The Drama League has announced the nominees of its 87th annual awards, which include five new categories: Outstanding Digital Theater, Individual Production; Outstanding Digital Theater, Collection or Festival; Outstanding Interactive or Socially Distanced Theater; Outstanding Audio Theater Production; and Outstanding Digital Concert. There were 33 productions nominated from over 400 submissions that premiered between March 12, 2020, and March 15, 2021. The winners will be announced May 21 at 7 p.m. ET in a livestream presentation.
The Drama League also announced five Special Recognition honorees: Iris Smith for the inaugural Gratitude Award; Liesl Tommy for the Founders Award for Excellence in Directing; Richard and Demi Weitz, creators of the Quarantunes series, for the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater Award; and The Actors Fund for the Unique Contribution to Theater Award.
The Outstanding Digital Theater, Individual Production, nominees include the musicals Don’t Stay Safe (book and lyrics by Cheryl L. Davis, music by Douglas J. Cohen) from Prospect Theater Company and The Last Five Years (by Jason Robert Brown) from Out of the Box Theatricals.
The Outstanding Digital Concert Production nominees include Breathing Free: A Visual Album from Heartbeat Opera, Myths and Hymns (by Adam Guettel) from Mastervoices, Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical (by the #RatatouilleMusical community) from Seaview, and Take Me To The World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration from Broadway.com.
Other musical nominees include Prime: A Practical Breviary (by Heather Christian) for Best Audio Theater Production. For a full list of nominees, click here.