Theater News

Michael Urie to Return as Host of the 63rd Annual Drama Desk Awards

The celebration of New York theater will be held at Town Hall on June 3.

Michael Urie will host the 63rd Annual Drama Desk Awards at Town Hall on June 3.
Michael Urie will host the 63rd Annual Drama Desk Awards at Town Hall on June 3.
(© Seth Walters)

Charles Wright, president of the Drama Desk, and Gretchen Shugart, president of Arts and Culture of AudienceView — parent company of TheaterMania, which will present the Drama Desk Awards ceremony — announced today that Michael Urie will return as host for the ceremony's third consecutive year.

Urie earned a Drama Desk Award in 2010 for Outstanding Ensemble Performance in The Temperamentals and another in 2013 for Outstanding Solo Performance in Buyer & Cellar. He is known for his TV roles on Ugly Betty and the current TV Land series Younger, and was seen earlier this season in the Second Stage revival of Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song, which will transfer to Broadway this fall.

This year's Drama Desk Awards, which annually honor productions on Broadway, off-Broadway, and off-off-Broadway, will be held on Sunday, June 3, at 8pm at Town Hall. The Drama Desk Awards nominations announcement will take place on Thursday, April 26, at Feinstein's/54 Below at 10am and can be seen on TheaterMania.com.

Joey Parnes Productions will produce and manage the show, which will be written by Bill Rosenfield (46 Beacon, True Fans, Sunshine and Shadow) and directed by Mark Waldrop (Not That Jewish, Howard Crabtree's When Pigs Fly, Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends). The Awards will be sponsored by Music Theatre International, Hudson Scenic Studio, and Production Resource Group. More sponsors will be announced in the coming weeks.

The 2017-18 Drama Desk nominating committee is composed of David Barbour, Linda Buchwald, Peter Filichia, Helen Shaw, Martha Wade Steketee, Zachary Stewart, Doug Strassler, and Charles Wright.

For tickets and more information, click here.