35TH ANNUAL LUCILLE LORTEL AWARDS

Heroes of the Fourth Turning and Octet Top the Awards with Three Each, Including Outstanding Play and Outstanding Musical, Respectively

Presentations Were Made as Part of a Historic Livestream Event

Lucille Lortel Foundation Pledges Grants Totaling $100,000 to TDF and The Actors Fund Emergency Grant Program

The 35th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway were presented this evening in 19 categories, and two honorary awards were bestowed. Award recipients were announced during a special livestream broadcast hosted by Mario Cantone as a benefit for The Actors Fund, with the Lortel Foundation pledging $50,000 to their Emergency Grant Program, and an additional $50,000 to TDF. Donations can still be made at www.actorsfund.org/lortel. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation, with additional support provided by TDF.

Top recipients, earning three awards each, were Dave Malloy’s Octet produced by Signature Theatre for Outstanding Musical; and Heroes of the Fourth Turning, produced by Playwrights Horizons, for Outstanding Play. There were also two ties this year – in the categories of Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical and Outstanding Costume Design.

Special honorees this year included Playwrights Horizons’ Tim Sanford, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award; and Anna Deavere Smith, inducted onto the famed Playwrights’ Sidewalk in front of the historic Lucille Lortel Theatre.

Featured presenters included: Jelani Alladin, Rachel Dratch, Jordan Fisher, Jackie Hoffman, Andy Karl, Nathan Lane, Tatiana Maslany, Debra Messing, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Nyambi Nyambi, Kelli O’Hara, Orfeh, Steven Pasquale, Lauren Patten, Alison Pill, Jeremy Pope, Condola Rashad, Krysta Rodriguez, Phillipa Soo, Sonya Tayeh, Marisa Tomei, Michael Urie, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

2020 LUCILLE LORTEL AWARDS NOMINATIONS

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

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

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

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

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

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 Gree, 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 Schimdt

Bella Bella

Produced by Manhattan Theatre Club

Written and Performed by Harvey Fierstein

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 Gómez

Performed by Kate del Castillo

We’re Only Alive for A Short Amount of Time

Produced by The Public Theatre 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

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.

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

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

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 Borvino, Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie

Garcia, Continuity

Francis Jue, Cambodian Rock Band

Ken Narasaki, Greater Clements

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

Jonathan Groff, Little Shop of Horrors

Joshua Henry, The Wrong Man

Francis Jue, Soft Power

Larry Owens, A Strange Loop

Conrad Ricamora, Soft Power

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

Christian Borle, Little Shop of Horrors

Alex Gibson, Octet

Gus Halper, Sing Street

Jay Armstrong Johnson, Scotland, PA

John-Andrew Morrison, A Strange Loop

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

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 

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

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

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

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

Lifetime Achievement Award
Tim Sanford

Playwrights’ Sidewalk Inductee
Anna Deavere Smith

Heroes of the Fourth Turning (3)

Octet (3)

A Strange Loop (2)

Dana H. (2)

for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (2)

Cambodian Rock Band (1)

Greater Clements (1)

In The Green (1)

Is This A Room (1)

Little Shop of Horrors (1)

Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie (1)

The Confession of Lily Dare (1)

The Headlands (1)

The Wrong Man (1)

A Strange Loop (7)

Heroes of the Fourth Turning (6)

In The Green (6)

for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (5)

Octet (5)

Soft Power (5)

Is This a Room (4)

Little Shop of Horrors (4)

Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie (4)

Dana H. (3)

Fires in the Mirror (3)

The Confession of Lily Dare (3)

The Secret Life of Bees (3)

The Wrong Man (3)

A Bright Room Called Day (2)

BLKS (2)

Greater Clements (2)

Halfway Bitches Go to Heaven (2)

Seared (2)

The Headlands (2)

Toni Stone (2)

All the Natalie Portmans (1)

Anatomy of a Suicide (1)

Bella Bella (1)

Cambodian Rock Band (1)

Continuity (1)

Emojiland the Musical (1)

London Assurance (1)

MAC BETH (1)

Mojada (1)

Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (1)

Power Strip (1)

Scotland, PA (1)

Sing Street (1)

Socrates (1)

The Pain of My Belligerence (1)

The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1)

the way she spoke (1)

We’re Gonna Die (1)

We’re Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time (1)

Where We Stand (1)