ONCE & TRIBES Lead Lortel Nominations; Full List Inside!

Nominations in 14 categories were announced today by the Off-Broadway League for the 2012 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. This year's ceremony will once again benefit The Actors Fund. The Lortel Awards will be handed out on Sunday, May 6, 2012 at NYU Skirball Center beginning at 7:00pm EST.

This year, members of the general public are again welcome to attend the 7:00pm ceremony. Public tickets are $75.00 and will be available starting March 30, 2012, via phone at 212.352.3101, online at www.nyuskirball.org and in person at the Skirball Center's Shagan Box Office, at 556 LaGuardia (Tuesday – Sunday from 12 – 6pm).

Highlights this year include the fourth nomination in five years for director David Cromer, who won three consecutive awards from 2008 – 2010. Sam Gold is a double nominee this year for directing Look Back in Anger and The Big Meal. Oscar-nominated actress Carey Mulligan receives her first Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress for her Off-Broadway debut in Through a Glass Darkly.

Today's nominees join previously announced special award recipients Richard Frankel, who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award; Richard Foreman, who will be inducted onto the famed Playwrights' Sidewalk; and the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), for Service to Off-Broadway.

A cocktail reception honoring the nominees will take place on Monday, April 16, 2012 at 5:00pm EST at Planet Hollywood, located at 1540 Broadway.

Representatives of the Off-Broadway League, Actors' Equity Association, Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, the Lucille Lortel Foundation, in addition to theatre journalists and academics and other Off-Broadway professionals, serve on the Voting Committee. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Foundation. Additional support provided by Theatre Development Fund.

The Off-Broadway League's Lortel Awards Producing & Administration Committee (Terry Byrne, Denise Cooper, Margaret Cotter, George Forbes, Melanie Herman, Catherine Russell, Steven Showalter, and Carl D. White) produces the Lortel Awards Ceremony.

For updates and news about the ceremony, hosts, presenters and media releases, visit www.LortelAwards.org. Follow the Lortel Awards on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/LortelAwards and become a fan on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/LortelAwards.

NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2012 Lucille Lortel AWARDS

Outstanding Play
Blood and Gifts – Produced by Lincoln Center Theater; Written by J. T. Rogers
Milk Like Sugar – Produced by Playwrights Horizons and Women's Project Theater; Written by Kirsten Greenidge
Sons of the Prophet – Produced by Roundabout Theatre Company; Written by Stephen Karam
The Big Meal – Produced by Playwrights Horizons; Written by Dan LeFranc
The School For Lies – Produced by Classic Stage Company; Written by David Ives

Outstanding Musical
Once – Produced by New York Theatre Workshop; Book by Enda Walsh, Music and Lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová

Queen of the Mist – Produced by Transport Group; Words and Music by Michael John LaChiusa

SILENCE! The Musical – Produced by Victoria Lang, Rich Affannato, Donna Trinkoff in association with Scott Kirschenbaum, Theater Mogul, Kitefliers Studio and Terry Schnuck; Music and Lyrics by Jon Kaplan and Al Kaplan, Book by Hunter Bell, Adapted from the screenplay Silence! The Musical by Jon and Al Kaplan

The Blue Flower – Produced by Second Stage Theatre; By Jim Bauer and Ruth Bauer

The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World – Produced by Playwrights Horizons and New York Theatre Workshop; Book by Joy Gregory, Music by Gunnar Madsen, Lyrics by Joy Gregory and Gunnar Madsen, Story by Joy Gregory, Gunnar Madsen, and John Langs

Outstanding Revival
Blood Knot – Produced by Signature Theatre; Written by Athol Fugard

Edward Albee's The Lady from Dubuque – Produced by Signature Theatre; Written by Edward Albee

Look Back in Anger – Produced by Roundabout Theatre Company; Written by John Osborne

The Cherry Orchard – Produced by Classic Stage Company; Written by Anton Chekhov, Translated by John Christopher Jones

The Maids – Produced by Red Bull Theater; Written by Jean Genet, Translated by Bernard Frechtman

Outstanding Solo Show
An Iliad – Produced by New York Theatre Workshop; Written by Denis O'Hare and Lisa Peterson; Performed by Denis O'Hare and Stephen Spinella; Based on Homer's The Iliad translated by Robert Fagles

The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith – Produced by Penguin Rep Theatre and Edmund Gaynes in association with Lizanne and Don Mitchell; Written by Angelo Parra; Performed by Miche Braden

Outstanding Director
Jo Bonney, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
David Cromer, Tribes
Sam Gold, Look Back in Anger
Sam Gold, The Big Meal
John Tiffany, Once

Outstanding Choreographer
Chase Brock, The Blue Flower
Bill Castellino, Ionescopade
Christopher Gattelli, SILENCE! The Musical
Steven Hoggett, Once
Annie-B Parson, The Broken Heart

Outstanding Lead Actor
Santino Fontana, Sons of the Prophet
Russell Harvard, Tribes
Hamish Linklater, The School For Lies
Jefferson Mays, Blood and Gifts
Jay O. Sanders, Titus Andronicus

Outstanding Lead Actress
Sanaa Lathan, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Cristin Milioti, Once
Carey Mulligan, Through a Glass Darkly
Molly Ranson, Carrie
Mary Testa, Queen of the Mist

Outstanding Featured Actor
David Wilson Barnes, The Big Meal
Adam Driver, Look Back in Anger
Alvin Epstein, The Cherry Orchard
Peter Francis James, Edward Albee's The Lady from Dubuque
Jeff Perry, Tribes

Outstanding Featured Actress
Anita Gillette, The Big Meal
Kimberly Hébert Gregory, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Marin Mazzie, Carrie
Tonya Pinkins, Milk Like Sugar
Mare Winningham, Tribes

Outstanding Scenic Design
Bob Crowley, Once
Lauren Helpern, 4000 Miles
Andrew Lieberman, Look Back in Anger
Adrianne Lobel, Galileo
David Zinn, The Select (The Sun Also Rises)

Outstanding Costume Design
ESosa, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Toni-Leslie James, Milk Like Sugar
William Ivey Long, The School For Lies
Ilona Somogyi, Maple and Vine
Catherine Zuber, Death Takes a Holiday

Outstanding Lighting Design
Natasha Katz, Once
Keith Parham, Tribes
Justin Townsend, Unnatural Acts
David Weiner, Through a Glass Darkly
Scott Zielinski, An Iliad

Outstanding Sound Design
Mark Bennett, An Iliad
Clive Goodwin, Once
Daniel Kluger, Tribes
Matt Tierney and Ben Williams, The Select (The Sun Also Rises)
David Van Tieghem, Through a Glass Darkly

SPECIAL AWARDS

Lifetime Achievement Award
Richard Frankel

Playwrights' Sidewalk Inductee
Richard Foreman

Service to Off-Broadway Award
Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY)

Outstanding Alternative Theatrical Experience
VOCA PEOPLE – Produced by Doron Lida, Revital Kalfo, Leeorna Solomons and Eva Price