June 11, 2021
Gay-Themed 'The Hot Wing King' Wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama
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"The Hot Wing King" by Katori Hall, a play set around a hot wing cooking competition, has won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for drama during a theater season that saw most venues largely shuttered.
The Pulitzer board hailed "The Hot Wing King" for its look at masculinity and how it is filtered "by the experiences of a loving gay couple and their extended family as they prepare for a culinary competition"
Finalists included "Circle Jerk" by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley," and "Stew" by Zora Howard.
With most theaters closed during the pandemic, the Pulitzer Prize Board altered the requirements for this year's drama award, allowing postponed or canceled works, as well as plays produced and performed in places other than theaters. "The Hot Wing King" opened off-Broadway just days before the city's theaters were closed.
Hall is the author of the Olivier Award-winning "The Mountaintop" and is a Tony Award-nominated co-playwright of Broadway's "Tina – The Tina Turner Musical."
