Gleason, Rebeck, and Wright Among New Tony Nominating Committee Members

The American Theatre Wing has announced the newest members of the Nominating Committee for the 63^rd Annual Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards.

Nominations are determined by the Tony Awards Nominating Committee. This rotating group of up to 30 theatre professionals is selected by the Tony Awards Administration Committee. Nominators serve for overlapping three-year terms. They are asked to see every new Broadway production and then meet on the Monday evening following the Tony eligibility deadline. They determine the nominations based on secret ballots supervised by an accounting firm. The results are announced early the following morning.

The 2009 committee members are as follows. New members are in bold.

Joe Benincasa - Executive Director, The Actors Fund

Robert Callely - Theatre Executive

*Ben Cameron - Program Director for the Arts, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

*Thomas Cott - Producer, Marketing Director

Jacqueline Z. Davis - Executive Director, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center

John Dias - Producer, Dramaturg, Educator

Michael D. Dinwiddie - Associate Professor, Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU

Teresa Eyring - Executive Director, Theatre Communications Group

Sue Frost - Producer

*Joanna Gleason - Actor

*Elena K. Holly - Producing Artistic Director, The Present Company

Betty Jacobs - Script Consultant/Theatre Historian

Geoffrey Johnson - Retired Casting Director

Michael Kantor - Director, Producer, Writer

*Robert Kimball - Author, Theatre Historian

Howard Marren - Composer

Laurence Maslon - Associate Arts Professor, Graduate Acting Program - Tisch School for the Arts at NYU

*Jon Nakagawa - Director, Contemporary Programming, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Phyllis Newman - Actor

*Alice Playten - Actor

*Theresa Rebeck - Playwright

Roger Rees - Actor, Director, Playwright, Lecturer, Administrator

Donald Saddler - Choreographer

Steven Suskin - Theatre Author

*Tamara Tunie - Actor, Producer

*William Tynan - Actor, Journalist

Tom Viola - Executive Director, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

Kimberlee Wertz - Music Contractor

*Doug Wright - Playwright

*Andrew Zerman - Casting Director

The American Theatre Wing's 63^rd Annual Antoinette Perry "Tony"® Awards will be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 7, 2009 (8:00-11:00 p.m., live EST) on the CBS Television Network.  The awards honor theatre professional and distinguished achievement on Broadway.   The cut-off for nomination eligibility on the 2008-2009 Broadway Season will be April 30, 2009.

The Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards are bestowed annually on theatre professionals for distinguished achievement. The Tony is one of the most coveted awards in the entertainment industry and the annual telecast is considered one of the most prestigious programs on television.

The 2009 Tonys are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. At The Broadway League, Nina Lannan is Chairman and Charlotte St. Martin is Executive Director. At the American Theatre Wing, Theodore S. Chapin is Chairman and Howard Sherman is Executive Director. For Tony Award Productions, Elizabeth I. McCann is Managing Producer and Joey Parnes is Coordinating Producer

Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss/White Cherry Entertainment are Executive Producers of the 2009 Tony Awards.  Mr. Weiss will also serve as Director of the 2009 Tony Awards. 

Official partners of the Tony Awards include:  Visa, the exclusive card accepted at the Tonys; Hilton Hotels, the official hotel partner of the Tonys; and IBM, which develops, designs, and hosts TonyAwards.com. Continental Airlines and Sprint are official supporters of the Tonys Awards.   Promotional and media partners for the 2008 Tony Awards include Macy's, Playbill, USA Today, MyBroadway.com, and Van Wagner. 

 For more information please visit www.tonyawards.com

Photo of Doug Wright by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.