The 2001 Drama Desk awards ceremony will be broadcast in its entirety on May 25 at 9 PM on Channel 13/WNET. This airing will be om addition to the live coverage by NY1 of the May 20 event. The additional coverage is expected to markedly increase the exposure the Drama Desk Awards typically receive. NY1 will also repeat its broadcast on May 26, giving local television viewers a total of three opportunities to see the show.

Nominees for the 46th annual Drama Desk Awards, honoring excellence in New York City theatre, will be announced at a morning press conference May 1 at the Friar's Club. Television's NY1 will cover the event life from 10-10:30 AM.

A cocktail party for the nominees will be held May 3, and the winners will be announced at the awards ceremony, set for May 20 at the F.H. LaGuardia High School Concert Hall at Lincoln Center.

Lily Tomlin, who took home a Drama Desk Award for Best Actress for the original, 1986 mounting of The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, will host this year's event.

More than 120 critics and theatre journalists comprise the Drama Desk membership, which prides itself on judging Broadway, Off and Off-Off Broadway theatre by the same standards. This year's Drama Desk nominating committee consists of Frank Scheck (the Hollywood Reporter), Jonathan Kalb (New York Press), Harry Haun (Playbill magazine), David Finkle (the Village Voice), Edward Karam (London Times), Drama Desk president David Sheward (Back Stage) and Barbara Siegel (Siegel Entertainment). The 2001 awards will have 27 categories. —By Robert Simonson