BEST PERFORMANCE by a FEATURED ACTRESS in a PLAY

Viola Davis, Seven Guitars
Ms Davis has appeared in the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of As You Like It and House of Lear. She has worked extensively in regional theatre, including The Rover at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis and as the chorus leader in Hecuba at the American Conservatory Theatre in Cambridge. She will soon be seen in the upcoming film version of The Substance of Fire. Audra McDonald, Master Class
Ms. McDonald won the 1994 Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theater World Awards for her performance in Carousel. She has appeared on Broadway in The Secret Garden and in regional productions of Man of La Mancha, The Wiz, A Chorus Line and Anything Goes. Ms. McDonald has recently completed work on her first film, Seven Servants, starring Anthony Quinn.

Michele Shay, Seven Guitars
Ms. Shay has previously been seen on Broadway in Home and For Colored Girls.... Her Off-Broadway credits include Playboy of the West Indies, Split Second Meetings and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Lois Smith, Buried Child
Ms. Smith has appeared on Broadway in The Young and Beautiful, the original production of Orpheus Descending and The Grapes of Wrath, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Her film work includes East of Eden, Five Easy Pieces, Fried Green Tomatoes, How to Make an American Quilt and Dead Man Walking.