2020 Stage Debut Awards nominees revealed

The shortlist for this year's Stage Debut Awards has just been announced. Among the nominees is Wendell Pierce for his performance in Death of a Salesman both at the West End's Piccadilly Theatre and the off-West End production at the Young Vic.

Other nominees include co-composer and lyricist for The Boy in the Dress Robbie Williams; Uncle Vanya's Aimee Lou Wood who is perhaps best known for her break-out role on Netflix's original series Sex Education; and Dear Evan Hansen stars Sam Tutty and Lucy Anderson as well as the show's lyricists and music writers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and book writer Steven Levenson.

Also nominated this year is Daniel Monks' Teenage Dick performance at the Donmar Warehouse, Samantha Pauly's Evita performance at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, and Nadia Latif for her direction of Fairveiw at the Young Vic.

The winners will be revealed in a special, socially distanced, virtual ceremony to be held on Sunday, 27 September 2020. The Best West End Debut Performer category is currently open for public voting.

Read the shortlist in full below.

Stage Debut Awards 2020 nominees in full

Best Performer in a Play

- Brooklyn Melvin for Oliver Twist at Leeds Playhouse (in a co-production with Ramps on the Moon) Daniel Monks for Teenage Dick at the Donmar Warehouse, London
- Jessica Rhodes for The Sugar Syndrome at the Orange Tree Theatre, London
- Katie Erich for Oliver Twist at Leeds Playhouse  (in a co-production with Ramps on the Moon)
- Khai Shaw for Little Baby Jesus at the Orange Tree Theatre, London
Bobby Stallwood for Faith, Hope and Charity at the National Theatre, London  
- Rachel Nwokoro for Little Baby Jesus at the Orange Tree Theatre, London
- Saida Ahmed for Little Miss Burden at The Bunker, London

Best Performer in a Musical

- Adriana Ivelisse for West Side Story at Curve, Leicester
- Bethany Tennick for Islander at the Southwark Playhouse, London
- Chase Brown for Mame at the Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
- Lucy Anderson for Dear Evan Hansen at the Noël Coward Theatre, London
- Oli Higginson for The Last Five Years at the Southwark Playhouse, London
- Sam Tutty for Dear Evan Hansen at the Noël Coward Theatre, London
- Shan Ako for Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre, London
- Tom Noyes for Preludes at the Southwark Playhouse, London

Best Director

- Alex Sutton for Preludes at the Southwark Playhouse, London 
- Georgia Green for The Mikvah Project at the Orange Tree Theatre, London
- Martha Kiss Perrone for When It Breaks It Burns at the Battersea Arts Centre, London

Best Designer

- Andrew Exeter (lighting) for High Fidelity at the Turbine Theatre, London
- Liam Bunster (set and costume) for The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare's Globe, London
- Rose Revitt (set and costume) for Dr Korczak's Example at Leeds Playhouse  

Best Composer or Lyricist

- Jherek Bischoff for The Ocean at the End of the Lane at the National Theatre, London
- Jim Barne and Kit Buchan for The Season at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich and Royal & Derngate, Northampton
- Robbie Williams for The Boy in the Dress at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon 

Best Writer

- Eleanor Tindall for Before I Was a Bear at The Bunker, London
- Mari Izzard for Hela at The Other Room, Cardiff
- Samuel Bailey for Shook at the Southwark Playhouse, London
- Temi Wilkey for The High Table at the Bush Theatre, London (in a co-production with Birmingham Rep)

Best West End Debut Performer

- Aimee Lou Wood for Uncle Vanya at the Harold Pinter Theatre
- David Mitchell for The Upstart Crow at the Gielgud Theatre
- Daniel Monks for Teenage Dick at the Donmar Warehouse
- Samantha Pauly for Evita at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
- Sam Tutty for Dear Evan Hansen at the Noël Coward Theatre
- Shan Ako for Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre
- Wendell Pierce for Death of a Salesman at the Piccadilly Theatre

Best Creative West End Debut

- Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Steven Levenson (composer, lyricist and book) for Dear Evan Hansen at the Noël Coward Theatre
- David West Read (book) for & Juliet at the Shaftesbury Theatre
- Fabian Aloise (choreographer) for Evita at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
- Femi Temowo (composer) for Death of a Salesman at the Piccadilly Theatre and for Three Sisters at the National Theatre
- Nadia Latif (director) for Fairview at the Young Vic Theatre

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