Michael Urie will return to host the 63rd Annual Drama Desk Awards

Drama Desk Award winner Michael Urie will return to host the ceremony for the third consecutive year at The Town Hall.

Gretchen Shugart and Charles Wright have announced that Drama Desk Award winner Michael Urie will once again return to host The 63rd Annual Drama Desk Awards on Sunday, June 3, 2018 at 8pm at The Town Hall, marking his third consecutive year as host of the prestigious awards ceremony. (Nominations for these awards will be revealed on Thursday, April 26, 2018 at 10am at Feinstein's/54 Below).

Drama Desk president Charles Wright released the following statement: "The Drama Desk is delighted that Michael Urie is hosting the Awards for a third time. Michael's enthusiasm for New York theater and his distinctive sense of humor add the perfect zest to this annual celebration."

Michael Urie earned Drama Desk Awards in 2013 for Buyer & Cellar ("Outstanding Solo Performance") and in 2010 for The Temperamentals ("Outstanding Ensemble Performance"). He has appeared on Broadway as Bud Frump in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in 2012 and is also well known for his recurring TV role as Marc St. James in "Ugly Betty". His other off-Broadway credits include Shows for Days, The Cherry Orchard, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and he most recently starred off-Broadway as Arnold Beckoff in Second Stage Theater's acclaimed production of Torch Song. Urie is set to reprise this performance in a Broadway transfer, under the title of Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song, at the Hayes Theater from October 9, 2018 through to February 24, 2019.

The Drama Desk nominating committee is comprised of David Barbour, Chairperson (Lighting & Sound America); Linda Buchwald (American Theatre, Playbill, TDF Stages, Theatre is Easy); Peter Filichia (Broadway Select, Broadway Radio); Helen Shaw (Time Out New York, Village Voice); Martha Wade Steketee (Theater Pizzazz); Zachary Stewart (TheaterMania); Doug Strassler (Garden State Journal, TDF Stages); and Charles Wright (President, Drama Desk), ex officio.

Drama Desk was founded in 1949 to explore key issues in the theater and to bring together critics and writers in an organization to support the ongoing development of theater in New York. The organization began presenting its awards in 1955, and it is the only critics' organization to honor achievement in the theater with competition among Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions in the same categories.

^{(Photo courtesy of Keith Sherman & Associates)}