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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. We're at the legendary Sardis where Harriet Harris and Julie White have just announced the nominations for the 2018 Drama League Awards
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Today is a celebration of the greatest theater community on the planet
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You know, we have sent our nominators to hundreds of Broadway, Off-Broadway plays in venues all over the five boroughs
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We have seen over 2,000 performances. And today we're going to tell you the best of what we saw, the celebration of this moment
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My hope is that we're really talking about the excellence of what's happening today
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Yes, it's a competition. Someone's going to win on May 18th. But at the end of the day, this is an extraordinary group of nominees
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This is my first year as president of the board of directors of the Drama League
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And I've been coming to these nominations for years as a member of the board and even before that as a member of the League
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So today for me is a very special day but I much more excited to hear who our members have nominated for the awards this year It the Drama League Awards and we announcing the nominations today And we are looking forward to the luncheon because all of the nominees will be at the luncheon
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There's usually 50 of them that fill the dais and it is just the most inclusive lunch
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We have everybody there. It's kind of fun because the people in the audience have lunch while the people on the dais
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all the nominees, are up on this beautiful dais. And they're having lunch and they're getting to socialize with each other
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And it's things that they wouldn't normally say. So everybody sort of gets to do their own acceptance speech for their nomination
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And there's only one winner out of the 50, which makes it really special
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And you can only get it once. So we recognize people that have been nominated again that won previously
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So it's just a really different, really special lunch that we get to see people in a very different light
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84th annual, what does that number mean to you? Well, 84 is the new 48. We're 102 years old and that's the new two
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And I think for us at the Drama League we looking to the future So we looking at how we can work within the theater to help to grow audience engagement
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to have days like today where we can really look at talent and really identify talent from a broad base of voters
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and then work with our directing fellows and bring new talent to the stage going forward
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We begin with the Drama League Award for Outstanding Revival of Play on or Off-Broadway
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The nominees are Angels in America, Children of a Lesser God, Edward Albee's A Cometh Azul, Hamlet, The Iceman Cometh, Lobby Hero, St. Joan, Three Tall Women, Torch Song, Travesties, and Yerma
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Next, the award for outstanding production of a play on or off Broadway
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The nominees are Animal, Hangman, sorry, Hangmen, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, parts one and two
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and the Body of the World Is God Is Meteor Shower Oedipus El Rey Schoolgirls or the African Mean Girls
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Play, and Until the Flood. The nominees for Outstanding Revival of a Musical on Broadway or Off-Broadway are Carousel
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My Fair Lady, Once on this Island, and Pacific Overtures. And now, the final category
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Outstanding production of a musical on or off Broadway. The nominees are The Band's Visit, Bella, An American Tall Tale, Frozen, Hundred Days
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K-pop, Mean Girls, SpongeBob SquarePants, Summer, The Donna Summer Musical
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and Woody Says, The Life and Music of Woody Gunthery. Congratulations to all of the nominated artists and productions
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We'll see you on May 18th
