| Year | Director | Production |
|---|
| 1980 |
|---|
| Vivian Matalon | Morning's at Seven † |
| Kevin Conway | Mecca |
| Gordon Davidson | Children of a Lesser God ‡ |
| Lynne Gannaway and Robert Kalfin | Strider |
| Marshall W. Mason | Talley's Folly ‡ |
| Alan Schneider | Loose Ends |
| 1981 |
|---|
| Peter Hall | Amadeus † |
| Melvin Bernhardt | Crimes of the Heart ‡ |
| Geraldine Fitzgerald | Mass Appeal ‡ |
| Douglas Seale | The Winslow Boy |
| 1982 |
|---|
| Tommy Tune | Cloud Nine |
| Athol Fugard | "Master Harold"...and the Boys ‡ |
| Jacques Levy | Potsdam Quartet |
| John Tillinger | Entertaining Mr Sloane |
| Douglas Turner Ward | A Soldier's Play |
| 1983 |
|---|
| Trevor Nunn | All's Well That Ends Well ‡ |
| Robert Allan Ackerman | Extremities |
| Michael Bennett | Third Street |
| George C. Scott | Present Laughter |
| Arthur Sherman | The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial |
| Gary Sinise | True West |
| 1984 |
|---|
| Michael Blakemore | Noises Off ‡ |
| Lee Grant | A Private View |
| Gerald Gutierrez | Isn't It Romantic |
| Terry Kinney | And a Nightingale Sang |
| Gregory Mosher | Glengarry Glen Ross ‡ |
| Mike Nichols | The Real Thing † |
| 1985 |
|---|
| John Malkovich | Balm in Gilead |
| Ron Lagomarsino | Digby |
| Marshall W. Mason | As Is ‡ |
| Gene Saks | Biloxi Blues † |
| Claudia Weill | Found a Peanut |
| 1986 |
|---|
| Jerry Zaks | The Marriage of Bette & Boo |
| The House of Blue Leaves † |
| Liviu Ciulei | Hamlet |
| Jonathan Miller | Long Day's Journey into Night ‡ |
| Mary B. Robinson | Lemon Sky |
| Gary Sinise | Orphans |
| John Tillinger | It's Only a Play |
| Loot ‡ |
| 1987 |
|---|
| Howard Davies | Les Liaisons Dangereuses ‡ |
| Simon Gray and Michael McGuire | The Common Pursuit |
| Ron Lagomarsino | Driving Miss Daisy |
| Lloyd Richards | Fences † |
| Carole Rothman | Coastal Disturbances ‡ |
| Gene Saks | Broadway Bound |
| 1988 |
|---|
| John Dexter | M. Butterfly † |
| W. H. Macy | Boys' Life |
| Lynne Meadow | Woman in Mind |
| Gregory Mosher | Speed-the-Plow ‡ |
| Lloyd Richards | Joe Turner's Come and Gone ‡ |
| 1989 |
|---|
| Jerry Zaks | Lend Me a Tenor † |
| Simon Callow | Shirley Valentine |
| Robin Lefèvre | Aristocrats |
| Jack O'Brien | The Cocktail Hour |
| Norman René | Reckless |
| Daniel Sullivan | The Heidi Chronicles ‡ |
| Year | Director | Production |
|---|
| 2010 |
|---|
| Michael Grandage | Red † |
| Jonathan Bank | So Help Me God! |
| Jack Cummings III | The Boys in the Band |
| Sam Gold | Circle Mirror Transformation |
| Michael Grandage | Hamlet |
| Ethan Hawke | A Lie of the Mind |
| 2011 |
|---|
| Joel Grey and George C. Wolfe | The Normal Heart ‡ |
| Trip Cullman | A Small Fire |
| Moisés Kaufman | Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo |
| Davis McCallum | A Bright New Boise |
| Daniel J. Sullivan | The Merchant of Venice ‡ |
| Kirjan Waage and Gwendolyn Warnock | Baby Universe |
| 2012 |
|---|
| Mike Nichols | Death of a Salesman † |
| Jo Bonney | By the Way, Meet Vera Stark |
| David Cromer | Tribes |
| Ed Sylvanus Iskandar | These Seven Sicknesses |
| Sam Mendes | Richard III |
| Tony Speciale | Unnatural Acts |
| 2013 |
|---|
| Pam MacKinnon | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? † |
| Lear de Bessonet | The Good Person of Szechwan |
| Sam Gold | Uncle Vanya |
| Ed Sylvanus Iskandar | Restoration Comedy |
| Lynne Meadow | The Assembled Parties |
| Ruben Santiago-Hudson | The Piano Lesson |
| 2014 |
|---|
| Tim Carroll | Twelfth Night ‡ |
| Joe Calarco | A Christmas Carol |
| Thomas Kail | Family Furniture |
| Bill Rauch | All the Way |
| Anna D. Shapiro | Domesticated |
| Julie Taymor | A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| 2015 |
|---|
| Marianne Elliott | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time † |
| Jeremy Herrin | Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two ‡ |
| Anne Kauffman | You Got Older |
| Lila Neugebauer | The Wayside Motor Inn |
| Austin Pendleton | Between Riverside and Crazy |
| Joe Tantalo | Deliverance |
| John Tiffany | Let the Right One In |
| 2016 |
|---|
| Ivo van Hove | A View from the Bridge † |
| Rachel Chavkin | The Royale |
| Sam Gold | John |
| Rupert Goold | King Charles III ‡ |
| Joe Mantello | The Humans ‡ |
| Jenn Thompson | Women Without Men |
| 2017 |
|---|
| Ruben Santiago-Hudson | Jitney ‡ |
| Anne Kauffman | A Life |
| Richard Nelson | What Did You Expect? and Women of a Certain Age |
| Daniel J. Sullivan | The Little Foxes ‡ |
| If I Forget |
| 2018 |
|---|
| John Tiffany | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child † |
| Marianne Elliott | Angels in America ‡ |
| Jeremy Herrin | People, Places and Things |
| Joe Mantello | Three Tall Women ‡ |
| Lila Neugebauer | Miles for Mary |
| Simon Stone | Yerma |