Playbill News: Billy Boys, Gwynne, Ireland, Rush and Grisetti Among Theatre World Award Winners

Billy Boys, Gwynne, Ireland, Rush and Grisetti Among Theatre World Award Winners

By Andrew Gans
May 11, 2009

The winners of the 65th Annual Theatre World Awards — honoring performers making their New York stage debuts on or Off-Broadway — were announced May 11.

This year's winners include:

David Alvarez/Trent Kowalik/Kiril Kulish, Billy Elliot, The Musical

Chad L. Coleman, Joe Turner's Come and Gone

Jennifer Grace, Our Town

Josh Grisetti, Enter Laughing, The Musical

Haydn Gwynne, Billy Elliot, The Musical

Colin Hanks, 33 Variations

Marin Ireland, Reasons To be Pretty

Susan Louise O'Connor, Blithe Spirit

Condola Rashad, Ruined

Geoffrey Rush, Exit the King

Josefina Scaglione, West Side Story

Wesley Taylor, Rock of Ages

Special Award to the entire cast of The Norman Conquests: Amelia Bullmore, Jessica Hynes, Stephen Mangan, Ben Miles, Paul Ritter and Amanda Root

The Theatre World Awards ceremony will be held in Manhattan June 2 at Broadway's Samuel J. Friedman 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 David Cote (Time Out New York and NY1), Peter Filichia (The Star-Ledger and TheaterMania), Harry Haun (Playbill), Matthew Murray (Talkin' Broadway), Frank Scheck (New York Post), Doug Watt (Critic Emeritus, New York Daily News) and Linda Winer (Newsday).

For further information, visit theatreworldawards.org.