Kelli O'Hara, Alex Timbers & Taylor Mac to receive Special Honors at 2019 Drama League Awards

The 2019 Drama League Awards ceremony will be held on Friday, May 17, 2019 at the Marriott Marquis Times Sqaure.

The three recipients of the 2019 "Special Recognition" Awards to be honored at The 85th Annual Drama League Awards have now been announced.

Tony Award winner Kelli O'Hara will be honored with the "Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater Award". Ms. O'Hara can currently be seen on the Broadway stage starring in the Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Kiss Me, Kate! at Studio 54. Ms. O'Hara is one of Broadway's most celebrated performers and won a Tony Award in 2015 for her performance as Anna Leonowens in the acclaimed Lincoln Center Theater revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic The King and I. She received her first Olivier Award nomination yesterday for reprising the role at the London Palladium last year. She has also received a further five Tony Award nominations - for The Bridges of Madison County (in 2014), Nice Work If You Can Get It (in 2012), South Pacific (in 2008), The Pajama Game (in 2006), and for The Light in the Piazza (in 2005). Her eariler Broadway credits include Dracula the Musical, Sweet Smell of Success, Follies, and Jekyll & Hyde.

Kiss Me, Kate! Tickets are available now for performances through to June 2, 2019.

Two-time Tony Award nominee Alex Timbers will be honored with the "Founders Award for Excellence in Directing". Mr. Timbers will soon be represented on the New York stage by the upcoming Broadway premieres of Beetlejuice and Moulin Rouge! The Musical. He earned a Tony Award nomination in the category of "Best Direction of a Play" in 2012 for Peter and the Starcatcher and earned a Tony nomination in 2011 in the category of "Best Book of a Musical" for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (which he also directed). His other Broadway directorial credits include Oh, Hello on Broadway, Rocky, and The Pee-wee Herman Show.

Beetlejuice Tickets are available now for performances from March 28, 2019.

Moulin Rouge! Tickets are available now for performances from June 28, 2019.

Finally, receiving the "Unique Contribution to the Theater Award" is MacArthur Genius Grant-winning playwright, actor, singer-songwriter, performance artist, director and producer Taylor Mac, who is currently making his Broadway playwriting debut with Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (starring three-time Tony Award winner Nathan Lane). Mac previously made his off-Broadway debut with Hir at Playwrights Horizons in 2015. He also conceived, wrote and starred in A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (a 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist), and has previously appeared on stage for the Public Theater in Good Person of Szechwan in 2013 and for Classic Stage Company in A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2012.

Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus Tickets are available now for performances through to August 4, 2019.

The 2019 Drama League Awards ceremony will be held on Friday, May 17, 2019 at the Marriott Marquis Times Sqaure, with the nominees for the five competitive Drama League Awards (Outstanding Play, Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, and the coveted Distinguished Performance Award) to be announced on Wednesday, April 17, 2019 at Sardi's.

^{(Kelli O'Hara photo by Laura Marie Duncan / Alex Timbers and Taylor Mac photos courtesy of Richard Hillman Public Relations)}