Michael Urie to Return as Host of 62nd Annual Drama Desk Awards at Town Hall

The 62nd Annual Drama Desk Awards will be held on Sunday, June 4, 2017 at 8:00 PM at The Town Hall (123 W. 43rd Street), it was announced today by Charles Wright, Drama Desk President and Gretchen Shugart, CEO of TheaterMania.com and Managing Executive Producer of the Drama Desk Awards.

Drama Desk Award winner Michael Urie (Buyer and Cellar, "Ugly Betty") will return as host of the ceremony.

The Drama Desk Awards are the only major New York City theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway compete against each other in the same categories.

The Drama Desk Awards nominations announcement will take place on Thursday, April 27th at Feinstein's/54 Below at 10:00 a.m.

"The Drama Desk is privileged to collaborate again with TheaterMania and the superb production team assembled by Gretchen Shugart and Joey Parnes - and to welcome back, as our host, the charming Michael Urie," said Charles Wright. "The Drama Desk team is committed to celebrating not just the Awards nominees and winners but everything that's outstanding in the New York Theater community."

Joey Parnes Productions will produce and manage the show. The Awards show will be written by Bill Rosenfield and directed by Mark Waldrop (Not That Jewish, Howard Crabtree's When Pigs Fly, Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends).

The Drama Desk Awards, which are presented annually, honor outstanding achievement by professional theater artists on Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway. What sets Drama Desk Awards apart is that they are voted on and bestowed by theater critics, journalists, editors and publishers covering theater, without any vested interest in the results. For this reason, Drama Desk Awards reflect both enthusiasm for all aspects of New York's professional theater.

The 2016-2017 Drama Desk Nominating Committee is composed of: David Barbour (Lighting&Sound America), Chair; Linda Buchwald (freelance, American Theatre, Playbill, TDF Stages, Theatre is Easy, JTA); Peter Filichia (Broadway Select, author, most recently, of The Great Parade: The Remarkable 1963-64 Broadway Season); David Finkle (Blogger, Huffington Post; Clyde Fitch Report); Sandy MacDonald (freelance, Time Out New York, TheaterNewsOnline.com); Douglas Strassler (Garden State Journal); Zachary Stewart (TheaterMania); Charles Wright (President, Drama Desk), ex officio.

The 2016-2017 Board of Directors of the Drama Desk is composed of: Charles Wright (A+E Networks), President; Richard Ridge (BroadwayWorld.com), 1st Vice President; Lauren Yarger(reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com), 2nd Vice President; Andy Lefkowitz (TheaterMania), Secretary; Edward Karam (offoffonline.com), Treasurer; David Barbour (Lighting&Sound America), Chair, Awards Nominating Committee; Leslie (Hoban) Blake (Two on the Aisle/MNN/YouTube/Daily Motion), Historian; Arlene Epstein (Richner Communications/South Shore Record & Nassau Herald); Elysa Gardner (freelance critic/arts writer); Isa Goldberg (freelance writer, East Hampton Independent, Southampton Press); John Istel (Managing editor, DramaDesk.org; freelance arts editor and journalist); David Kaufman (author and freelance); William Wolf (WolfEntertainmentGuide.com, adjunct professor, NYU).

In addition to TheaterMania and Ms. Shugart, Robert R. Blume and David S. Stone are Executive Producers of the Drama Desk Awards.