Theater News

Jennifer Holliday to Join Clay Aiken, Van Hansis, T.R. Knight, Vanessa Williams, et al. for NYC GLAAD Awards Ceremony

Jennifer Holliday
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)
Jennifer Holliday
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)

Tony Award winner Jennifer Holliday will close out the GLAAD Media Awards ceremony, to be held in New York City at the Marriott Marquis, on March 28. The event will begin at 5:30 pm with a cocktail reception and silent auction, followed by dinner and show at 7 pm, and a VIP Celebrity After Party at 10:30 pm. Kate Clinton will host.

The ceremony will include presentations to special honorees Tyra Banks, Phil Donahue, and Suze Orman. It will feature guest appearances by Clay Aiken, John Amaechi, Jensen Atwood, Michelle Clunie, Tim Gunn, Van Hansis, Cherry Jones, T.R. Knight, Jay Manuel, S. Epatha Merkerson, Chris Noth, Jasika Nicole, Keith Olbermann, Ana Ortiz, Patrick Ian Polk, Jenny Shimizu, Jake Silbermann, Hannah Storm, Michael Urie, Jane Velez-Mitchell, and Vanessa Williams.

As previously announced, the New York theater nominations include the Lee Hall-Elton John musical Billy Elliot, Annie Baker’s Body Awareness, Craig Lucas’ Prayer for My Enemy, the John Weidman-Stephen Sondheim tuner Road Show, and Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Wig Out, competing in the Broadway/Off-Broadway category. Off-Off-Broadway nominees include Arias with a Twist by Joey Arias and Basil Twist, The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac by Taylor Mac, Dina Martina: Off the Charts by Grady West, Lustre by Justin Bond, and the NYMF musical Play It Cool by Martin Casella and Larry Dean Harris, with a score by Phillip Swann and Mark Winkler.

Although those awards will not be given out on stage this year, the ceremony will include a special recognition of The Laramie Project, 10 Years Later – The Lasting Legacy of Matthew Shepard, a radio documentary produced by Sirius XM Radio that was narrated by Stockard Channing and featured interviews with playwright Moises Kaufman and members of Tectonic Theater Company.

Additional GLAAD Awards ceremonies will take place at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on April 18 and the Hilton San Francisco on May 9.

For more information, and a full list of nominees visit www.glaad.org/mediaawards.