Tony Winners Cherry Jones & Denis O'Hare to Announce 2015 Drama League Nominees Later This Month

The Drama League has announced that Tony Award Winners Cherry Jones and Denis O'Hare will announce the 2015 Drama League Awards Nominees for Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, and the much-coveted Distinguished Performance Award on Tuesday morning, April 21, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. at Sardi's (234 West 44th Street, 2nd Floor). The nominations ceremony will be broadcast worldwide via live stream at www.broadwayworld.com, and will be hosted by National Life Group, a longstanding Drama League partner and supporter of the arts. Since 1848, National Life has lived its corporate values of do good, be good, and make good by offering financial solutions to those it serves.

Cherry Jones starred last season in the triumphant Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, which originated at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she is a founding member and where earlier in her career she appeared in more than 25 productions including Twelfth Night, Three Sisters and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Broadway and Off-Broadway: Doubt (Tony, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle and Obie Awards), Lincoln Center Theater's production of The Heiress (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards); Pride's Crossing (Drama Desk Award); When We Were Young and Unafraid; The Baltimore Waltz (Obie Award); Faith Healer; Flesh and Blood; Imaginary Friends; A Moon for the Misbegotten (Tony Award nomination); Angels in America; Our Country's Good (Tony Award nomination); and Roundabout Theatre Company's productions of Mrs. Warren's Profession, Major Barbara and The Night of the Iguana. Television: President Allison Taylor in "24" (Emmy Award), "What Makes a Family," and most recently the series "Awake." Film: Ocean's Twelve, Cradle Will Rock, The Horse Whisperer, The Perfect Storm, Erin Brockovich, Signs, The Village, Mother and Child, Swimmers and Terrence Malick's upcoming Knight of Cups.

Denis O'Hare made his Broadway debut in 1995 in David Hare's Racing Demon. Other Broadway credits include Cabaret, Major Barbara, Elling, Inherit the Wind, Take Me Out (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Obie, and Lucille Lortel Awards), Assassins (Tony nomination), and Sweet Charity (Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle nomination). He has appeared Off-Broadway in the Public Theater's Into the Woods, Uncle Vanya, A Spanish Play, Pig Farm, Vienna: Lusthaus, Take Me Out (Obie, Lucille Lortel Awards), Helen, Ten Unknowns, The Devils, Lonely Planet, Silence, Cunning, Exile, The Arabian Nights, Woyzeck, and Hauptman. O'Hare recently starred in the Off-Broadway production of An Iliad, which he co-authored with Lisa Peterson, for which he earned an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, an Obie Award for Special Citation, a Patrick Lee Theater Bloggers Award for Outstanding Solo Show/Performance, as well as Drama Desk and Drama League Award nominations. Film credits include the independent feature C.O.G., Dallas Buyers Club, J. Edgar, The Eagle, Edge of Darkness, The Proposal, Duplicity, An Englishman in New York, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Milk, Quarantine, Changeling, Baby Mama, Pretty Bird, Charlie Wilson's War, Awake, The Babysitters, Michael Clayton, Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot, A Mighty Heart, Rocket Science, Half Nelson, Stephanie Daley, Derailed, Heights, Garden State, 21 Grams, Sweet and Lowdown, River Red, and St. Patrick's Day. Denis can also be seen in two recent horror pictures - The Town That Dreaded Sundown, and The Pyramid. He most recently rejoined the cast of Ryan Murphy's award-winning FX horror anthology, "American Horror Story" for its fourth season. Other TV credits include the hit HBO series "True Blood," "American Horror Story" (Emmy nomination), "The Good Wife," "Brothers and Sisters," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "CSI: Miami," "Bored to Death, "Law & Order," and "100 Centre Street." Additionally, Denis starred in the critically acclaimed HBO telefilm, "The Normal Heart."

The nominations announcement begins the month of celebrations leading up to the 81st Annual Drama League Awards, which will be held at the Marriott Marquis Times Square (1535 Broadway) on Friday, May 15, 2015 at 12:00pm. Official sponsors for the 81st Annual Drama League Awards include Delta Air Lines, the Official Airline of The Drama League; MAC Cosmetics, the Official Makeup Partner of The Drama League; National Life Group; and GenSpring Family Offices. Tickets for The Drama League Awards, which includes a nominees cocktail reception and the star-studded afternoon luncheon ceremony, are available by calling (212) 244-9494 or visiting www.dramaleague.org.

First awarded in 1922 and formalized in 1935, The Drama League Awards are the oldest theatrical honors in America. The Drama League Awards recognize distinguished productions, performances, and exemplary career achievements. The first Drama League Award was presented to Katharine Cornell in 1935; since then, the Distinguished Performance Award has been accorded to a roster of theatre legends such as Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Lane, Audra McDonald, Liam Neeson, Hugh Jackman, Patti LuPone, Glenn Close, Liev Schreiber, Sir John Gielgud, Harvey Fierstein, Cherry Jones, Alec Guinness, James Earl Jones, Helen Hayes, Jeremy Irons, Mary-Louise Parker, Sir Ian McKellen, Bernadette Peters, and Christopher Plummer.

The Drama League recently announced the 2015 recipients for Distinguished Contributions and Achievements in the Theatre, as follows: Tony, and Oscar Award winner Joel Grey will receive the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater Award; WNET: Neal Shapiro and David Horn will receive the Unique Contribution to the Theater Award for their vital work in bringing New York theater to viewers across America; and Tony, Drama Desk, Olivier Award winner and Oscar nominee Stephen Daldry will receive The Founders Award for Excellence in Directing.

For more information about the Drama League Awards, call (212) 244-9494 ext 101, or visit www.dramaleague.org.

National Life Group is a trade name of National Life Insurance Company, Montpelier, VT, Life Insurance Company of the Southwest (LSW), Addison, TX and their affiliates. Each company of NLGroup is solely responsible for its own financial condition and contractual obligations. LSW is not an authorized insurer in New York and does not conduct insurance business in New York.

Photo Credits: Walter McBride and Jennifer Broski