New York, 9 June

The best new play trophy at Sunday's Tony Awards went to ‘Purpose’, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' drawing-room drama about an accomplished Black family exposing hypocrisy and pressures during a snowed-in gathering.

It caps a remarkable year for Jacobs-Jenkins, who in addition to winning back-to-back Tonys — his ‘Appropriate’ won best play revival in 2024 — earned the Pulitzer Prize for ‘Purpose’. (That win came the day of the Met Gala, where he served on the host committee.) Jacobs-Jenkins becomes the first Black playwright to win for best new play since August Wilson took home the trophy in 1987 for ‘Fences’. He urged Tony viewers to support regional theatres.

Kara Young — the first Black female actor to be nominated for a Tony Award in four consecutive years — became the first Black person to win two Tonys consecutively with the featured actress in a play trophy for her work in ‘Purpose’. Young thanked her parents, Jacobs-Jenkins, her cast and director Phylicia Rashad.

"Theater is a sacred space that we have to honour and treasure, and it makes us united," she said.

‘Succession’ star Sarah Snook took home the trophy for leading actress in a play for her tireless work in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, where she plays all 26 roles.

"I don't feel alone any night that I do this show," Snook said, dismissing the idea of her play as a one-woman show. "There are so many people onstage making it work and behind the stage making it work."

Francis Jue won best actor in a featured role in a play for his work in a revival of ‘Yellow Face’. He said he was gifted the tuxedo he was wearing from another Asian actor who wanted him to wear it to the Tonys.

"I'm only here because of the encouragement and inspiration of generations of wonderful deserving Asian artists who came before me," he said. "To those who don't feel seen," he added, "I see you."

Jak Malone won best actor in a featured role in a musical for the British import ‘Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical’, playing a woman every performance. He hoped his win could be a powerful advocacy for trans rights.