2014-15 Tony Awards to (Potentially) Expand Number of Nominees

The Tony Awards Administration Committee, which is made up of a number of theatre executives, alumni and working artists revealed a slew of eligibility decisions today, as the group met for the second time this season. Along with details about many of the Fall's shows (available here), potential changes and expansions were revealed for a number of categories.

Effective for this season, 10 categories could see more nominees than in past years, which might result in new record numbers of nominations for shows, and an expanded field of nominees. Awards nominations are heavily promoted during, and after awards season so expect to see more of everything this year, though we won't know the full implications until we see this year's nominations on April 28. Here's the details:

If there are at least seven eligible candidates for nomination in either the Best Direction of a Play or Best Direction of a Musical categories, the number of nominees in the respective category will increase from four to five.

If there are at least seven eligible candidates for nomination in the Best Choreography category, the number of nominees in this category will increase from four to five.

In the event there is a two-way or three-way tie for the last slot of nominations in any of the eight established Best Performance categories, both or all three of the tied actors or actresses will be eligible for a nomination in his or her respective category.

That's not all that's new in the world of the Tony Awards this week. Announced back in April, details have now been revealed as nominations have opened for the new, special Tony Award which will be presented to honor kindergarten through high-school (K-12) theatre educators. Want to nominate your favorite teacher? We've got everything you need to know, right here.

The 2015 Tony Awards will be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City, on Sunday, June 7th, 2015 (8:00 - 11:00 p.m. ET/PT time delay) on the CBS Television Network, live from the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The Tony Awards, which honors theater professionals for distinguished achievement on Broadway, has been broadcast on CBS since 1978. The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

The official eligibility cut-off date will be Thursday, April 23, 2015, for all Broadway productions opening in the 2014-2015 season. Productions which meet all other eligibility requirements and open on or before the eligibility date are considered eligible for 2015 Tony Award nominations.

The Nominations for the 2015 Tony Awards will be announced live on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, from New York City.

A limited number of tickets to the 2015 Tony Awards will be made available to the general public. Tickets will be available at www.TonyAwards.com starting on April 28, 2015.