La Jolla Playhouse Productions Nominated for 10 Tony Awards!

La Jolla Playhouse's world-premiere productions of Come From Away, featuring book, music and lyrics by David Hein and Irene Sankoff and direction by Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley, and Indecent, by Paula Vogel, are both up for multiple Tony Awards this season. The Tony Awards ceremony takes place this Sunday, June 11 at 8:00pm, broadcast on CBS.

"It is tremendously gratifying to see our own Christopher Ashley and these two Playhouse-born shows be so warmly embraced on Broadway and receive such incredible award recognition," said Playhouse Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg. "It's a true testament to the caliber of work originating at La Jolla Playhouse, to the incredible production teams and staff who helped build and support this work, as well as to our devoted San Diego audiences, who consistently join us on the play development journey."

On May 2, Come From Away received 7 Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, Best Score: David Hein and Irene Sankoff, Best Book of a Musical: David Hein and Irene Sankoff, Best Director of a Musical: Christopher Ashley, Best Choreography: Kelly Devine, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical: Jenn Colella and Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Howell Binkley.

Indecent received 3 Tony Award nominations, including Best Play for playwright Paula Vogel, Best Director of a Play: Rebecca Taichman and Best Lighting Design for a Play: Christopher Akerlind.

This Broadway season, the two productions have also received several Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical; Outstanding Book of a Musical for Come From Away writers David Hein and Irene Sankoff; Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for Jenn Colella, and Outstanding Lighting Design Award for Indecent Lighting Designer Christopher Akerlind, as well as five Outer Critics Circle Awards, namely Outstanding New Broadway Musical, Outstanding Book of a Musical, Outstanding Director of a Musical for Christopher Ashley, Outstanding Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for Jenn Colella, and Outstanding Sound Design for Gareth Owen. Indecent director Rebecca Taichman also took home an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Director of a Play while playwright Paula Vogel was honored with the 2017 Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Come From Away had its world-premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in May, 2015, where it played to overwhelming critical and audience acclaim, winning six San Diego Critics' Circle Awards. The show then went on to Seattle Repertory Theatre, DC's Ford's Theatre and Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre, breaking box office records in each city, before opening at Broadway's Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in March, 2017.

Indecent, co-produced with Yale Repertory Theatre, had its world premiere at the Playhouse in November, 2015. It enjoyed a subsequent Off-Broadway run at the Vineyard Theatre and later opened at Broadway's Cort Theatre in April, 2017, marking the 28th La Jolla Playhouse production to transfer to Broadway.

There are also plans for the Playhouse's 2016 world-premiere of Ayad Akhtar's JUNK and the current Christopher Ashley-directed production of Escape to Margaritaville (running through July 9), book by Greg Garcia and Mike O'Malley, music and lyrics by Jimmy Buffett, to open on Broadway next season.

The Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is internationally-renowned for creating some of the most exciting and adventurous work in American theatre, through its new play development initiatives, its innovative Without Walls series, artist residencies and commissions. Led by Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg, the Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and reborn in 1983 under the artistic leadership of Des McAnuff, La Jolla Playhouse has seen 28 productions transfer to Broadway, garnering 35 Tony Awards, among them the currently-running Come From Away and Indecent, as well as Jersey Boys, Memphis, The Who's Tommy, Big River, as well as Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays and the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, both fostered as part of the Playhouse's Page To Stage Program. Visit LaJollaPlayhouse.org.

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