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Andre De Shields, Jessica Hecht, Sarah Snook Win Big With Theater Awards
May 13, 2025, 2:58.31 pm ET

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John Proctor is the Villain (Photo: Julieta Cervantes)

Theater awards season continues, with some major announcements being made in the past few days.

OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE

The Outer Critics Circle has announced the winners of their awards, to be presented on May 22 at Lincoln Center. “Maybe Happy Ending” topped the pack with four awards, including Best New Broadway Musical. “Boop! The Musical” took home three awards, including Best Leading Performance in a Broadway Musical for Jasmine Amy Rogers, while “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” also won three awards. “John Proctor Is the Villain” was named Best New Broadway Play; “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” was named Best Revival; “Drag: The Musical” was named Best New Off-Broadway Musical; “Liberation” was named Best New Off-Broadway Play; and “Good Night, and Good Luck,” by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, won the John W. Gassner Award for Best New American Play. In addition to Rogers, performers who were honored also included Sarah Snook, Laura Donnelly, Jak Malone, Michael Rishawn, Francis Jue, Andre De Shields, and Nick Adams.


The Picture of Dorian Gray (Photo: Marc Brenner)

DORIAN THEATER AWARDS

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ theater wing have announced the nominees for the third annual Dorian Theater Awards. Leading the Broadway categories with seven nominations is “Death Becomes Her,” followed by “John Proctor is the Villain,” “Purpose,” and “Sunset Blvd” with six. In the Off-Broadway categories, “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” is the most nominated production, with a total of five.
Acting nominees include Megan Hilty, Jennifer Simard, Christopher Sieber, Darren Criss, Jonathan Groff, Audra McDonald, Jasmine Amy Rogers, Kit Connor, Mia Farrow, Sarah Snook, Sadie Sink, Fina Strazza, Amalia Yoo, Jon Michael Hill, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Alana Arenas, Kara Young, Nicole Scherzinger, Tom Francis, David Thaxton, Michael Urie, Lea Salonga, Taylor Trensch, Jessica Hecht, Zachary Quinto, Bob Odenkirk, Paul Mescal, Andrew Scott, Brandon Flynn, Billy Crudup, Kyra Sedgwick, Andre De Shields, Sydney James Harcourt, “Tempress” Chastity Moore, Alaska Thunderfuck, Jujube, Jinkx Monsoon, Joanna Gleason and Jeanine Serralles.

Finally, the nominees for the group’s career achievement award, LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer, are performer Andre De Shields, playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, drag artist Jinkx Monsoon, actor Andrew Scott, costume designer Paul Tazewell, and director George C. Wolfe. Meanwhile, the LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season nominees include Groff, Monsoon, Jacobs-Jenkins, actor Tommy Dorfman and director Michael Arden.


Sunset Blvd (Photo: Marc Brenner)

ACTORS EQUITY FOUNDATION

The Actors Equity Foundation has bestowed the annual Richard Seff Award for two veteran actors to Jessica Hecht (“Eureka Day”), and Francis Jue (“Yellow Face”); the Clarence Derwent Award for the two most promising performances of the season was given to Nicholas Barasch (“Pirates! The Penzance Musical”) and Julia Lester (“All Nighter”); while The Joe A. Callaway Award for the two best performances in a classical play were awarded to Steven Epp (“Henry IV”) and Kimber Elayne Sprawl (“Othello”).

OFF-BROADWAY ALLIANCE

Finally, the Off-Broadway Alliance announced nominees in five competitive categories: Best New Musical, Best New Play, Best Revival, Best Solo Performance, and Best Unique Theatrical Experience, including such shows as “All the World’s a Stage,” “Becoming Eve,” “Here There Are Blueberries,” “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now,” “Mindplay,” and “Vanya.”

In addition to the competitive awards, Legend of Off-Broadway Awards will be presented to David Greenspan and Scott Morfee for their extraordinary contributions to theater; William Finn, Morgan Jenness, and Linda Lavin will be posthumously inducted into the Off Broadway Hall of Fame; and the Friend of Off-Broadway Award will be presented to Helen Shaw, theatre critic and writer at The New Yorker.


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