Drama Desk Awards: dates announced

The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards will take place on 19 May 2013 at 8pm at The Town Hall, it was announced by Gretchen Shugart (Executive Producer of Drama Desk Awards), which will present the awards ceremony.

The Nominations Announcement News Conference will take place on 26 Apr 2013 at 11am at 54 Below and will be announced by John Lloyd Young (Drama Desk Winner, 'Jersey Boys') and Jan Maxwell (Drama Desk Winner, 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,' Drama Desk Winner, 'The Royal Family').

The 2012-2013 Drama Desk Nominating Committee is composed of: Barbara Siegel, Chairperson; David Kaufman (author and freelance), Samuel L. Leiter (Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Theatre, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center), Martha Wade Steketee (Chance Magazine), Adrian Wattenmaker (Theater Faculty, Brooklyn College; Director, School of Creative and Performing Arts), and James Wilson (Professor of Theatre, CUNY; co-editor of Journal of American Drama and Theatre).

Isa Goldberg, president of Drama Desk, said, "Drama Desk Awards, honoring outstanding achievement by professionals working on the New York stage, reflect the knowledge and theatrical experience of our membership. Indeed, this year's nominating committee is comprised of Drama Desk members who reflect the highest level of distinction as theater critics, scholars and journalists."

Drama Desk was founded in 1949 to explore key issues in the theater and to bring together critics and writers in an organization to support the ongoing development of theater in New York. The organization began presenting its awards in 1955, and it is the only critics' organization to honor achievement in the theater with competition among Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions in the same categories.