2020 Lortel Awards Recognizes Asian American Talent

New York, NY (April 14, 2020) – Nominations for the 35th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway were announced today by theatre veterans Jeremy Jordan and Ashley Spencer. The Awards will be presented during a special online event on Sunday, May 3, broadcast on the official website – www.LortelAwards.org – beginning at 7:00pm ET.

A virtual “host” and presenters will be announced at a later date. As always, the Lortel Awards will be a benefit for The Actors Fund and fans are encouraged to make donations at actorsfund.org/Lortel. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation. Additional support is provided by TDF.

Asian American theatre artists include

Outstanding Musical
Soft Power Produced by The Public Theater and Center Theatre Group
Play and Lyrics by David Henry Hwang, Music and Additional Lyrics by Jeanine Tesori

Outstanding Choreographer
Sam Pinkleton, Soft Power

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play
Aaron Yoo, The Headlands

Leading the nominations this year with seven is Michael R. Jackson’s A Strange Loop, produced by Playwrights Horizons in association with Page 73 Productions. The Outstanding Musical nominee also earned nominations for Stephen Brackett as Outstanding Director, as well as three acting nominations, Costume Design, and Choreographer.

Just behind with six nominations each – Will Arbery’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning, produced by Playwrights Horizons, received nominations for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Director Danya Taymor; and Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3’s In The Green earned a nomination for Outstanding Musical for writer Grace McLean, who was also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical.

As previously announced, special honorees this year include Playwrights Horizons’ Tim Sanford, who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award; and Anna Deavere Smith, who will be inducted onto the famed Playwrights’ Sidewalk in front of the historic Lucille Lortel Theatre.

The Off-Broadway League League’s Lortel Awards Producing & Administration Committee (Jeremy Adams, Carol Fishman, George Forbes, Danielle Karliner Naish, Kendra Ramthun, Catherine Russell, Lindsey Sag, and Casey York) and the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation (George Forbes, Jeffrey Shubart, Nancy Hurvitz, and Alana Canty-Samuel) produce the Lortel Awards Ceremony.

Acclaimed writer/director Michael Heitzman returns to direct the Lortel Awards for the tenth consecutive year. Representatives of the Off-Broadway League, Actors’ Equity Association, Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, United Scenic Artists, the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation, in addition to theatre journalists, academics and other Off-Broadway professionals, serve on the Voting Committee.

For updates and news about the ceremony and media releases, visit www.LortelAwards.org. Follow the Lortel Awards (#LortelAwards) on Twitter (https://twitter.com/OffBroadwayNYC), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offbroadwayleague/), Facebook https://www.facebook.com/OffBroadwayNYC. Subscribe to the Lortel Awards YouTube channel to watch clips from previous ceremonies.

2020 LUCILLE LORTEL AWARDS NOMINATIONS

Outstanding Play

BLKS Produced by MCC Theater Written by Aziza Barnes
Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven Produced by Atlantic Theater Company and LAByrinth Theater Company Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Heroes of the Fourth Turning Produced by Playwrights Horizons Written by Will Arbery
Is This A Room Produced by Vineyard Theatre Conceived by Tina Satter
Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie Produced by Ars Nova Created by The Mad Ones and Phillip James Brannon, Brad Heberlee, Carmen M. Herlihy, January LaVoy

Outstanding Musical

A Strange Loop  Produced by Playwrights Horizons in association with Page 73 Productions Book, Music, and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson
In The Green Produced by Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 Book, Music, and Lyrics by Grace McLean
Octet Produced by Signature Theatre
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Dave Malloy
Soft Power Produced by The Public Theater and Center Theatre Group
Play and Lyrics by David Henry Hwang, Music and Additional Lyrics by Jeanine Tesori
The Secret Life of Bees Produced by Atlantic Theater Company
Book by Lynn Nottage, Music by Duncan Sheik, Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead Based on the novel by Sue Monk Kidd

Outstanding Revival

A Bright Room Called Day Produced by The Public Theater Written by Tony Kushner
Fires in the Mirror Produced by Signature Theatre Written by Anna Deavere Smith
Performed by Michael Benjamin Washington
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf Produced by The Public Theater Written by Ntozake Shange
Little Shop of Horrors Produced by Tom Kirdahy, Robert Ahrens, Hunter Arnold, Mickey Liddell, Caiola Productions, Curt Cronin, John Joseph, DDM Productions, DeSantis-Baugh Productions, Elizabeth Dewberry & Ali Ahmet Kocabiyik, Wendy Federman, Roy Furman, Deborah Green, Kayla Greenspan, Marguerite Hoffman, Sally Cade Holmes, Latitude Link, Seriff Productions, Silva Theatrical Group, Eric Gelb/Oliver Roth
Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman, Music by Alan Menken
MAC BETH Produced by Red Bull Theater
Written by William Shakespeare, Adapted by Erica Schmidt

