A pair of hosts has been revealed for the 2025 Drama Desk Awards ceremony. Tituss Burgess and Debra Messing will emcee the previously announced June 1 ceremony at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Nominations for the awards, which encompass Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway, will be announced on April 30.
The creative team for the ceremony has also been revealed. Lorin Latarro will return as director and Steve Rosen and David Rossmer will again be writing the show. The evening will feature musical direction by Dan Lipton, lighting design by Abby May, production management and sound design by Five Ohm, video design by Ido Levran and production stage management by Ira Mont.
As previously reported, proceeds from the event will, for the first time, benefit the Entertainment Community Fund.
Burgess recently completed a stint replacing in the title role of “Oh, Mary!” A five-time Emmy Award nominee for his performance on “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” Burgess has appeared on Broadway in “Moulin Rouge!,” “Jersey Boys,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Guys and Dolls” and “Good Vibrations.”
Messing is known for her Emmy-winning turn on “Will and Grace.” Messing’s stage credits include the Broadway mountings of “Outside Mullingar” and “Birthday Candles,” as well as Off-Broadway’s “Shit. Meet. Fan.” She is also known to theater fans for her turn as Julia Houston on the television series “Smash.”
“We are absolutely thrilled that Debra Messing and Tituss Burgess are hosting this year’s Drama Desk Awards, along with a stellar creative team led by Lorin Latarro,” said the event’s co-executive producers Staci Levine and Jessica R. Jenen in a statement. “The Drama Desk Awards are a very special event, celebrating the entire theater community. With all net proceeds donated to the Entertainment Community Fund, the Drama Desk Awards benefit the very community being celebrated."
For the fourth consecutive year, the acting categories will not be specified by gender. Performance categories will comprise Outstanding Leading Performance in a Play, Outstanding Leading Performance in a Musical, Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play and Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical. Each category will allow for twice as many nominees as the former gendered categories, and each category will have two winners. A tie will result in more than two winners in a category.
The 2024-2025 Drama Desk nominating committee is led by chair Martha Wade Steketee; committee members include Linda Armstrong, Daniel Dinero, Peter Filichia, Kenji Fujishima, Raven Snook and Charles Wright.
The Drama Desk is led by co-presidents Wright and David Barbour.
