Tony Award Nominees For 'Best Play' All Written By Americans Making Broadway Debuts

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Tony Awards will be held one week from Sunday, and the four "Best Play" nominees were all written by Americans making their Broadway debuts.

Fifteen years after slamming the door on her family, character Nora Helmer returns in "A Doll's House, Part 2." The new play, written by American playwright Lucas Hnath, picks up after Ibsen's 19th Century classic ended, CBS2's Dave Carlin reports.

With eight nominations, Hnath praises the cast and collaborators.

"All four lead actors and the director were nominated, which feels incredibly appropriate," he says. "Everybody sort of, in terms of acting styles, were complimentary."

Lead actress Laurie Metcalf is now a four-time Tony nominee. She shares the spotlight with Chris Cooper, who plays Nora's suffering Husband, Torvald. Jayne Houdyshell plays housekeeper Anne Marie, and Condola Rashad plays Nora's daughter, Emmy.

"You're watching a woman have to navigate herself through the construct of modern society. And what's more relevant than that?" Rashad says.

All four actors are nominated for Tonys, along with the director.

"It's a really amazing thing, that I can't even imagine, to have the whole cast acknowledged," director Sam Gold says.

Meanwhile, "Oslo" is nominated for seven awards. Set in Norway, it takes you behind the scene leading up to the 1993 Mideast peace accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

"I think people are awakened to the possibility of peace in the Middle East, even though that seems so remote and indeed the impossible," lead actor and nominee Jefferson Mays says.

"I think that the audience who come to see 'Oslo,' that they're taking away hope," lead actress and nominee Jennifer Ehle adds.

"Indecent" is nominated for three Tonys. It tells the story of the difficult journey to stage a controversial 20th Century Yiddish play.

While it examines artistic struggles, playwright Paula Vogel says there's a deeper meaning, too.

"It's a kind of great way to look at our country, to look at America, and to see how do we treat immigrants, and how do we accept or don't accept difference," she says.

"It's a real immigrant story about a time in America when immigrants were really pushed out," director Rebecca Taichman adds.

'Indecent' made the journey to Broadway and the Cort Theater after a successful run off-Broadway.

"It's a huge delight and deep and profound honor," Taichman says.

In the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Sweat," written by Brooklyn playwright Lynn Notage, jobs are at stake in a Pennsylvania working class town and personalities erupt.

The cast includes Michelle Wilson, who's getting her first Tony nomination.

"It brings up all these powerful issues. I think it's an answer in  a lot of ways for this time, like: How did we get there? And why are people so unhappy and frustrated?" she says.

Also nominated as featured actress is Wilson's costar, Johanna Day. "Sweat" is nominated for three awards.

You can watch the Tony Award, hosted by Kevin Spacey, live at 8 p.m. Sunday, June 11 on CBS2.