Outstanding Solo Show

Bella Bella Produced by Manhattan Theatre Club Written and Performed by Harvey Fierstein
Dana H. Produced by Vineyard Theatre, Goodman Theatre, and Center Theatre Group Written by Lucas Hnath
Performed by Deirdre O’Connell
the way she spoke Produced by Audible
Written by Isaac Gomez Performed by Kate del Castillo
We’re Only Alive for A Short Amount of Time Produced by The Public Theater and Goodman Theatre
Written and Performed by David Cale, Lyrics by David Cale, Music by David Cale and Matthew Dean Marsh
Where We Stand
Produced by WP Theater in association with Baltimore Center Stage Written and Performed by Donnetta Lavinia Grays

Outstanding Director

Stephen Brackett, A Strange Loop
Tina Satter, Is This A Room
Danya Taymor, Heroes of the Fourth Turning
Annie Tippe, Octet
Les Waters, Dana H.

Outstanding Choreographer

Camille A. Brown, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Camille A. Brown, Toni Stone
Raja Feather Kelly, A Strange Loop
Sam Pinkleton, Soft Power
Travis Wall, The Wrong Man

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play

Charles Busch, The Confession of Lily Dare Edmund Donovan, Greater Clements
Raúl Esparza, Seared
Hamish Linklater, The Pain of My Belligerence
Aaron Yoo, The Headlands

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play

Liza Colón-Zayas, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
Emily Davis, Is This A Room
April Matthis, Toni Stone
Zoë Winters, Heroes of the Fourth Turning
Kara Young, All the Natalie Portmans

Christopher Borg, The Confession of Lily Dare
Marc Bovino, Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie
Garcia, Continuity
Francis Jue, Cambodian Rock Band
Ken Narasaki, Greater Clements

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play

Okwui Okpokwasili, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Estelle Parsons, A Bright Room Called Day
Michele Pawk, Heroes of the Fourth Turning
Stephanie Wright Thompson, Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie
Alexandria Wailes, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical

Jonathan Groff, Little Shop of Horrors
Joshua Henry, The Wrong Man
Francis Jue, Soft Power
Larry Owens, A Strange Loop
Conrad Ricamora, Soft Power

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical

Eisa Davis, The Secret Life of Bees
LaChanze, The Secret Life of Bees
Beth Malone, The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Janelle McDermoth, We’re Gonna Die
Grace McLean, In The Green

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical

Christian Borle, Little Shop of Horrors
Alex Gibson, Octet
Gus Halper, Sing Street
Jay Armstrong Johnson, Scotland, PA
John-Andrew Morrison, A Strange Loop

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical

Ashley Pérez Flanagan, In The Green
Ari Groover, Little Shop of Horrors
L Morgan Lee, A Strange Loop
Ciara Renée, The Wrong Man
Kuhoo Verma, Octet

Outstanding Scenic Design

You-Shin Chen and Laura Jellinek, Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie
Yu-Hsuan Chen, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord
Tim Mackabee, Seared
James Noone, London Assurance
Clint Ramos, Soft Power

Outstanding Costume Design

Dede Ayite, BLKS
Montana Levi Blanco, A Strange Loop
Oana Botez, In The Green
Toni-Leslie James, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Rachel Townsend and Jessica Jahn, The Confession of Lily Dare

Outstanding Lighting Design

Isabella Byrd, Heroes of the Fourth Turning
Alan C. Edwards, Fires in the Mirror
Tyler Micoleau, Socrates
Barbara Samuels, In The Green
Jen Schriever, Power Strip

Outstanding Sound Design

Justin Ellington, Heroes of the Fourth Turning
Mikhail Fiksel, Dana H.
Lee Kinney and Sanae Yamada, Is This A Room
Hidenori Nakajo, Octet
Nicholas Pope, In The Green

Outstanding Projection Design

Stephan Mazurek, Mojada
Lisa Renkel and Possible, Emojiland the Musical
Ruey Horng Sun, The Headlands
Hannah Wasileski, Anatomy of a Suicide
Hannah Wasileski, Fires in the Mirror

HONORARY AWARDS Lifetime Achievement Award

Tim Sanford

Playwrights’ Sidewalk Inductee

Anna Deavere Smith