Arlene Epstein News

The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards will take place on Sunday, June 3, 2012 at 8:00 PM at The Town Hall in Manhattan, it was announced today by Gretchen Shugart, CEO of TheaterMania.com, which will present the awards ceremony with Robert R. Blume and David S. Stone in association with Renee McCurry.

Nominations for the 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards will be announced at a news conference on Monday, May 2, 2011, at 9:30 AM at the New York Friars Club, 57 East 55th Street, in Manhattan. A continental breakfast will be available at 8:45 AM. Drama Desk and Tony winners Audra McDonald and Liev Schreiber will announce the nominations in the various categories. In addition, there will be remarks by Drama Desk President Isa Goldberg, Drama Desk Awards Executive Producer Robert R. Blume, Nominating Committee Chairperson Barbara Siegel and Randie Levine-Miller, Drama Desk Director of Special Events, who has produced this event at the Friars Club for the past 15 years.

The 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards announced a series of major changes designed to enhance the visibility and outreach of the Drama Desk Awards nationwide while, at the same time, creating a large national footprint for all segments of New York theater. The changes include a television broadcast deal with Ovation; moving the awards ceremony from a concert hall to a prestigious ballroom in Midtown Manhattan; presenting the awards at a gala sit-down dinner in an elegant setting, hosted by a major Broadway star; adding musical numbers from nominated New York stage productions; changing the day of the annual Drama Desk Awards from its traditional Sunday time-slot to a Monday night when most Broadway and Off Broadway shows are dark; and adding major media partners. The changes were announced at a news conference held today (Thursday, February 24, 2011) at Inc Lounge in the Time Hotel, 224 West 49th Street, by Robert R. Blume, who has been Executive Producer of the annual Drama Desk Awards since 1999.

Isa Goldberg, theater critic and journalist, has been elected the new President of the Drama Desk by its membership voting electronically in approval of the projected Officers and Board of Directors slate for 2010-2011. She assumed the Presidency at this evening's annual membership meeting, held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Travel Inn, 515 West 42nd Street. Ms. Goldberg was introduced as the incoming President by outgoing President William Wolf, who was elected to remain on the Board as a Member-at-Large.

Michael John LaChiusa, Adam Rapp, Carol Kane, Diane West and many others attend the Lucille Lortel Awards nominees' Cocktail Party at Therapy in New York City April 17, 2006.