Alexandra Billings Set To Host 27th Annual LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards

Alexandra Billings has been set to host the 27th Annual LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, January 17 at the Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center. Red carpet arrivals begin at 6pm and the ceremony begins at 7:30pm.

Actress, singer, author, teacher, and activist Alexandra Billings stars as Davina on Amazon's multi-award-winning series Transparent. She played Donna in the ABC film Romy and Michelle: A New Beginning, one of the first times a transgender actress played a transgender character on television. Other TV credits include guest starring appearances on How to Get Away with Murder, Grey's Anatomy, ER, and Nurses (with Lynn Redgrave). She stars in the upcoming feature film Valley of Bones. Billings has been acting since 1968 and has performed in hundreds of plays and musicals across the United States. Her autobiographical solo show Before I Disappear toured from Chicago to Boston to Los Angeles and then off-Broadway where it received rave reviews and ran for over 10 years. She recently performed her newest solo piece, S/He and Me at Cal State Long Beach. Billings' activism stretches across the continent. In 2016 she moderated a panel during Transgender Awareness Month at the White House. She has won the TPA Award and the Rainbow Spirit Award and was inducted into the Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in Chicago. Living with AIDS since the mid-80s, Billings chronicles her life's journey in her blog Stilettos and Sneakers, and she is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post. From Schoolboy to Showgirl: The Alexandra Billings Story, aired on PBS and received an Emmy Award nomination for Best Documentary.

"The great gift of what we do as artists is to celebrate the human condition," said Billings. "I am so excited to be in the room with so many humans who believe that what we do is attempt, in the best way we can, to replicate the history of where we've been so that where we're headed can be brighter, more beautiful, and more glorious than we ever dreamed. And then to hand that story to as many other humans as we can. And I'm thrilled to do this with as much hope and as many sequins as possible."

Los Angeles theatre notables scheduled to be presenters are (in alphabetical order) Luis Alfaro, Michael Arden, Randall Arney, Jon Robin Baitz, EB Brooks, Sara Ryung Clement, Paul Crewes, Dale Dickey, Sheldon Epps, Marilyn Fox, Beth Grant, Elizabeth Harper, Rajiv Joseph, Richard Montoya, Oanh Nguyen, Mitch O'Farrell, Bill Pullman, Diane Rodriguez, Ric Salinas, Del Shores, Herbert Siguenza, Jimmi Simpson, Ali Stroker, and Kitty Swink. All appearances are subject to change. Musical numbers will be presented by DOMA Theatre Company.

Sponsors for this year's Ovation Awards ceremony are Wells Fargo, Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment, F&D Scene Changes Ltd., UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television, Goldstar, USC School of Dramatic Arts, Ken Werther Publicity, Bakers Man Productions, Time Out Los Angeles, TheaterMania | OvationTix, Performances Magazine, Variety, and Peter Konerko Photography. The Ovation Awards are presented in partnership with the New York Drama Desk Awards.

For more information and details on how to attend the Ovation Awards ceremony on January 17, visit www.OvationAwards.com.