The cast of ‘The Hot Wing King.’ (Photo: Monique Carboni)
The Pulitzer Prize jury announced winners of this year’s Drama award. The winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama is The Hot Wing King by Katori Hall. The Hot Wing King played at Signature Theatre, making its world debut at that Off-Broadway venue in February 2020, closing prematurely in March 2020 due to the pandemic.
The Pulitzer Prize jury called the play “a funny, deeply felt consideration of Black masculinity and how it is perceived, filtered through the experiences of a loving gay couple and their extended family as they prepare for a culinary competition.”

Touissant Jeanloius and Korey Jackson in ‘The Hot Wing King.’ (Photo: Monique Carboni)
Two finalists for the Pulitzer prize were also named: Circle Jerk by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley (live-streamed with their media-theater company Fake Friends in 2020) and Stew by Zora Howard (produced at Page73 in the winter of 2020 before the shutdown).
The jury dubbed Circle Jerk a “contemporary satire featuring outrageous situations and language repurposed from the internet to skewer online culture and question what identities we have permission to claim” and Stew “An intimate, tightly constructed drama about three generations of Black women over the course of one day, and the violence they are forced to live with, absorb and attempt to overcome.” Congratulations to all the recognized artists!