89th Annual Drama League Awards Will Honor André De Shields, Lear deBessonet, More

The 2023 Special Recognition Honorees of The 89th Annual Drama League Awards will be celebrated during the annual ceremony May 19 at noon at The Ziegfeld Ballroom in Manhattan. Frank DiLella will host the event celebrating Broadway and Off-Broadway theatre.

Hadestown Tony winner André De Shields will receive the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater Award; The Drama Book Shop, owned by Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeffrey Seller, and James L. Nederlander, will be honored with the Contribution to the Theater Award; Encores! Artistic Director and Public Works founder Lear deBessonet will receive the Founders Award for Excellence in Directing; and the annual Gratitude Award will be presented to J.P. Morgan Asset and Wealth Management CCO Darin Oduyoye, in recognition of his leadership and commitment to the theatre industry.

Nominations for the 2022-2023 season will be announced April 25 at 11 AM ET at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Broadway and Off-Broadway productions need to have begun previews between April 21, 2022, and April 23, 2023, to be eligible for nomination.

READ: The Lehman Trilogy, A Strange Loop, Sutton Foster, More Are Winners of 88th Annual Drama League Awards

Drama League Awards will be bestowed in the following categories:

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
Founders Award for Excellence in Directing
Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater
Contribution to the Theater Award
The Gratitude Award

The Drama League, which was founded in 1916, provides life-long artistic resources for directors and a platform for dialogue with audiences. The awards were first presented in 1922 and formalized in 1935. For more information, click here.