devices to communicate.
“Matt Otto’s sound design is a parade of well-chosen musical cues…” (Lightingandsoundamerica.com)
All of Me was produced by The New Group and performed at the Pershing Square Signature Center from April 23 to June 16, 2024.
See the full list of nominees at Drama Desk Awards and Tony Awards.
The 69th Annual Drama Desk Awards, hosted by Debra Messing and Tituss Burgess, will be held on Sunday, June 1, and the 78th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Cynthia Erivo, will take place on June 8.