English professor Donald Margulies has received many accolades for his plays, including the Pulitzer Prize, but he had never been nominated for a Tony — that is, until Tuesday.

Margulies’ play “Time Stands Still,” which premiered in Los Angeles in 2009 and opened on Broadway early this year, was nominated today for a 2010 Tony Award for Best Play.

“This is momentous in that it is my first Tony nomination,” Margulies said Tuesday.

Laura Linney — who stars as one of the play’s lead characters, a photojournalist recuperating from injuries sustained while covering the war in Iraq — was also nominated for a Tony for “Time Stands Still,” in the Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play category. Actress Linda Lavin garnered a nomination in the same category for another one of Margulies’ plays, “Collected Stories.”

“They are both giving sensational performances,” Margulies said of Linney and Lavin. “For me it’s an embarrassment of riches.”

Margulies, who teaches “Playwriting” and “Advanced Playwriting Workshop” to undergraduates, earned the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for “Dinner With Friends.” While “Time Stands Still” closed in late March, “Collected Stories” is currently playing at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway.

Among the other Yalies nominated for Tony awards this year are Liev Schreiber DRA ’92, for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play in “A View From the Bridge,” and David Alan Grier DRA ’81, for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play in “Race.”

The Tony Awards are scheduled for June 13.