playwriting

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Purpose,” which received the Pulitzer Prize for drama this year, was chosen as best play in a season showcasing a refreshingly wide range of ambitious playwriting.

But in one of the strongest playwriting categories in years, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ ‘Purpose’ deserves to win.

In the final third of this “Hamlet,” O’Hara takes the playwriting reins from Shakespeare and invents a novel character, Detective Fortinbras, a gumshoe fixer in a trench coat, who comes in to investigate the tragedy’s spree of fatalities.

And “John Proctor Is the Villain,” Kimberly Belflower’s reconsideration of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” thrillingly staged by Danya Taymor, is perhaps the feat of playwriting that surprised me most in this group.

The threat hasn’t gone away, and Tony voters shouldn’t pass up an opportunity to honor true playwriting excellence.