The awards recognize excellence in the Broadway and Off-Broadway communities for the 2009-10 season. There is no set number of nominees from year to year, and multiple performer-nominees are seated on a dais. From that performer group, one artist is honored.

Bebe Neuwirth (The Addams Family) and Kelsey Grammer (La Cage aux Folles) announced the nominees on April 20. The boon ceremony in May will be co-hosted by Vanessa Williams (Sondheim on Sondheim) and Michael Urie (The Temperamentals) in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square.

This year's nominees for The Drama League's four major production award categories (Play, Musical, Revival of a Play, Revival of a Musical) are:

DISTINGUISHED PRODUCTION OF A PLAY (9)

Aftermath
by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen (New York Theatre Workshop) A Behanding on Spokane
by Martin McDonagh (Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre)

The Brother/Sister Plays
by Tarell Alvin McCraney (The Public Theater)

Clybourne Park
by Bruce Norris (Playwrights Horizons)

Enron
by Lucy Prebble (Broadhurst Theatre)

Next Fall
by Geoffrey Nauffts (Helen Hayes Theatre)

The Pride
by Alexi Kaye Campbell (MCC Theater)

Red
by John Logan (John Golden Theatre)

Venus in Fur
by David Ives (Classic Stage Company)

DISTINGUISHED PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL (9)*

The Addams Family
Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice; Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa (Lunt-Fontanne Theatre)

American Idiot
Book by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer; Lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong; Music by Green Day (St. James Theatre)

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
Book by Alex Timbers; Music and Lyrics by Michael Friedman (The Public Theater)

Brief Encounter
by Noel Coward; Adapted by Emma Rice/Kneehigh Theatre (St. Ann's Warehouse)

Come Fly Away
Conceived by Twyla Tharp; Music and Lyrics by Various Artists (Marquis Theatre)

Memphis
Book and Lyrics by Joe DiPietro; Music and Lyrics by David Bryan (Shubert Theatre)

Million Dollar Quartet
Book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux; Music and Lyrics by Various Artists (Nederlander Theatre)

The Scottsboro Boys
Book by David Thompson; Music and Lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb (Vineyard Theatre)

Sondheim on Sondheim
Conceived by James Lapine; Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim (Roundabout Theatre Company)

*The Broadway transfer of Fela! was nominated for the 2009 Distinguished Production of a Musical during its Off-Broadway run, and was therefore ineligible for nomination this season.

DISTINGUISHED REVIVAL OF A PLAY (8)

As You Like It
by William Shakespeare (Brooklyn Academy of Music)

Brighton Beach Memoirs
by Neil Simon (Nederlander Theatre)

Collected Stories
by Donald Margulies (Manhattan Theatre Club)

The Emperor Jones
by Eugene O'Neill (Irish Repertory Theatre)

Fences
by August Wilson (Cort Theatre)

Lend Me a Tenor
by Ken Ludwig (Music Box Theatre)

A Lie of the Mind
by Sam Shepard (The New Group)

A View From the Bridge
by Arthur Miller (Cort Theatre)

DISTINGUISHED REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL (5)

A Little Night Music
Book by Hugh Wheeler; Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim (Walter Kerr Theatre)

Finian's Rainbow
Book by Yip Harburg and Fred Saidy; Lyrics by Harburg; Music by Burton Lane (St. James Theatre)

La Cage aux Folles
Book by Harvey Fierstein; Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman (Longacre Theatre)

Promises, Promises
Book by Neil Simon; Lyrics by Hal David; Music by Burt Bacharach (Broadway Theatre)

Ragtime
Book by Terrence McNally; Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens; Music by Stephen Flaherty (Neil Simon Theatre)

The Drama League pays tribute to the season's best performers by including the nominees of the Distinguished Performance Award on a dais. This season's dais includes the following performers, one of whom will be honored with the Distinguished Performance Award at the awards ceremony on May 21:

DISTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE AWARD

Nina Arianda, Venus In Fur

Laura Benanti, In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play

Barbara Cook, Sondheim on Sondheim

Daniel Craig, A Steady Rain

Tyne Daly, Love, Loss and What I Wore

Hugh Dancy, The Pride

Viola Davis, Fences

Brandon Victor Dixon, The Scottsboro Boys

Colman Domingo, A Boy and his Soul

**Ensemble, Aftermath

**Ensemble, Brief Encounter

Katie Finneran, Promises, Promises

Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking

John Gallagher Jr., American Idiot

Victor Garber, Present Laughter

Montego Glover, Memphis

Mark-Paul Gosselaar, The Understudy

Kelsey Grammer, La Cage aux Folles

David Alan Grier, Race

Lance Guest, Million Dollar Quartet

Jonathan Hammond, The Boys in the Band

Valerie Harper, Looped

Sean Hayes, Promises, Promises

Jessica Hecht, A View From the Bridge

Jon Michael Hill, Superior Donuts

Douglas Hodge, La Cage aux Folles

Judith Ivey, The Glass Menagerie/The Lady With All the Answers

Scarlett Johansson, A View from the Bridge

Marc Damon Johnson, The Brother/Sister Plays

Leslie Jordan, My Trip Down The Pink Carpet

Levi Kreis, Million Dollar Quartet

Nathan Lane, The Addams Family

Angela Lansbury, A Little Night Music

Linda Lavin, Collected Stories

Jude Law, Hamlet

Laura Linney, Time Stands Still

Jan Maxwell, Lend Me A Tenor/The Royal Family

Marin Mazzie, Enron

Alfred Molina, Red

Jim Norton, Finian's Rainbow

Rosie O'Donnell, Love, Loss and What I Wore

Karine Plantadit, Come Fly Away

Eddie Redmayne, Red

Roslyn Ruff, Things of Dry Hours

Tony Shalhoub, Lend Me a Tenor

Jeremy Shamos, Clybourne Park

Anna Deavere Smith, Let Me Down Easy

Bobby Steggert, Ragtime/Yank!

John Douglas Thompson, The Emperor Jones

Michael Urie, The Temperamentals

Tony Vincent, American Idiot

Christopher Walken, A Behanding in Spokane

Benjamin Walker, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Denzel Washington, Fences

Ben Whishaw, The Pride

Vanessa Williams, Sondheim on Sondheim

Catherine Zeta-Jones, A Little Night Music

(** The producers of Aftermath and Brief Encounter may, at their discretion, designate one or two cast members to appear on the dais on behalf of the full acting ensemble.)

In addition, nine past recipients of the Distinguished Performance Award will be honored on this dais for their work this season. However, because an individual can only receive the Distinguished Performance Award once in his/her lifetime, they are ineligible for award consideration this year. Those past honorees include:

Norbert Leo Butz, Enron
Kathleen Chalfant, Family Week
Rosemary Harris, The Royal Family
Hugh Jackman, A Steady Rain
John Lithgow, Mr. and Mrs. Fitch
Bebe Neuwirth, The Addams Family
Stephen Rea, Ages of the Moon
Liev Schreiber, A View from the Bridge

Earlier this spring, The Drama League announced the recipients of its annual special recognitions: Nathan Lane will receive the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre Award, Kenny Leon will be honored with the Julia Hansen Award for Excellence in Directing and Macy's Parade and Entertainment Group will receive the Unique Contribution to the Theatre Award.

Tickets for The 76th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon are now available by calling (212) 244-9494 ext 5. For more information, visit www.dramaleague.org.

*

The Drama League was founded in 1916 as an association of theatre professionals and patrons dedicated to encouraging the finest in professional theatre, and has since developed into a major service organization for the theatre.

The Drama League training programs for emerging theatre artists through The Directors Project, "which encourages and trains young talents while providing much-needed exposure and essential connections to the professional theatrical community."

The Drama League's Audience Project "is dedicated to building strong, passionate audiences for the American theatre, providing discounted tickets for its members to the best Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional productions across the United States while enhancing the theatregoer's understanding and experience of live theatre through its informative panels, luncheons and discussions with leading figures in the field."