Drama League to Honor Gemignani, Sher & Stewart at 2008 Awards Luncheon

The Drama League has announced the recipients of its three specialty awards for 2008, to be presented along with five production and performance awards at the 74th annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on May 16. Paul Gemignani will receive the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre Award, Bartlett Sher will be honored with the Julia Hansen Award for Excellence in Directing, and Ellen Stewart/La MaMa E.T.C. will receive the Unique Contribution to the Theatre Award.

Hosted by Harvey Fierstein A Catered Affair, the Drama League Awards is being co-chaired by Broadway luminaries Bobby Cannavale Mauritius, Laurence Fishburne Thurgood, Peter Gallagher The Country Girl, Cheyenne Jackson Xanadu, Laura Linney Les Liaisons Dangereuses S. Epatha Merkerson Come Back, Little Sheba, Rosie Perez The Ritz, Martha Plimpton Cymbeline and Patrick Stewart Macbeth.

Gemignani has been a musical director for more than 35 Broadway shows, including Follies, Pacific Overtures, Candide, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Evita, Dreamgirls, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, On the Twentieth Century, Sunday in the Park with George, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Crazy for You, Passion, High Society, Kiss Me Kate, Assassins and Frogs. His feature film credits include Kramer vs. Kramer, Reds, Eyewitness and Sweeney Todd.

Sher, who has served as artistic director of Seattle's Intiman Theatre since 2000, is directing the first-ever Broadway revival of South Pacific for Lincoln Center Theater. He received a 2006 Tony nomination for his direction of Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing! and 2005 Tony nomination for his direction of The Light in the Piazza, both for Lincoln Center Theater. In 2006, he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera with Rossini's The Barber of Seville Later this year, he will direct the opera Roméo et Juliette, starring Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón, for the Salzburg Festival.

Stewart is the Founder and Director of the La MaMa E.T.C., the influential off-Broadway theater which began in 1961 and has presented more than 1,900 productions since in theaters throughout the world. Stewart has also staged, composed, directed and written librettos for original folk-opera/spectacles.

The Drama League Awards pays tribute to the season's best performers by including the nominees for its annual Distinguished Performance Award on a dais. This year's event will feature approximately 60 stars from the 2007-08 Broadway and off-Broadway season, including the honorary co-chairs. The Drama League's 3,000 members also vote on awards for Distinguished Production of a Play, Distinguished Production of a Musical, Distinguished Revival of a Play and Distinguished Revival of a Musical. Nominations for these five awards will be announced on April 22.