Critics vote '33 Variations' best new American play

"33 Variations" by Moises Kaufman has been named best new American play yet to be produced in New York by the American Theatre Critics Assn. The award includes a payout of $25,000, which is the largest national cash prize for playwriting.

Runners-up were "End Days" by Deborah Zoe Laufer and "Dead Man's Cell Phone" by Sarah Ruhl. Both reaped prizes of $7,500 each.

"33 Variations" was launched in August at the Arena Stage in Washington D.C., telling the tale of a musicologist who must solve a mystery before she dies of cancer: Why would a genius like Beethoven spend four years writing dozens of variations upon a minor music work by Anton Diabelli — what playwright Kaufman dismisses as "a Britney Spears song."

While most of the play taps fictitious plot and characters, much of it is based upon real people and events, like Kaufman's previous plays "The Laramie Project" and "Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde."

"33 Variations" makes its West Coast debut April 8 when it begins preview performances at the La Jolla Playhouse in California.

To read more, check out the report at Playbill.com. See a list of past winners of this award, CLICK HERE. Check out the theater critics' website, HERE