Cole Escola Becomes the First Nonbinary Performer to Win Lead Actor in a Play

It might not have spelled awards hardware for Sally Field in Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” at the Oscars in 2013, but Mary Todd Lincoln eventually had her day at the Tony Awards on Sunday.

Star-playwright Cole Escola won the Best Actor in a Play Tony for their riotously funny work in the outlandish comedy “Oh, Mary!,” marking the first time a nonbinary performer has scored a Tony win for any play category for acting.

Escola portrayed Mary Todd Lincoln as a boozy cabaret singer hopeful in a John Waters-style madcap production, in which she rants and raves while a queer-leaning Abe Lincoln (Conrad Ricamora) is heading toward a pre-determined assassination.

Escola has enjoyed a healthy pre-cursor awards lead-up, winning Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for their high-wire act of a performance. Recently while on a planned leave, “American Primeval” star Betty Gilpin and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” breakout Tituss Burgess played Mary Todd to great notices.

The show has attracted the likes of Steven Spielberg, Melissa McCarthy, Mark Hamill, Sally Field and Mia Farrow, among dozens and dozens of celebrity visitors both on Broadway, and in its original Off-Broadway berth in the West Village in New York City.

However, this is not the first time the Tonys have shined a light on nonbinary performers. Just two years ago, J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell won Best Actor in a Musical and Best Featured Actor in a Musical in the very same evening, for their work in “Some Like it Hot” and “Shucked,” respectively.

The Tonys — much like the Oscars and Emmys — have continued to separate gendered acting categories through the years, while some others, like the Drama Desk Awards, L.A. Film Critics Association and the Independent Spirit Awards, have created longlists of only lead and supporting nominees where all identifying actors can compete in either.

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