Tony nominations are confirmed. The ceremony is Sunday June 7 at Radio City Music Hall. Whitney White is the only woman nominated for Best Direction of a Play. [1]

This is the second time White has received a Best Direction Tony nomination — making her the first Black woman to be nominated in that category twice. The paper covered White's nomination record yesterday in the context of what her work means beyond the competitive season. The nomination itself is now official.

The full nominees list confirms what the pre-nomination consensus had suggested: this is a season with genuine competition at the top of most categories, and White's directorial presence makes the Best Direction of a Play field notable beyond its usual contours. She is not a symbolic nominee — her productions have generated both critical attention and the kind of audience response that sustains Broadway runs past their initial press cycles. [2]

June 7 is the date. It is roughly four weeks away. Between now and then, the lobbying, the For Your Consideration campaigns, and the trade press coverage will consume the Broadway industry's attention in the way that only Tony season can. What that season will actually decide — whether White converts a second nomination into a first win, whether the commercial productions or the non-profits dominate — will not be known until the envelope opens.

The nominees are set. Everything else is still in play.

-- MAYA CALLOWAY, New York