Drama Desk Awards set for Saturday

June 9 (UPI) -- The 65th annual Drama Desk Awards ceremony celebrating excellence in New York theater are set to air Saturday.

The virtual event -- presented using video-conference technology in keeping with social-distancing practices intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus -- may be viewed at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Spectrum News NY1.

It will also be live streamed on NY1.com and DramaDeskAwards.com.

The prize presentation had been scheduled for May 31, but was postponed because of the nationwide protests surrounding the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis.

Drama Desk Co-Presidents Charles Wright and David Barbour announced at the time: "The Drama Desk celebrates all that's outstanding in the work of New York's diverse theater artists and craftspeople.

"We regret the postponement of our awards ceremony tonight but, as an organization committed to the principle that all voices must be heard, we stand together with our black colleagues against the racial injustice and violence in our nation and city.

"We are grateful to Spectrum News NY1 for its comprehensive news coverage of this painful moment."

The nominees for Outstanding Play are Cambodian Rock Band, Greater Clements, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven, Heroes of the Fourth Turning and The Inheritance.

Shortlisted for Outstanding Musical are Octet, The Secret Life of Bees, Soft Power, A Strange Loop and The Wrong Man.

Nominated for Outstanding Revival of a Play are Fefu and Her Friends, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf, Mac Beth, Much Ado About Nothing and A Soldier's Play.

In the running for Outstanding Revival of a Musical are Little Shop of Horrors, The Unsinkable Molly Brown and West Side Story.

Vying for Outstanding Actor in a Play are Charles Busch for The Confession of Lily Dare, Edmund Donovan for Greater Clements, Raúl Esparza for Seared, Francis Jue for Cambodian Rock Band, Triney Sandoval for 72 Miles to Go... and Kyle Soller for The Inheritance.

The nominees for Outstanding Actress in a Play are Rose Byrne for Medea, Liza Colón-Zayas for Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven, Emily Davis for Is This A Room, April Matthis for Toni Stone and Ruth Negga for Hamlet.

Competing for Outstanding Actor in a Musical are David Aron Damane for The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Chris Dwan for Enter Laughing, Joshua Henry for The Wrong Man, Francis Jue for Soft Power and Larry Owens for A Strange Loop.

Up for Outstanding Actress in a Musical are Tammy Blanchard for Little Shop of Horrors, Beth Malone for The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Saycon Sengbloh for The Secret Life of Bees, Elizabeth Stanley for Jagged Little Pill and Adrienne Warren for Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.

Broadway, along with most other cultural institutions and live performance venues in New York City, remains closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.