Two icons of American theatre will be honored at the 68th Annual Drama Desk Awards which will take place on June 10 at the New York University Skirball Center in Manhattan.
Actor Nathan Lane will receive the Harold S. Prince Award for Lifetime Achievement, and Lincoln Center Theater’s Producing Artistic Director, André Bishop, will receive the inaugural William Wolf Award.
The Harold S. Prince Award for Lifetime Achievement honors the memory of the legendary director and producer, Harold Prince, who died in 2019, and who brought to the stage many of the most iconic musicals in American theatre. Honoree Nathan Lane was most recently seen in Pictures From Home, his 25th appearance in a Broadway play since his debut in 1982. He is also well-known for his screen roles including his Emmy-winning turn in Only Murders in the Building.
This year is the inauguration of the William Wolf Award, which commemorates the career of the late journalist, theater and film critic, and teacher who was a longtime Drama Desk president. The first recipient of this award, André Bishop, has been Lincoln Center Theater's artistic director since 1992 and producing artistic director since 2013. Bishop's career developing and producing new works by many of America’s leading playwrights, composers, and lyricists. He led the creation of the Claire Tow Theater at Lincoln Center Theater, and the LCT3 program, aimed at producing new work by the next generation of theater artists and engaging new audiences.
“We’re delighted to honor Nathan Lane and André Bishop,” Drama Desk co-presidents David Barbour and Charles Wright said in a statement. “Nathan is one of the most versatile actors on the English-speaking stage, with range from musical theater to works of Eugene O'Neill and Tony Kushner. André, at the helm of two distinguished theater companies, has nurtured and championed a myriad of important artists—especially playwrights. It’s a privilege to celebrate their achievements.”
The Drama Desk Awards are the only major New York City theater awards for which productions on Broadway, Off Broadway, and Off Off Broadway compete against each other in the same categories.
As was the case last year, all performance categories are gender-free. The updated gender-free categories are: Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play, Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical, Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, and Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical.
The Drama Desk Awards are voted for by theater critics, journalists, editors, and publishers covering theater. The Drama Desk Awards honor all aspects of New York’s professional theater.
About The Drama Desk
The 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.
All Drama Desk officers and nominating committee members perform their various services for the organization on a voluntary basis. The organization takes pride in announcing that the awards are then voted on “by impartial media people only,” without any vested interests in the results. Today, 100 New York theater critics, reporters, writers, and arts editors vote on the awards.
Staci Levine and Jessica R. Jenen will Executive Produce the Awards and David Barbour and Charles Wright are The Drama Desk co-presidents.