Williams, Molina et al. to Present at Theatre World Awards; Full Presenter/Performer Roster Announced!

Theatre World Awards for Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut performances during the 2009-2010 theatrical season will be presented by former Theatre World Award winners. Past award recipients expected to present (or perform) at this year's ceremony include: Kate Burton (Winners, 1983), Michael Cristofer (The Cherry Orchard, 1977), Viola Davis (Seven Guitars, 1996), Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening, 2007), Robert LuPone (A Chorus Line, 1976 Special Award), Alli Mauzey (Cry-Baby, 2008), Michael McKean (Accomplice, 1990), Brian Stokes Mitchell, (Mail, 1988), Alfred Molina (Molly Sweeney, 1996) Loretta Ables Sayre (South Pacific, 2008), John Tartaglia (Avenue Q, 2004), and Vanessa Williams (Kiss of the Spider Woman, 1995). The award-winning composer, arranger, and pianist Alex Rybeck will serve as musical director for the event.

As previously announced, the 2009-10 Theatre World Award winners are: Nina Arianda, Venus in Fur; Chris Chalk, Fences; Bill Heck, The Orphans' Home Cycle; Jon Michael Hill, Superior Donuts; Scarlett Johansson, A View from the Bridge; Keira Keeley, The Glass Menagerie; Sahr Ngaujah, FELA!; Eddie Redmayne, Red; Andrea Riseborough, The Pride; Heidi Schreck, Circle Mirror Transformation; Stephanie Umoh, Ragtime; and Michael Urie, The Temperamentals. In addition (also previously announced) The Dorothy Loudon Foundation will present the Dorothy Loudon Starbaby Award (as part of the Theatre World Awards' ceremony) to Bobby Steggert, for his performances in Ragtime and Yank! The Loudon Award is given for an auspicious performance on or Off-Broadway during the recent theatrical season, although unlike the Theatre World Award, not necessarily for a debut performance.

The Theatre World Awards presentation will be held at New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, in an invitation-only ceremony, Tuesday, June 8, 2010 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Peter Filichia will host, Barry Keating will direct, and Mary K. Botosan, Kati Meister, and Erin Oestreich are the event's producers. John Willis, a founder of the Theatre World Awards, will be in attendance.

First presented in 1945, the prestigious Theatre World Awards are the oldest awards given for Broadway and Off-Broadway debut performances, and are among the oldest honors given to stage performers. The Theatre World Award winners have been chosen by the Theatre World Awards voting committee, currently comprised of David Cote (Time Out New York and NY1), Joe Dziemianowicz (New York Daily News), Peter Filichia (The Star-Ledger and TheaterMania), Harry Haun (Playbill), Matthew Murray (Talkin' Broadway), Frank Scheck (New York Post and Hollywood Reporter), and Linda Winer (Newsday).

The Theatre World Award Board of Directors is: Kati Meister, President; Erin Oestreich, Vice-President; Steven Bloom, Treasurer, Mary K. Botosan, Secretary; Tom Lynch, founding Board member; and Randy Hemming, Barry Keating, Cara Lustik, and Jane Stuart.

For more information about the Theatre World Awards (including a listing of past recipients) please visit: theatreworldawards.org. The TWA Board also encourages theater lovers to join the Theatre World Awards fan page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Theatre-World-Awards/358812635892.

The Theatre World Awards are presented annually at the end of the theatre season to six actors and six actresses in recognition of their outstanding debut performance in a Broadway or Off-Broadway production. The ceremony is an invitation-only event followed by an afternoon party to celebrate the new honorees and welcome them to the Theatre World family. In what has become a highly entertaining and often touching tradition, former winners serve as the presenters, who often relive moments from past ceremonies and share wonderful stories rarely heard at other theatrical award ceremonies.

In 1944, three young men who loved theatre, Daniel Blum, Norman McDonald, and John Willis, came up with the idea of a yearly celebration that would acknowledge "Promising Personalities," - twelve debut performances by actors appearing on Broadway. In the beginning, the awards ceremony was a simple cocktail party among friends in Daniel Blum's sumptuous apartment, with Blum presenting the award. In the first two years alone, Betty Comden, Judy Holliday, and John Raitt were honored, joined the following year by Barbara Bel Geddes, Marlon Brando, and Burt Lancaster.

At the 1949 party, Carol Channing won. A couple of years later she said to other winners who were all attending a cocktail party prior to the one at Daniel's, "We'd better get over to Daniel's and support that Award because otherwise no one is gonna know who we are sixty years from now!"

As Off-Broadway became a potent force in New York theatre life, performances there became eligible for recognition as well as those on Broadway. It wasn't until 1969 that the award became known officially as the Theatre World Award. The first awards were a framed certificate and then a plaque, followed by a bronze Janus Award, sculpted by internationally recognized sculptor Harry Marinsky. 2010 will mark the debut of the new crystal Janus award.

Upon Daniel Blum's death in 1964, John Willis inherited the entire responsibility for the Award. For the next 30 years, with an occasional assistant, he single-handedly kept the Theatre World Awards alive by hosting the annual party, often with Carol Channing acting as the sole presenter as late as 1971. Then Robert Morse, Colleen Dewhurst, Julie Harris and RoseMary Harris followed. At the 1976 ceremony, John invited twelve former winners and each in turn presented the award to a newcomer. And thus began the ritual of presenters entertaining the audience with anecdotes about how they won or what the award had come to mean to them.

The contribution the Award has made to the theatre is incalculable. Winners through the years acknowledge that of all the awards, it is the one they most cherish because it is not a competition, but rather a recognition - given freely at a time when any kind of encouragement is most welcome.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.