Kathleen Turner Hosts 77th Annual Drama League Awards, 5/20

The Drama League (Jano Herbosch, President; Gabriel Shanks, Executive Director) is pleased to announce that Academy Award nominee and two-time Golden Globe winner Kathleen Turner will serve as host for The 77th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon.

This season's awards luncheon is set for Friday, May 20, 2011 in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square (1535 Broadway at 46th St.). The event begins at noon.

Long considered the theatre season's most festive award ceremony, The Drama League Awards pays tribute to the season's best performers by including the nominees of The Distinguished Performance Award on a dais. The 77th Annual Drama League Awards dais will feature more than 50 stars from the 2010-11 Broadway and Off-Broadway season.

In addition to The Distinguished Performance Award, The Drama League's 3,000 members vote on four other annual competitive awards: Distinguished Production of a Play, Distinguished Production of a Musical, Distinguished Revival of a Play and Distinguished Revival of a Musical.

Nominations for these five awards will be announced on Monday, April 25.

Tickets for The 77th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon are now available by calling 212-244-9494.

Single Ticket Prices:
$450 -- VIP Ballroom Seats (includes pre-luncheon reception with nominees)
$350 -- Front Ballroom
$250 -- Mid Ballroom
$175 -- Rear Ballroom

Table of Ten (10) Prices:
$4,300 -- VIP Ballroom Table (includes pre-luncheon reception with nominees)
$3,400 -- Front Ballroom
$2,500 -- Mid Ballroom
$1,750 -- Rear Ballroom

All proceeds support The Drama League Directors Project. Now entering its 27th year, this innovative program is the nation's premier training program for theater directors, with more than 237 active alumni working around the world.

For more information, please visit www.dramaleague.org.

Awards Luncheon host Kathleen Turner returns to Broadway this spring in Matthew Lombardo's new drama High. Ms. Turner has gained critical acclaim for her performances in various movies including Body Heat (Golden Globe nomination); Romancing the Stone and Prizzi's Honor, both of which earned her a Golden Globe Award; Peggy Sue Got Married, which brought Turner both an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe nomination; and War of the Roses, which earned her yet another Golden Globe nomination.

She has starred on Broadway in Gemini, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (for which she received a Tony nomination), Indiscretions, The Graduate and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, for which she received a second Tony nomination, a Drama League nomination and an Evening Standard Award in London for Best Actress.

Turner's extensive film credits also include The Man with Two Brains with Steve Martin, Jewel of the Nile with Michael Douglas, The Accidental Tourist; V.I. Warshawski, Serial Mom, Naked in New York, Moonlight and Valentino, The Real Blonde and The Virgin Suicides.

In addition to her film and stage credits, her 2008 autobiography titled Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on my Life, Love, and Leading Roles secured a position on the New York Times Best Seller List.

Last season, Drama League Awards were presented to Alfred Molina (Distinguished Performance), Red (Distinguished Production of a Play), Sondheim on Sondheim (Distinguished Production of a Musical), A View from the Bridge (Distinguished Revival of a Play) and La Cage aux Folles (Distinguished Revival of a Musical).

The first Drama League Award was presented to actress Katharine Cornell in 1935, making it the oldest National Theatre honor, predating the Tony Awards by twelve years, as well as the first audience-selected award for distinguished performance in a theatrical production.

Throughout the past 75 years, the Distinguished Performance Award has been accorded to a roster of theatre legends such as RoseMary Harris, Christopher Plummer, Sir Ian McKellen, Bernadette Peters, James Earl Jones, John Lithgow, Stockard Channing, Glenn Close, Bebe Neuwirth, Cherry Jones, Mary-Louise Parker, Liam Neeson, Harvey Fierstein, Norbert Leo Butz, Christine Ebersole and Patti LuPone, among others.

The Drama League was founded in 1916 as an association of theatre professionals and patrons dedicated to encouraging the finest in professional theatre and has since then developed into the theatre's premiere service organization. The Drama League provides an unparalleled training program for emerging theatre artists through The Directors Project, which encourages and trains young talents while providing much-needed exposure and essential connections to the professional theatrical community.

The Drama League's Audience Project is dedicated to building strong, passionate audiences for the American theatre, providing discounted tickets for its members to the best Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional productions across the United States while enhancing the theatergoer's understanding and experience of live theatre through its informative panels, luncheons and discussions with leading figures in the field.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos