Christina Ricci Eligible for Best Featured Actress Tony; Additional Tony Award Eligibility Decisions Announced

The Tony Awards Administration Committee met today for the first time this season to decide the eligibility of 12 Broadway productions for the 2011 American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards, presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. The awards will be broadcast in a live three-hour ceremony from The Beacon Theatre on the CBS television network on Sunday, June 12, 2011.

In an unusual move, Christina Ricci has been deemed eligible for an award in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play category for Time Stands Still. No other element of that production, which played last season and then re-opened earlier this season with Ricci as the only new cast member, will be eligible.

The Roundabout’s presentation of Kneehigh Theatre’s Brief Encounter, which includes numerous songs, will not be considered as a musical, but will be eligible in the Best Play category, with the author credit listed as “Noël Coward and adapted by Emma Rice.” In addition, Tristan Sturrock and Hannah Yelland will be considered eligible in the categories of Best Performance by an Actor/Actress in a Leading Role in a Play respectively for their performances in the work, with all other actors eligible in supporting categories.

Among the other eligibility decisions: Benjamin Walker will be considered in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; Joanna Lumley will be considered in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play category for La Bête; Judith Light will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play category for Lombardi; Boyd Gaines will be considered in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play category for Driving Miss Daisy; Joshua Henry will be considered in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical category for The Scottsboro Boys; and Sherie Rene Scott will be considered in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical category for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

All other decisions were consistent with the opening night credits.

For more information on the Tony Awards, please visit www.TonyAwards.com.