Faith Prince and Jim Dale to Announce Drama Desk Nominations on April 27

Tony and Drama Desk Award winners Faith Prince soon to be seen in Disney's The Little Mermaid and Jim Dale will announce the nominees for the 54th annual Drama Desk Awards on April 27 at the New York Friars Club. The awards ceremony will be held on May 17 at the LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center.

The Drama Desk, which was organized in 1949 and presented its first awards in 1955, is the only organization of professional theater critics, writers and editors that bestows awards with Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions competing in the same categories.

The 2008-2009 nominating committee for the Drama Desk Awards is composed of theater journalists Barbara Siegel, Dan Bacalzo, Christopher Byrne, Patrick Christiano, Jason Clark, Gerard Raymond and Richard Ridge.