It’s almost May, and the 78th Annual Drama League Awards are just around the corner! With just under three weeks till the big event, it’s time to properly introduce your 2012 nominees.

Get to know each and every one of our nominated performers and productions – we’ll be highlighting nominees in each category each weekday for the next two weeks. We’re starting with the productions nominated for Distinguished Production of a Play, Distinguished Revival of a Play, Distinguished Production of  a Musical and Distinguished Revival of a Musical, and we’ll highlight each of the nominees for the coveted Distinguished Performance Award starting next Monday.

Check back for new clips and highlights. We’ll be posting fun facts, show clips, highlights, and MORE daily! Drama League members – be sure to vote for the 2012 Drama League Awards winners prior to May 16!

Here are your highlighted nominees for Monday, April 30: CLYBOURNE PARK, LEAP OF FAITH, DEATH OF A SALESMAN, and THE GERSHWINS’ PORGY AND BESS. CLICK THROUGH to learn more about each show!

Clybourne Park (Distinguished Production of a Play):

Clybourne Park explodes in two outrageous acts set 50 years apart. Act One takes place in 1959, as nervous community leaders anxiously try to stop the sale of a home to a black family. Act Two is set in the same house in the present day, as the now predominantly African-American neighborhood battles to hold its ground in the face of gentrification. (clybournepark.com)

Death of a Salesman (Distinguished Revival of a Play):

Set in the late 1940s, Death of the Salesman follows traveling salesman Willy Loman (Philip Seymour Hoffman) as he slowly unravels. The play explores the complicated family relationship between Willy, his wife, Linda (Linda Emond), and their adult sons, Biff (Andrew Garfield) and Happy (Finn Wittrock). In this Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning drama, playwright Arthur Miller examines how far one man will go to provide for his family and achieve the American dream. (deathofasalesmanbroadway.com)

Leap of Faith (Distinguished Production of  a Musical):

Love will get you every time. One charismatic con-man is about to find that out—and you’re about to experience the joy, romance and heart-pounding thrills of Broadway’s newest musical powerhouse, Leap of Faith. Four-time Tony Award nominee Raúl Esparza (Cabaret, Company) stars as Jonas Nightingale, an electrifying performer and rabble rouser who’s planning to take the whole town for a ride. But when a small-town girl stops him in his tracks, this hustler may just discover something to believe in. (leapoffaithbroadway.com)

The Gerwishins’ Porgy and Bess (Distinguished Revival of a Musical):

The classic story by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward is set in Charleston’s fabled Catfish Row, where the beautiful Bess struggles to break free from her scandalous past, and the only one who can rescue her is the crippled but courageous Porgy. Threatened by her formidable former lover Crown, and the seductive enticements of the colorful troublemaker Sporting Life, Porgy and Bess’ relationship evolves into a deep romance that triumphs as one of theater’s most exhilarating love stories. (porgyandbessonbroadway.com)