Dubbed by The New York Times as one of New York’s “most adventurous Off-Broadway companies,” Ars Nova has been recognized with a 2024 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, a 2015 Obie Award, and a 2015 Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle honoring our sustained quality and commitment to the development and production of new work, in addition to numerous awards for productions.
Notable past productions include: The Beastiary, created by Obie Award-winning On The Rocks Theatre Co.; three-time Lortel Award-winner, including “Outstanding Musical,” (pray), created by Obie Award-winner nicHi douglas with music by S T A R R Busby and JJJJJerome Ellis; New York Times’, Vulture’s, Time Out New York’s, and The New Yorker’s “Best of 2022,” and three-time Lortel Award-winner Oratorio for Living Things by Heather Christian, directed by Lee Sunday Evans; “Outstanding Musical” Lortel Award-winner and The New York Times’ “Best of 2018,” Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future, created by Andrew R. Butler, directed by Jordan Fein; The Lucky Ones, created by The Bengsons and Sarah Gancher, directed by Anne Kauffman; “Outstanding Musical” Lortel Award-winner KPOP, created by Jason Kim, Max Vernon, Helen Park, and Woodshed Collective, directed by Teddy Bergman; “Best New American Theatre Work,” Obie Award-winner and “one of the best new plays in the last 25 years” (The New York Times), Underground Railroad Game by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard, directed by Taibi Magar; The New York Times’ and New York Post’s “Best of 2015,” Small Mouth Sounds by Bess Wohl, directed by Rachel Chavkin; the Tony Award-winning smash-hit Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 by Dave Malloy, directed by Rachel Chavkin; the world premiere of the 2009 season’s most-produced play boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, directed by Alex Timbers; the show that put Bridget Everett on the map, At Least It’s Pink by Everett, Michael Patrick King, and Kenny Mellman, directed by King; and Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail’s first New York production, Freestyle Love Supreme by Anthony Veneziale and Miranda, directed by Thomas Kail, which continued on to Broadway, and received a special 2020 Tony Award.
