Chicago Legends to Announce 2016 Jeff Award Nominations Next Week

Chicago theatre greats Deanna Dunagan and Mike Nussbaum will announce the nominations for the 48th Annual Joseph Jefferson Awards, recognizing excellence in Chicago theatre, on a video to be released Tuesday, August 30 at www.jeffawards.org.

Ms. Dunagan and Mr. Nussbaum have often graced the Jeff Awards ceremonies as nominees and recipients during the course of their illustrious careers.

Ms. Dunagan has received eight Jeff nominations and three awards. She has been most honored for portraying the feisty matriarch in Tracy Letts' August: Osage County, a role she originated at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and performed on Broadway, in London and in Sydney, and was recognized with a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

Mr. Nussbaum, acknowledged by Actors' Equity Association as the oldest working American actor, has received 13 Jeff nominations and four awards: one for directing and three for acting. He was also the recipient of a Special Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

Both Ms. Dunagan and Mr. Nussbaum have also done extensive film and TV work.

The nominations they will announce are for productions from 58 Chicago-area producing organizations that have contracts with Actors' Equity Association. To be eligible, a production must have opened between August 1, 2015 and July 31, 2016.

The 48th Annual Jeff Awards Equity ceremony honoring excellence in Chicago theatre will be held on Monday, October 17, at Drury Lane Oakbrook, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace. The public is cordially invited.

The Jeff Awards Committee has been honoring outstanding theatre artists annually since it was established in 1968. With up to 55 members representing a wide variety of backgrounds in theatre, the Jeff Awards Committee is dedicated to celebrating the vitality of Chicago area theatre by recognizing excellence through its recommendations, awards, and honors. The Jeff Awards fosters the artistic growth of area theatres and theatre artists and promotes educational opportunities, audience appreciation, and civic pride in the achievements of the theatre community. Each year, the Jeff Awards Committee evaluates over 250 theatrical productions and holds two awards ceremonies. Originally chartered to recognize only Equity productions, the Jeff Awards Non-Equity Wing was established in 1973 to celebrate outstanding achievement in non-union theatre.

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