Larry Owens and the cast of A Strange Loop

Nominations for The 35th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards announced

Michael R. Jackson's world premiere musical A Strange Loop receives the most nominations this year with 7 nods.

Tom Millward
Tom Millward

Stage favorites Ashley Spencer and Tony Award nominee Jeremy Jordan have announced the nominations for The 35th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for outstanding achievement Off-Broadway.

As previously reported, the 2020 ceremony will be presented online on Sunday, May 3 at 7pm (ET). A virtual "host" and presenters for the ceremony will be revealed shortly.

Leading the pack of nominations this year is Michael R. Jackson's world premiere musical A Strange Loop, produced by Playwrights Horizons in association with Page 73 Productions, with a total of 7 nods. Will Arbery's Heroes of the Fourth Turning, another Playwrights Horizons production, as well as the Lincoln Center Theater LCT3 production of In the Green, a new musical by Grace McLean, were close behind with six nominations each.

The following Special Awards, as previously reported, will also be presented at this year's ceremony:

Lifetime Achievement AwardTim Sanford (Artistic Director of Playwrights Horizons)

Playwrights' Sidewalk InducteeAnna Deavere Smith


The 2020 nominations by category are:

Outstanding Play

BLKS (at MCC Theater) - written by Aziza Barnes

Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven (at Atlantic Theater Company) - written by Stephen Adly Guirgis

Heroes of the Fourth Turning (at Playwrights Horizons) - written by Will Arbery

Is This A Room (at Vineyard Theatre) - conceived by Tina Satter

Mrs. Murray's Menagerie (at Ars Nova) - created by The Mad Ones and Phillip James Brannon, Brad Heberlee, Carmen M. Herlihy, January LaVoy


Outstanding Musical

A Strange Loop (at Playwrights Horizons) - Book, Music & Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson 

In The Green (at Lincoln Center Theater) - Book, Music & Lyrics by Grace McLean

Octet (at Signature Theatre) - Book, Music & Lyrics by Dave Malloy

Soft Power (at Public Theater) - Play and Lyrics by David Henry Hwang, Music and Additional Lyrics by Jeanine Tesori

The Secret Life of Bees (at Atlantic Theater Company) - Book by Lynn Nottage, Music by Duncan Sheik, and Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead, based on the novel by Sue Monk Kidd


Outstanding Revival

A Bright Room Called Day (at Public Theater) - written by Tony Kushner

Fires in the Mirror (at Signature Theatre) - written by Anna Deavere Smith

for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (at Public Theater) - written by Ntozake Shange

Little Shop of Horrors (at Westside Theatre) - Book & Lyrics by Howard Ashman, Music by Alan Menken

Mac Beth (by Red Bull Theater) - written by William Shakespeare, adapted by Erica Schmidt


Outstanding Solo Show

Bella Bella (by Manhattan Theatre Club) - written and performed by Harvey Fierstein

Dana H. (at Vineyard Theatre) - written by Lucas Hnath and performed by Deirdre O'Connell

the way she spoke (by Audible) - written by Isaac Gomez and performed by Kate del Castillo

We're Only Alive for A Short Amount of Time (at Public Theater) - Lyrics by David Cale, Music by David Cale and Matthew Dean Marsh, performed by David Cale

Where We Stand (at WP Theater) - written and performed by Donnetta Lavinia Grays


Outstanding Director

Stephen Brackett, A Strange Loop

Tina Satter, Is This A Room

Danya Taymor, Heroes of the Fourth Turning

Annie Tippe, Octet

Les Waters, Dana H.


Outstanding Choreographer

Camille A. Brown, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf

Camille A. Brown, Toni Stone

Raja Feather Kelly, A Strange Loop

Sam Pinkleton, Soft Power

Travis Wall, The Wrong Man


Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play

Charles Busch, The Confession of Lily Dare

Edmund Donovan, Greater Clements

Raúl Esparza, Seared

Hamish Linklater, The Pain of My Belligerence

Aaron Yoo, The Headlands


Outstanding Lead Actress in a play

Liza Colón-Zayas, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven

Emily Davis, Is This A Room

April Matthis, Toni Stone

Zoë Winters, Heroes of the Fourth Turning      

Kara Young, All the Natalie Portmans


Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical

Jonathan Groff, Little Shop of Horrors

Joshua Henry, The Wrong Man

Francis Jue, Soft Power

Larry Owens, A Strange Loop

Conrad Ricamora, Soft Power


Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical

Eisa Davis, The Secret Life of Bees

LaChanze, The Secret Life of Bees

Beth Malone, The Unsinkable Molly Brown

Janelle McDermoth, We're Gonna Die

Grace McLean, In The Green


Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play

Christopher Borg, The Confession of Lily Dare

Marc Bovino, Mrs. Murray's Menagerie

Garcia, Continuity

Francis Jue, Cambodian Rock Band

Ken Narasaki, Greater Clements


Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play

Okwui Okpokwasili, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf

Estelle Parsons, A Bright Room Called Day

Michele Pawk, Heroes of the Fourth Turning

Stephanie Wright Thompson, Mrs. Murray's Menagerie

Alexandria Wailes, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf 


Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical

Christian Borle, Little Shop of Horrors

Alex Gibson, Octet

Gus Halper, Sing Street

Jay Armstrong Johnson, Scotland, PA

John-Andrew Morrison, A Strange Loop


Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical

Ashley Pérez FlanaganIn The Green

Ari Groover, Little Shop of Horrors

L Morgan LeeA Strange Loop

Ciara Renée, The Wrong Man

Kuhoo Verma, Octet


Outstanding Scenic Design

You-Shin Chen and Laura Jellinek, Mrs. Murray's Menagerie

Yu-Hsuan Chen, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord

Tim Mackabee, Seared

James Noone, London Assurance

Clint Ramos, Soft Power


Outstanding Costume Design

Dede Ayite, BLKS

Montana Levi BlancoA Strange Loop

Oana Botez, In The Green

Toni-Leslie James, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf

Rachel Townsend and Jessica Jahn, The Confession of Lily Dare


Outstanding Lighting Design

Isabella Byrd, Heroes of the Fourth Turning

Alan C. Edwards, Fires in the Mirror

Tyler Micoleau, Socrates

Barbara Samuels, In The Green

Jen Schriever, Power Strip


Outstanding Sound Design

Justin Ellington, Heroes of the Fourth Turning

Mikhail Fiksel, Dana H.

Lee Kinney and Sanae Yamada, Is This A Room

Hidenori Nakajo, Octet

Nicholas Pope, In The Green


Outstanding Projection Design

Stephan Mazurek, Mojada

Lisa Renkel and Possible, Emojiland the Musical

Ruey Horng SunThe Headlands

Hannah Wasileski, Anatomy of a Suicide

Hannah Wasileski, Fires in the Mirror


Awarded since 1986, The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation, with additional support provided by TDF,

(Photo by Joan Marcus)

 

Originally published on

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