New York, NY – The Lucille Lortel Awards, the preeminent honor presented exclusively to recognize Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway, announced its 38th annual awards ceremony will take place Sunday, May 7, 2023, at 7:00 PM at NYU Skirball Center. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and the Lucille Lortel Theatre, with additional support provided by TDF. In addition to the regular awards, including non-gendered performance awards and the ensemble award which were added last year, special awards will be presented in three categories. The event will be open to the public, with tickets available for purchase beginning April 7 at tickets.nyu.edu or at the NYU Skirball Center box office Tuesday-Saturday 12 pm-6 pm. As always, the Lortel Awards is a benefit for the Entertainment Community Fund and fans are encouraged to make donations at LortelAwards.org.

2023 Special Award Recipients

Lifetime Achievement AwarD – Stephen McKinley Henderson

Stephen McKinley Henderson is currently appearing on Broadway in Stephen Adley Guirgis’ Pulitzer Prize winning drama, Between Riverside and Crazy, for which he previously received Obie and Lucille Lortel Awards during the Off-Broadway run. He earned a Tony Award nomination for his Featured Performance in Fences and received a Drama Desk Award for his role in the ensemble of Jitney. Henderson is also a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee, whose film credits include Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, Denzel Washington’s Fences, and Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird. He can currently be seen in the highly acclaimed film, Causeway, directed by Lila Neugebauer. Henderson is a Fox Foundation Fellow and a Master Teacher for The Lunt-Fontanne Ten Chimneys Fellowship Program.

Playwrights’ Sidewalk – Ntozake Shange

Ntozake Shange, author of 36 published works, is increasingly recognized as one of America’s greatest writers having, for 50 years, embodied the struggle of women of color for equality and the recognition of their contribution to human culture. Shange’s literary legacy, preserved in the Shange Institute at Barnard College, comprises thirteen plays, seven novels, six children’s books and nineteen poetry collections, the majority of which are published and in print. Her 1974 choreo-poem, for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow Is enuf, retains its title as the longest-running play by an African American writer in Broadway history. The 2022 Broadway revival of for colored girls garnered seven Tony Award nominations. She is posthumously inducted into both the NY State Writer’s Association and the Off-Broadway Alliance Halls of Fame, where her legacy endures as one of the most cherished Black feminist writers of our time.

Body of Work – A.R.T./New York

From its founding nearly 50 years ago in 1972 by a small collective to promote community and collaboration across a budding non-profit theatrical field, A.R.T./New York has become an essential pillar of a diverse member community of 475+ theatres and 150 individual producer and artist members. At its core, A.R.T./New York is the single membership organization serving the full breadth of New York’s not- for-profit theatre community. A.R.T./New York has earned a reputation as a leader in providing impactful services to its members over five decades – from educational resources and financial support to space rentals and systems change advocacy.

2023 Key Lortel Awards Dates

April 1, 2022-March 31, 2023: 2022-23 Off-Broadway Season

April 5, 2023: 38th Annual Lortel Award Nominations Announced

May 7, 2023: 38th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards Ceremony

The Off-Broadway League’s Lortel Awards Producing & Administration Committee (Jeremy Adams, Tisa Chang, Carol Fishman, George Forbes, Danielle Karliner Naish, Kenneth Naanep, Ralph Peña, Catherine Russell, Lindsey Sag, and Casey York) and the Lucille Lortel Theatre (George Forbes, Jeffrey Shubart, Nancy Hurvitz, Alana Canty-Samuel, Maura Le Viness, and Karla Liriano) produce the Lortel Awards Ceremony. Acclaimed writer/director Michael Heitzman returns to direct the Lortel Awards for the twelfth consecutive year. Representatives of the Off-Broadway League, Actors’ Equity Association, Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, United Scenic Artists, the Lucille Lortel Theatre, in addition to theatre journalists, academics and other Off-Broadway professionals, serve on the Voting Committee.