It’s aheavenly weekend for Liza Colón-Zayas…
The 65th Annual Drama Desk Awards honoring the best in New York theater were announced Saturday, with the 48-year-old Puerto Rican actress winning the Outstanding Actress in a Play prize.
Colón-Zayas won the Drama Desk award, the first of her career, for her acclaimed performance in Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven. The play centers onthe harrowing, humorous, and heartbreaking inner workings of a women’s halfway house in New York City. It’s helmed by John Ortiz, LAByrinth Theater Company‘s artistic director, in his Off-Broadway directing debut.
Matthew Lopez is another first-time Drama Desk winner…
The 43-year-old Puerto Rican playwright and screenwriter.picked up the Drama Desk award for Outstanding Play for his hghly regarded work The Inheritance.
Inspired by the novel Howards End by E. M. Forster, the play premiered in London at the Young Vic in March 2018, before transferring to Broadway in November 2019.
Normally, the awards are announced at a gathering of theater artists and critics in New York City. But this year, the gathering was replaced by a pre-recorded ceremony because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The awards show had initially been scheduled to air May 31, but was postponed due to the Black Lives Matter protests in New York City.
The ceremony aired on NY1 and streamed on NY1.com and DramaDeskAwards.com. The Drama Desk Awards recipients were decided by theater critics, journalists, editors and publishers covering theater.
Here’s the complete list of winners:
65th ANNUAL DRAMA DESK AWARD WINNERS:
Outstanding Play
The Inheritance, by Matthew Lopez
Outstanding Musical
A Strange Loop, Playwrights Horizons/Page 73 Productions
Outstanding Revival of a Play
A Soldier’s Play, Roundabout Theatre Company
Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Little Shop of Horrors
Outstanding Actor in a Play
Edmund Donovan, Greater Clements
Outstanding Actress in a Play
Liza Colón-Zayas, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Larry Owens, A Strange Loop
Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Adrienne Warren, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Paul Hilton, The Inheritance
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Lois Smith, The Inheritance
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Christian Borle, Little Shop of Horrors
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill
Outstanding Director of a Play
Stephen Daldry, The Inheritance
Outstanding Director of a Musical
Stephen Brackett, A Strange Loop
Outstanding Choreography
Sonya Tayeh, Moulin Rouge!
Outstanding Music
Dave Malloy, Octet
Outstanding Lyrics
Michael R. Jackson, A Strange Loop
Outstanding Book of a Musical
Michael R. Jackson, A Strange Loop
Outstanding Orchestrations
Tom Kitt, Jagged Little Pill
Outstanding Music in a Play
Martha Redbone, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Outstanding Scenic Design for a Play
Clint Ramos, Grand Horizons
Outstanding Scenic Design for a Musical
Derek McLane, Moulin Rouge!
Outstanding Costume Design for a Play
Rachel Townsend and Jessica Jahn, The Confession of Lily Dare
Outstanding Costume Design for a Musical
Catherine Zuber, Moulin Rouge!
Outstanding Lighting Design for a Play
Heather Gilbert, The Sound Inside
Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical
Justin Townsend, Moulin Rouge!
Outstanding Projection Design
Luke Halls, West Side Story
Outstanding Sound Design for a Play
Paul Arditti and Christopher Reid, The Inheritance
Outstanding Sound Design for a Musical
Peter Hylenski, Moulin Rouge!
Outstanding Wig and Hair Design
Campbell Young Associates, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
Outstanding Solo Performance
Laura Linney, My Name is Lucy Barton
Unique Theatrical Experience
Is This A Room, Vineyard Theatre
Outstanding Fight Choreography
Thomas Schall, A Soldier’s Play
Outstanding Adaptation
A Christmas Carol, by Jack Thorne