Norm Lewis to Announce DD Noms; Debra Messing, Titus Burgess to Host

Norm Lewis

Tony and Drama Desk nominee Norm Lewis (Porgy and Bess), currently starring in an Off-Broadway revival of Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, will announce the nominees for the 2024-25 Drama Desk Awards on NY-1 News on Wed. April 30 at 12:50PM with NY-1 anchor Rocco Vertuccio. The Tony nominations will be announced the next day on May 1. The DD awards will be presented on June 1 at NYU Skirball in a ceremony hosted by Debra Messing (Will and Grace, Shit. Meet. Fan.) and Titus Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Oh, Mary!).

Unlike the Tonys, the Drama Desks consider on, Off and Off-Off-Broadway productions in each of its multiple categories. (The Outer Critics Awards also combine on and Off, but not in all categories. They have separate categories for Best Play, Musical and performers.) Note: The nominees for the Chita Rivera Awards will be announced on April 29.

The awards will be voted on by members of the Drama Desk, about 100 theatre critics, editors, and reporters. The nominations are determined by the Nominating Committee which consists of Martha Wade Steketee, UrbanExcavations.com, chair; Linda Armstrong (Amsterdam News), Daniel Dinero (TheaterIsEasy), Peter Filichia (Broadway Radio), Kenji Fujishima (freelance: Theatermania), Raven Snook (TDF Stages) and Charles Wright (ex officio). Wright and David Barbour are co-presidents of the Drama Desk. 

Debra Messing and Titus Burgess
will host the Drama Desk Awards.

The 69th Annual Drama Desk Awards are Executive Produced by Staci Levine and Jessica R. Jenen. For the first time, 100% of net proceeds from the Drama Desk Awards benefits the Entertainment Community Fund. Charles Wright and David Barbour are the co-Presidents of the Drama Desk.

As has been the case, all performance categories will be gender-free. The updated gender-free categories are: Outstanding Leading Performance in a Play, Outstanding Leading Performance in a Musical, Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, and Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical. 

Each of these categories will have twice as many nominees as the former gendered categories and voters will cast two votes for each category. These categories will also have two winners each. If there is a tie, there may be more than two winners in a category. These rules were changed with the 2023 Awards. Additional details will be announced shortly.