The Stage Debut Awards 2020: winners in full

& Juliet actress and former Stage Debut Award winner Miriam-Teak Lee hosted the fourth annual Stage Debut Awards at London’s historic Theatre Royal Haymarket on Sunday 27 September 2020.

The virtual awards ceremony saw newcomer Sam Tutty win Best Performer in a Musical and Best Debut Performance for his performance in Dear Evan Hansen, with Martha Kiss Perrone winning Best Director for When It Breaks It Burns at Battersea Arts Centre.

Alistair Smith, editor of The Stage, said, “A huge congratulations to all our amazing winners and nominees. It has been an awful year for everyone in theatre, which makes it all the more important that we celebrate and support the emerging talent that is trying to gain a foothold in the industry at this difficult time.

“I have no doubt that when theatre comes back, it will return stronger than ever thanks to these exceptional theatremakers.”

The Stage Debut Awards recognise outstanding emerging talent from actors and directors to designers, writers, composers and lyricists, all of whom have made their professional debuts in the past year.  

Best performer in a play

Winners:

• Daniel Monks for Teenage Dick at the Donmar Warehouse, London
• Rachel Nwokoro for Little Baby Jesus at the Orange Tree Theatre, London

Also nominated:

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

Best performer in a musical

Winners:

• Shan Ako for Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre, London
• Sam Tutty for Dear Evan Hansen at the Noël Coward Theatre, London

Also nominated:

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

Best director

Winner:

• Martha Kiss Perrone for When It Breaks It Burns at Battersea Arts Centre, London

Also nominated:

• Georgia Green for The Mikvah Project at the Orange Tree Theatre, London
• Alex Sutton for Preludes at Southwark Playhouse, London

Best designer

Winner:

• Rose Revitt (set and costume) for Dr Korczak’s Example at Leeds Playhouse

Also nominated:

• Liam Bunster (set and costume) for The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare’s Globe, London
• Andrew Exeter (lighting) for High Fidelity at the Turbine Theatre, London

Best composer or lyricist

Winner:

• Jim Barne and Kit Buchan for The Season at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich and Royal and Derngate, Northampton

Also nominated:

• Jherek Bischoff for The Ocean at the End of the Lane at the National Theatre, London
• Robbie Williams for The Boy in the Dress at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon

Best writer

Winner:

• Temi Wilkey for The High Table at the Bush Theatre, London

Also nominated:

• Samuel Bailey for Shook at Southwark Playhouse, London
• Mari Izzard for Hela at the Other Room, Cardiff
• Eleanor Tindall for Before I Was a Bear at The Bunker, London

Best West End debut performer

Winner:

• Sam Tutty for Dear Evan Hansen at the Noël Coward Theatre

Also nominated:

• Shan Ako for Les Misérables at the Sondheim 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
• Wendell Pierce for Death of a Salesman at the Piccadilly Theatre
• Aimee Lou Wood for Uncle Vanya at the Harold Pinter Theatre

Best creative West End debut

Winner:

• Femi Temowo (composer) for Death of a Salesman at the Piccadilly Theatre and for Three Sisters at the National Theatre

Also nominated:

• Fabian Aloise (choreographer) for Evita at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
• Nadia Latif (director) for Fairview at the Young Vic Theatre
• 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