Paulo Szot and Deanna Dunagan Among Winners of Theatre World Awards

By Andrew Gans
15 May 2008

Paulo Szot in South Pacific.
Paulo Szot in South Pacific.
Photo by Joan Marcus

The winners of the 64th Annual Theatre World Awards — honoring performers making their New York stage debuts on or Off-Broadway — were announced May 15.

This year's winners include:

  • de'Adre Aziza, Passing Strange
  • Cassie Beck, Drunken City
  • Daniel Breaker, Passing Strange
  • Ben Daniels, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
  • Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County
  • Hoon Lee, Yellow Face
  • Alli Mauzey, Cry-Baby
  • Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park with George
  • Mark Rylance, Boeing-Boeing
  • Loretta Ables Sayre, South Pacific
  • Jimmi Simpson, The Farnsworth Invention
  • Paulo Szot, South Pacific

    The Theatre World Awards ceremony will be held in Manhattan June 10 at Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre from 2-4 PM ET. Theatre critic-writer Peter Filichia will host the annual event, which will be directed by Barry Keating.

    Past winners will perform and also present awards at the ceremony.

    First presented in 1945, the Theatre World Awards are among the oldest theatrical awards. Traditionally, a committee of theatre writers chooses six men and six women. On occasion, the awards bestow a Special Theatre World Award on "performers, casts or others who have made a particularly lasting impression on the New York theatre scene," as stated on the official Theatre World Awards website.

    Honorees were chosen by the Theatre World Awards committee, which includes Filichia (Theatermania), Harry Haun (Playbill), Matthew Murray (Talkin' Broadway), Frank Scheck (New York Post), Michael Sommers (Newhouse Papers), Doug Watt (Critic Emeritus, New York Daily News) and Linda Winer (Newsday).

    For further information, visit theatreworldawards.org.