Cole Escola has become the first non-binary actor to win a Tony Award in the Leading Actor in a Play category for their role as Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary!.
Cole Escola, who uses they/them pronouns, was also nominated in the Best Play category, as they are the writer and creator of Oh, Mary!. That accolade ultimately went to queer playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins for his family drama play, Purpose.
Accepting the Leading Actor in a Play accolade, Escola arrived on stage in a custom, glittering, silver Wiederhoeft dress and billowing train, inspired by the gown worn by Gypsy star Bernadette Peters in 1999 when she collected her Tony Award for Annie Get Your Gun.
Escola took a moment to thank the other nominees in the category, George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck), Jon Michael Hill (Purpose), Daniel Dae Kim (Yellow Face), Harry Lennix (Purpose) and Louis McCartney (Stranger Things: The First Shadow).
“I want to thank the other nominees, George, Jon, Harry, Daniel and Louis,” they said.
“It’s an honor to be in your company, and more than that, it’s been a sincere pleasure spending time with you over these warm salads at all these lunches.”
“First of all, hi mom. I love you. I’ll call you when I can,” they continued, before name-checking LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr.
“Julie Harris has a Tony for playing Mary Todd Lincoln,” they said, referencing Harris’s role in the 1976 show The Last of Mrs. Lincoln.
“I want to thank… the most important people in my life, my friends who are here tonight, Jeffrey, Jen, Ben, everyone watching at home. Christian, Dakota, the whole gang, John, Claudia, oh and T-Bone from Grindr and Amy Sedaris, who always reminds me how important she is to me.”
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Escola described being nominated as “the best thing that’s ever happened” to them.
Yet they played down their role in shaping history for non-binary folk, saying: “I can’t decide what it means for other people. I’m only me so I can only see things through my own eyes.”
Oh, Mary! sees Escola in the lead role as Mary Todd Lincoln, former First Lady of the United States and wife of Abraham Lincoln until his assassination in 1865.
An official synopsis reads: “Oh, Mary! is a dark comedy about a miserable, suffocated Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.
“Unrequited yearning, alcoholism, and suppressed desires abound in this 80-minute one-act play that finally examines the forgotten life and dreams of Mrs. Lincoln, through the lens of an idiot (playwright Cole Escola).
Cole Escola wins Best Actor in a Play for their performance as Mary Todd Lincoln in @ohmaryplay, thanking Amy Sedaris, who “always reminds me how important she is to me.” pic.twitter.com/CXLyeDPGs5
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) June 9, 2025
Oh, Mary! also marks Cole Escola’s first time performing on Broadway.
In addition to Leading Actor in a Play and Best Play, Oh, Mary! also scored nominations in the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play category for queer How to Get Away with Murder star Conrad Ricamora, and Best Direction of a Play and Best Costume Design of a Play categories.
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