The Drama League (Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks; Executive Director Bevin Ross) is thrilled to announce Grammy, Emmy, and Tony nominee Vanessa Williams (Into the Woods, “Ugly Betty”; upcoming The Devil Wears Prada) and television and stage star Jordan Fisher (Hadestown, Sweeney Todd, “Grease Live”) will be the co-hosts of the 2024 Drama League Awards Nominations announcement on Monday, April 22, 2024 at 10:00AM. The announcement event, held at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (111 Amsterdam Avenue at 64th St), will also be livestreamed by BroadwayWorld at 10:00AM.
Keeping in the tradition of honoring the outstanding accomplishments of the theatrical community since 1935, the Drama League Award nominations will be bestowed in the following categories, honoring Broadway and Off-Broadway artists of the 2023-24 season:
- Distinguished Performance Award
- Outstanding Production of a Play
- Outstanding Production of a Musical
- Outstanding Revival of a Play
- Outstanding Revival of a Musical
- Outstanding Direction of a Play
- Outstanding Direction of a Musical
Broadway and Off-Broadway productions will need to have been in previews between April 24, 2023 – April 20, 2024, to be eligible for this season’s awards. The 90th Annual Drama League Awards, the theater industry’s distinguished, historic annual luncheon ceremony, will be presented at The Ziegfeld Ballroom (141 W 54th St, NYC) on Friday, May 17, 2024, at 12:00PM.
As recently announced, this year’s Special Recognition Honorees at the Drama League Awards are Jonathan Groff, Jessica Lange, Schele Williams, and Kandi Burruss. A two-time Tony Award and Emmy Award nominee, Jonathan Groff – currently starring on Broadway in Merrily We Roll Along – will receive the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater Award for his outstanding work on stage as part of the musical theater community. Tony Award and two-time Academy Award winner Jessica Lange – who returns to Broadway this spring in Mother Play – will be honored with the Contribution to the Theater Award for her unwavering commitment to furthering the art of the American theater. Schele Williams will be honored with the Founders Award for Excellence in Directing for her incredible contributions to the field, which includes this season’s The Wiz and The Notebook. Burruss will recieve the annual Gratitude Award, in recognition of her leadership and commitment to the theater industry as a producer and performer.
First presented in 1922 and formalized in 1935, the Drama League Awards are a core service to the theater community of The Drama League, an arts organization that has provided vital support to the field and its artists for over a century. The organization’s mission provides the nation’s only full-time, lifelong creative home for stage directors and the audiences that enjoy their work around the world. Last year’s dynamic 2023 Drama League Awards ceremony brought out the industry’s best and brightest with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jessica Chastain, Oscar Isaac, Rachel Brosnahan, Jodie Comer, Josh Groban, Sara Bareilles, Andre DeShields & more, dazzling the audience of more than 500 people. Sweeney Todd star Annaleigh Ashford took home the 2023 Distinguished Performance Award, which artists can only win once in their career, and Some Like It Hot and Leopoldstadt won Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical and Play, respectively. The 2023 Drama League Awards also saw the second year of new categories for Outstanding Direction of a Play (recipient Anne Kauffman for The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window) and Outstanding Direction of a Musical (recipient Lear deBessonet for Into the Woods), which honor the vital mission of The Drama League.
More information about the ceremony and how to attend can be found at https://dramaleague.org/2024-awards/. For a complete list of productions and performers that have won Drama League Awards in the event’s history, as well as all past honorees, click here.
The Drama League is grateful for support from its generous donors and current Drama League Awards Sponsors, including our Presenting Sponsor, J.P. Morgan; Gold Sponsors, BroadwayHD and Darin Oduyoye; Silver Sponsors, Mary Jain, Paula Kaminsky Davis, Merrily We Roll Along, and Second Stage Theater. More information on sponsoring the luncheon can be found at dramaleague.org/2024awards.