William Ivey Long to be Presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at 2017 Lucille Lortel Awards

The Off-Broadway League today announced details for the 2017 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. The 32nd Annual Lucille Lortel Awards will be handed out on Sunday, May 7, 2017 at NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts, beginning at 7:00pm EST.

Among the special honors to be presented this year - award-winning Costume Designer, William Ivey Long, will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. A multiple Lortel Award nominee, Mr. Long is also a fifteen-time Tony Award nominee and six-time winner. Lynn Nottage will be inducted onto the famed Playwrights' Sidewalk in front of the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Ms. Nottage is a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and a screenwriter, whose plays have been nominated for multiple Lortel Awards, including Ruined, which received the 2009 Lortel Award for Outstanding Play. Theater Executive Harold Wolpert will be honored with the Edith Oliver Service to Off-Broadway Award. Mr. Wolpert recently stepped down from his post as Managing Director of the Roundabout Theatre Company after 11 years. During his career, he has led all management, finance, administration, production, marketing, operations and labor relations for some of the largest and most-recognized not-for-profit theatre companies in the country.

President of the Off-Broadway League, Adam Hess, also announced that the Lucille Lortel Awards will be adding the new category of Outstanding Projection Design. Said Hess, "Off-Broadway theatre continues to be the home for innovative and ground-breaking theatre. The Off-Broadway League is proud to continue to honor the designers that play such a vital role in Off-Broadway's success."

Members of the general public are welcome to attend the 7:00 PM ceremony. Public tickets are $75.00 and will be available starting April 4, via phone at 212.998.4941, online at www.nyuskirball.org and in person at the Skirball Center's Shagan Box Office (556 LaGuardia Pl.) from Tuesday - Saturday from 12 - 6 PM, up until two hours before showtime.

Important Dates

March 31, 2017 2016-2017 Off-Broadway season ends

April 4, 2017 Nomination Meeting - Nominations announced via press release late afternoon

April 4, 2017 Public tickets go on sale

April 26, 2017 Nominees' Breakfast at Playwrights Horizons

May 7, 2017 Award Ceremony at NYU Skirball Center

The Off-Broadway League's Lortel Awards Producing & Administration Committee (Pamela Adams, Terry Byrne, Margaret Cotter, Carol Fishman, George Forbes, Danielle Karliner Naish, Michael Page, Catherine Russell, Lindsey Sag, and Seth Shepsle) produces the Lortel Awards Ceremony. Acclaimed writer/director Michael Heitzman returns to direct the Lortel Awards for the eighth consecutive year. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Foundation. Additional support is provided by Theatre Development Fund.

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.

For updates and news about the ceremony and media releases, please visit www.LortelAwards.org. Follow the Lortel Awards (#LortelAwards) on Twitter at https://twitter.com/OffBroadwayNYC and like on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LortelAwards.