NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, located at 556 LaGuardia Place, was the place to be June 10 during the 68th Annual Drama Desk Awards. Drama Desk recognizes outstanding productions both on and off-Broadway, and recognizes special people in the industry. This year, press agent extraordinaire for over five decades, Tony-winning producer, and marvelous person, Lady Irene Gandy was honored for her decades of dedication to the theater.
A humble, beautiful Gandy shared, “I’m so excited that I got this special award from the Drama Desk. It’s a great feeling, it’s a nice feeling…My daughter Mira presented me with the award.”
Speaking about her mother, Mira beamed with pride. “She’s been around a long time, she’s done so much and I felt like this is a career achievement, getting this award from the Drama Desk. She’s a trailblazer, but she’s always taking someone along with her. Her accolades—she’s done 100 Broadway shows, 50 years in the business, first Black female, Sardi’s caricature—but I also want people to know that she chose to be a mom with all this extraordinary life. I just thank her for being a mom. Somehow, she never missed anything important in my life. My mom is 80 years old and to me this is a golden memory that we have now in my presenting the award to her.”
Black playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins won for best revival of a play for his production of “Appropriate.” This dramatic work tells the story of a white family whose dark history, and the racist atrocities their patriarch perpetrated, are difficult for them to come to grips with.
Maleah Joi Moon won outstanding lead performance in a musical for “Hell’s Kitchen.” Her performance as Ali is phenomenal.
Kecia Lewis won outstanding featured performance in a musical for her role as Miss Liza Jane in “Hell’s Kitchen.” Her performance touches the soul and will make you cry. The role, the archetype of the wise Black woman who connects the generations to the ancestors, lights up the stage. Discussing what she wanted the role to embody, Lewis said, “The primary thing of Miss Liza Jane for me is her desire to pour into young people, her desire to teach, to give them history they are not aware of, or don’t really care [about]. Miss Liza Jane represents that woman who is going to give you that education and you’re going to listen and even if you don’t hear it in the moment, it’s going to stay with you because of the anointing on her life, the presence of God and spirit on her life, causes you to hear it in a different kind of way. I think that is what people are responding to in the show. And it is very close to who I am as a person. I’m thrilled that Maleah just won the Drama Desk and the Theatre World Award. All of us [have] that Miss Liza Jane in our lives.”
If you hear Lewis sing you know that she possesses a glorious vocal instrument. She shared, “Singing for me is just an expression of what God has given me in terms of connecting and telling stories to people in a heightened way and allowing God’s spirit to move through me, to sing through me. To meet people wherever they are, to touch them where they need to be touched. I just look at myself as somebody who has to stay open and I just do what God wants me to do and connect with people and I’m grateful for that.” Reflecting on being in the business for over 40 years and Maleah just starting out, Lewis spoke of how she is guiding her. “The primary way is spiritual, because I’ve been in this business for 40 years, the only way I’m still here and I’m still smiling and not bitter and angry, because it would be easy to be that as a Black woman in this industry, is because of God, is because of spirit. So the primary thing that I mentor her around is her spiritual relationship. She is not the be-all, end-all. She is not the only talented, beautiful young lady out there. But her relationship with God will cause her to stand out. People will see her in a different kind of way and that’s what causing the longevity. Lots of people are talented, but a lot of people don’t have that connection. She already does and it’s growing and I’m grateful to be a part of that growth.” Speaking of the Drama Desk Award, Lewis said, “it’s recognition that what I’m doing is standing out and it’s hitting a lot of people and that’s very special.”
Kara Young won outstanding featured actress in a play for “Purlie Victorious.” She played the role of Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins, a role originated by her idol, Ruby Dee. An emotional Young shared, “It feels incredibly important to be honored in this moment. Honoring the legacy of both Ruby and Ossie, it’s just like carrying their legacy and keeping it alive and activated. I feel like he wrote a masterpiece that is about bringing people together, about bringing us together and I feel really honored that they honored the play.” Young performed the character with a great deal of humor. She said, “I was honoring the page and looking at the nuance of what is happening in the world today and what happened back then …. This play is relevant because the political environment is trying to rip us apart and we have to stay together.”
Paul Tazewell won for costume design of a musical for “SUFFS.” “It’s very thrilling to win the award. You think I’m in great company and when they pull you out and you get the award it’s really beautiful.” When asked about his thought process he remarked, “I think it was really important to be as specific as possible, the whole cast is female and a few play male roles, I wanted to make each character as clear as possible. That’s the kind of work that I like to do. I’m blending historic results and the story. I marry that with research whether it’s art or photographs and then I go to my heart and what speaks to me. Usually, I can count on if I relate to something in a certain way, there will be people that relate to it in a similar fashion…I love what I do.”
Nikiya Mathis won the Drama Desk award for outstanding wig and hair for “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.” A joyous Mathis remarked, “It was amazing to be asked to do it, I was excited and then when I was having to it, it was like, ‘Nikiya how are you going to do it when there are actors that don’t leave the stage, but they come in with different looks?’ There was a moment where I didn’t know if I was going to be able to pull it off. But there was one weekend when I brainstormed and I did it. I was stunned at the magic we were able to pull off, but it was a group effort, and it was all Black women, Jocelyn [Bioh], the playwright, Whitney [White] our director and they made space for me to do my work.” Along with winning the Drama Desk that night, Mathis shared that she will be receiving a special Tony Award for her wig and hair design for “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.” “It is great to be recognized for Black women’s hair, which has been stigmatized for such a long time in Hollywood and on Broadway.”