Odds & Ends: Broadway League Sets Date for 12th Annual Jimmy Awards & More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed today.

Broadway League Sets Date for 12th Annual Jimmy Awards
Get ready to experience a display of the best young talent in America! The 12th Annual Jimmy Awards have been scheduled for June 29, 2020 at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre. The ceremony will feature 92 nominees from 46 regional awards programs around the U.S., making it the biggest Jimmy Awards in history. Named for legendary Broadway producer/theater owner James M. Nederlander, the National High School Musical Theatre Awards served as a starting point for current Mean Girls Queen Bee Reneé Rapp and Broadway.com vlogger Andrew Barth Feldman (Dear Evan Hansen).

David Neumann to Choreograph Swept Away Starring John Gallagher Jr. & Stark Sands
David Neumann, the Tony-nominated choreographer of the 2019 Tony-winning musical Hadestown, has joined the creative team of the world premiere Avett Brothers musical Swept Away. Tony winner Michael Mayer will direct the previously announced production, starring Tony winner John Gallagher Jr. and Tony nominee Stark Sands, scheduled to play Berkeley Repertory Theatre beginning on June 14, 2020. Joining Neumann among the newly announced creative team are Tony-winning Hadestown scenic designer Rachel Hauck, Tony-winning costume designer Susan Hilferty (Wicked), Tony-winning lighting designer Kevin Adams (American Idiot) and Tony-winning sound designer Kai Harada (The Band's Visit).

Jay Armstrong Johnson & More Will Lend Their Voices to Songs for Sophie Benefit
A talented group of Broadway stars will take part in the upcoming benefit Songs for Sophie: A Broadway Gala for Autism, a special event honoring soprano Sophie Karp. The event will be held at Terrace at Biagio's in Paramus, NJ on November 15 at 2:00pm. Performers scheduled to appear include Jay Armstrong Johnson (Scotland, PA), Erik Liberman (War Paint) and Ciarán Sheeran (The Phantom of the Opera). Kristy Cates and Marissa Lynn will co-direct the benefit, which will feature music direction by James Rushin.

Dan Hoyle's Border People Will Play Off-Broadway Run in 2020
New York’s Working Theater has announced an off-Broadway transfer of the new drama Border People, written and performed by Lortel nominee Dan Hoyle. Directed by Kel Haney, the production will play A.R.T./New York Theatres from January 25 through February 23, 2020. Having received four extensions at The Marsh San Francisco, Border People is based on Hoyle's conversations with immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers and border crossers of all kinds at both the North and Southern borders. It offers a startling gallery of portraits of those, in Hoyle's words, "who cross borders, geographical or cultural, by necessity or choice." Hoyle's prior off-Broadway credits include The Real Americans and the Lortel-nominated Tings Dey Happen.

P.S. We're still reeling from the 15th anniversary Brooklyn reunion concert. Check out the mega-talented cast in action below.