Jones & O'Hare to announce DL Awards nominations

Tony Award winners Cherry Jones and Denis O'Hare will announce the 81st Annual Drama League Awards nominations on Tuesday 21 April 2015 at 11:00 a.m. at Sardi's.

Cherry Jones is a two-time Tony Award winner (for 'Doubt' in 2005 and 'The Heiress' in 1995) and has also earned three further Tony nominations (for 'The Glass Menagerie' in 2014, 'A Moon for the Misbegotten' in 2000 and 'Our Country's Good' in 1991). Other Broadway credits include 'Mrs. Warren's Profession,' 'Faith Healer,' 'Imaginary Friends,' 'Major Barbara,' 'The Night of the Iguana,' 'Angels in America: Perestroika,' 'Angels in America: Millennium Approaches,' 'Macbeth,' and her Broadway debut 'Stepping Out' in 1987.

Denis O'Hare won a Tony Award in 2003 for 'Take Me Out' and received a further Tony nomination in 2004 for 'Assassins.' Other Broadway credits include 'Elling,' 'Inherit The Wind,' 'Sweet Charity,' 'Major Barbara,' 'Cabaret,' and his Broadway debut 'Racing Demon' in 1995.

The categories they will announce include Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, and the much-coveted Distinguished Performance Award.

The 81st Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony will take place on Friday, 15 May 2015 at 12pm the Marriott Marquis Times Square.

First awarded in 1922 and formalized in 1935, The Drama League Awards are the oldest theatrical honors in America. They are the only major theatergoer awards chosen by audience members — specifically, by the thousands of Drama League members nationwide who attend Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.

The Drama League Awards honor distinguished productions, performances, and exemplary career achievements in theatre and directing.

The first Drama League Award was presented to Katharine Cornell in 1935. Since then, the Distinguished Performance Award has been accorded to a roster of theatre legends such as Audra McDonald, Liam Neeson, Hugh Jackman, Patti LuPone, Glenn Close, Liev Schreiber, Sir John Gielgud, Harvey Fierstein, Cherry Jones, Alec Guinness, James Earl Jones, Julie Harris, Helen Hayes, Jeremy Irons, Mary-Louise Parker, Sir Ian McKellen, Bernadette Peters, and Christopher Plummer.

- by Tom Millward