Thirty theatre professionals will comprise the 1999 Tony Award Nominating Committee, an increase by two from last season's group. Members serve a three-year term.
New names on the list include actresses Frances Sternhagen and Kate Burton and playwright A.R. Gurney. Former nominators Merle Debuskey and Jay Harnick are back on the committee for three more years.
According to the Tony Awards Administration Committee (which is run by the American Theatre Wing and the League of American Theatres and Producers), here is the full list of 1999 nominators:
Billie Allen (actress/director)
Maureen Anderman (actress)
Lisa Aronson (set designer)
Price Berkley (publisher of Theatrical Index)
Donald Brooks (costumer)
Kate Burton (actress)
Marge Champion (choreographer)
Betty L. Corwin (theatre archivist at NY Public Library of the Performing Arts)
Gretchen Cryer (composer, I'm Getting My Act Together...)
Merle Debuskey (publicist)
Mallory Factor (entrepreneur)
Jack Goldstein (administrator)
Morton Gottlieb (producer)
A.R. Gurney (playwright)
Jay Harnick (artistic director)
Allen Lee Hughes (lighting designer)
Betty Jacobs (script consultant)
Robert Kamlot (general manager)
Jack Lee (musical director)
Stuart Little (writer/editor)
Thomas Meehan (librettist)
Joanna Merlin (actress/casting director)
Jon Nakagawa (managing director, Vineyard Theatre)
Estelle Parsons (actress)
Polly Pen (author/composer, Bed & Sofa)
Shirley Rich (casting director)
David Richards (writer/critic)
Frances Sternhagen (actress, Long Day's Journey Into Night)
Franklin R. Weissberg (judge)
Lanford Wilson (playwright, Talley's Folly)
The Tonys are generally given out the first Sunday in June. For the past two years, the Awards were held at NY's Radio City Music Hall, but because that venue will be under renovation next June, a new home is being sought. Nominations are generally announced in early May. Co-run by the League of American Theatres & Producers and the American Theatre Wing, the Tonys have, for the past two years, been broadcast both on PBS and CBS-TV. Isabelle Stevenson, chairman of the ATW, will step down this season, with Roy Somlyo taking over.
-- By David Lefkowitz
