Theatre’s brightest new talent will take centre stage at this year’s Stage Debut Awards, with the 2025 nominees now officially unveiled. The awards, which celebrate first-time performers, writers, directors, designers, and creatives, remain the only UK theatre honours dedicated entirely to debut work.

Winners will be announced at the eighth annual ceremony on the 28th September in London, with the event once again highlighting the artists shaping the future of the industry. Audiences also play a role, with the public invited to cast their votes in the Best West End Debut Performer category.

Best Performer in a Play (sponsored by Encore)

• Hilson Agbangbe – Wonder Boy (Bristol Old Vic)
• Paula Clarke – The Tragedy of Richard III (Lyric Theatre Belfast)
• Lucy Karczewski – Stereophonic (Duke of York’s Theatre)
• Daisy Sequerra – Ballet Shoes (National Theatre)
• Eva Morgan – The Glass Menagerie (The Yard)
• Christopher Neenan – Blood Wedding (Omnibus Theatre)
• Joseph Edwards – The Red Shoes (Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon)
• Jasper Talbot – Redlands (Chichester Festival Theatre)

Best Performer in a Musical (sponsored by Michael Harrison Entertainment)

• Megan Ellis – Muriel’s Wedding The Musical (Curve Leicester)
• Dora Gee – The Mad Ones (Other Palace)
• Eve Shanu-Wilson – The Phantom of the Opera (His Majesty’s Theatre)
• Leesa Tulley – Why Am I So Single? (Garrick Theatre)

Best Writer (sponsored by Sonia Friedman Productions)

• Sarah Bond – Seagulls and Sad, Sad Stories
• Nathan Englander – What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank
• Danny James King – Miss Myrtle’s Garden
• Nancy Netherwood – Radiant Boy: A Haunting
• Ava Pickett – 1536
• Milly Sweeney – Water Colour
• Saana Sze – Belly of the Beast

Best Director (sponsored by Arts Council England)

• Aditya Chopra – Come Fall in Love
• Nathan Crossan-Smith – The Walrus Has a Right to Adventure
• Adam Karim – Guards at the Taj
• Emily Susanne Lloyd – The Mad Ones
• Richard Mylan – Mumfighter

Best Designer (sponsored by Preevue)

• Juliette Demoulin – Set Design
• Adam Jefferys – Lighting Design
• Hannah Schmidt – Set & Costume Design
• Chloe Wyn – Set & Costume Design

Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer (sponsored by Theatricals Rights Worldwide)

• Martin Batchelar, James Cooper & Bryn Christopher – Lovestuck
• Yve Blake – Fangirls
• Nicola & Rosie Dempsey (Flo and Joan) – One Man Musical

Best West End Debut Performer (public vote, sponsored by the Noël Coward Foundation)

• Heather Agyepong – Shifters
• Samuel Brewer – Oedipus
• Georgie Buckland – The Devil Wears Prada
• Tosin Cole – Shifters
• Emma Flynn – Clueless the Musical
• Diego Andres Rodriguez – Evita
• Kat Ronney – Titanique
• Rachel Zegler – Evita

Best Creative West End Debut (sponsored by Learn My Lines Productions)

• Eline Arbo – The Years
• Tye Blue, Marla Mindelle & Constantine Rousouli – Titanique
• Darren Clark & Jethro Compton – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Justin Craig – Stereophonic
• Benedict Lombe – Shifters
• Mark Rosenblatt – Giant
• Amit Sharma – Retrograde

Comedian Julian Clary will host this year’s ceremony.

Alistair Smith, Editor of The Stage, said narrowing down more than 200 eligible debuts to this final shortlist was both exciting and challenging. He also noted the awards have reached a milestone this year, with nominees coming from productions across all four nations of the UK—an encouraging sign of theatre’s reach and the strength of new talent nationwide.