Yes, they were all nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play. (The first three won the prize; the fate of the last one, still on Broadway, will be decided on June 13, when this season's awards are given out.) But another thing they share is that observers agree, if there were such a thing as a Best Ensemble Tony Award, the casts of those four shows would have been top candidates.

Campaigns for new categories of Tony Award crop up from time to time. A trophy for Best Sound Design was added in 2008, ending decades during which sound designers' contributions were ignored by the Tonys. The category Special Theatrical Event was created in 2001 to honor those productions that didn't fit into the Play or Musical slots; it was then discontinued following the 2009 awards. Musical directors are a forgotten lot in Tony Awards, even though one of them conducts the orchestra at the Tony ceremony every year. One other idea that is brought up from time to time is Best Ensemble — an award that would honor the entire cast of a production.

The thought is not a new one. While the Tonys have yet to latch onto the idea, other award organizations have been handing out group awards for some time. The Drama Desk signifies a cast for overall excellence of performance almost every season; this year, they honored the actors of The Orphans' Home Cycle, Circle Mirror Transformation and The Temperamentals. And the Village Voice's Obies occasionally embrace entire ensembles, as they did this season by giving every performer in Circle Mirror Transformation a trophy.

A Best Ensemble Tony has its advocates. Not surprisingly, one of them is Sheryl Kaller, the director of Next Fall. Nearly every review of Geoffrey Nauffts' play pointed out the high level of ensemble acting. "From a personal standpoint, it would have been really cool to have an ensemble acting award this year because of my play," said Kaller. "With Next Fall, we worked really hard on that ensemble and it's an ensemble play." But Kaller thinks such a category would be beneficial beyond what it could do for her production. "I think what it would do is it would encourage more ensemble-oriented plays on Broadway. I don't think you can separate art and commerce on Broadway. From a producer's point of view, you have to produce a play that has some star turns in it, so you accumulate your award nominations, because it's about business. We all know what awards do for business." Continued...