The Drama League wished to extend our warmest CONGRATULATOINS to our talented Directors Project alumni- Ed Sylvanus Iskandar and Christopher Ashley- for their Best Direction Drama Desk Nominations.

Ed Sylvanus Iskandar is nominated for Best Direction of a Play for These Seven Sicknesses. He is Founding Artistic Director of Exit, Pursued by a Bear where he directed Amy Freed’s Restoration Comedy, Sean Graney’s These Seven Sicknesses, Jason Williamson’s Lesser Mercies, King Lear and Dido, Queen of Carthage (both starring Billy Porter) and Arok of Java. He is a current Emerging Artist Fellow with the New York Theatre Workshop, a Drama League Directing Fellow, a two-time Resident Directing Fellow at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, an alumnus of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and the recipient of the Robert M. Golden Medal for distinguished achievement in the creative arts.

 

Christopher Ashley is nominated for Best Direction of a Musical for Leap of Faith. He most recently directed Xanadu on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre, which opened in June 2007. Since graduating cum laude from Yale University in 1986, Mr. Ashley has directed over 60 productions, including Broadway musical productions All Shook Up (Palace Theatre 2005, national tour 2006) and The Rocky Horror Show (2001 Tony Award, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations: Best Direction of a Musical, Circle in the Square Theatre).  He also directed the feature film of Jeffrey, released by Orion Classics, and the American Playhouse production of Blown Sideways Through Life for PBS. He also a proud alumn of the Directors Project.

Click READ MORE to find out more about all of our great alumni director’s that were nominated this season!

NOMINATIONS  — 2012

DRAMA LEAGUE

Best Production of a Play:
Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris (directed by Pam MacKinnon)
Distinguished Performance nominee: Jeremy Shamos
The Lyons by Nicky Silver, directed by Mark Brokaw  
Distinguished Performance nominee: Linda Lavin
Peter and the Starcatcher by Rick Elice (co-directed by Roger Rees and Alex Timbers)
Distinguished Performance nominee: Christian Borle
Distinguished Performance nominee: Celia Keenan-Bolger
Seminar by Theresa Rebeck (directed by Sam Gold)
Distinguished Performance nominee: Alan Rickman
Distinguished Performance nominee: Lily Rabe
Septimus and Clarissa by Ellen McLaughlin (directed by Rachel Dickstein)
Distinguished Performance nominee: Ellen McLaughlin

Best Production of a Musical:
Mission Drift by The TEAM (directed by Rachel Dickstein)
Distinguished Performance nominee: Heather Christian
Leap of Faith (directed by Christopher Ashley)
Distinguished Performance Nominee: Raul Esparza
Distinguished Performance Nominee: Leslie Odom, Jr.

Best Revival of a Play:
Look Back in Anger by John Osborne (directed by Sam Gold)
Distinguished Performance nominee: Matthew Rhys

Best Revival of a Musical:
The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (directed by Diane Paulus)
Distinguished Performance nominee: Audra McDonald
Distinguished Performance nominee: Norm Lewis
Distinguished Performance nominee: Jessie Mueller, On a Clear Day You Can See
Forever (directed by Michael Mayer)

DRAMA DESK
Outstanding Play:  The Lyons by Nicky Silver (directed by Mark Brokaw).
Outstanding Actress in a Play: Linda Lavin
Outstanding Revival of a Play:  A Little Journey by Rachel Crothers (directed by Jackson Gay).
Outstdanding Set Design by Roger Hanna
Outstanding Musical: Leap of Faith
Outstanding Director of a Musical: Christopher Ashley.
Outstanding Choreography in a Musical:  Sergio Trujillo
Outstanding Actor in a Musical: Raul Esparza
Outstanding Book of a Musical: Janus Circone & Warren Leight
Oustanding Music of a Musical: Alan Menken
Outstanding Revival of a Musical:  The Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess (directed by Diane
Paulus).
Outstanding Actress in a Musical: Audra McDonald
Outstanding Actor in a Musical: Norm Lewis
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical: Philip Boykin
Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical: Acme Sound Partners
Oustanding Director of a Play:  Ed Sylvaus Iskandar for These Seven Sicknesses
Outstanding Music in a Play: Gina Leishman, Septimus and Clarissa (directed by Rachel Dickstein)
Outstanding Sound Design in a Play:  Stowe Nelson, Samuel and Alasdair: A Personal
History of the Robot War (directed by Lila Neugebauer)

TONY AWARDS:
Best Play:
Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
Best director: Pam MacKinnon 
Best Featured Actor: Jeremy Shamos
Best Scenic Design of a Play: Daniel Ostling

Peter and the Starcatcher by Rick Elice
Best director: Roger Rees and Alex Timbers
Best Featured Actor: Christian Borle
Best Featured Actress: Celia Keenan-Bolger
Best Original Score Written for the Theatre: Wayne Baker & Rick Elice
Best Scenic Design of a Play: Donyale Werle
Best Costume Design of a Play:  Paloma Young
Best Lighting Design of a Play: Jeff Croiter
Best Sound Design of a Play: Darron L. West

Best Musical:
Leap of Faith (directed by Christopher Ashley)

Best Revival of a Musical:
The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess
Best director: Diane Paulus    
Best Actress: Audra McDonald
Best Actor: Norm Lewis
Best Featured Actor: David Alan Grier
Best Featured Actor: Phillip Boykin
Best Costume Design of a Musical: ESosa
Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Christopher Akerlind
Best Sound Design of a Musical: Acme Sound Partners
Best Orchestrations: William David Brohn & Christopher Jahnke

Best Actress in a Play:
Linda Lavin, The Lyons (drected by Mark Brokaw)

Best Featured Actress in a Musical  
Jessie Mueller, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (directed by Michael Mayer)