The red carpet at the 69th Drama Desk Awards was the place to be as theater greats came to be with their theater family as presenters and nominees.
Camille A. Brown was nominated for outstanding choreography for “Gypsy,” a musical that combines several dance techniques. Explaining her thought process, Brown said, “I felt they were required and I feel like a show tells you in a sense what the moment is in the language and music, so I felt like each section called for something different. Some people … called for something more rhythmic.”
In talking about working with George C. Wolfe, she was happy to say, “It was a wonderful collaboration.” Of the musical’s star Audra McDonald, Brown said, “To have a look into her process and to work with her really is a gift, so I’m just honored that I had that opportunity.”
Nominees Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, the composers of “Real Women Have Curves,” a musical that focuses on the lives and struggles of undocumented Latin women, Huerta said they want audiences to learn about this population that, “I am Mexican American, born and raised in Mexico City, and when I was approached to do this musical, it was basically so we can give a slice of our culture into this country. I feel like we’ve been exposed to it, but never [on] this stage, like Broadway. Whenever we were working together on the score, we just wanted to be a fly on the wall to the culture — how humorous, how joyful.
“We go into deep subjects [with singers], but with music, you can get away with it because music is like a chaser to give messages. We just wanted it to be exactly that and get the representation right.”
Linda Armstrong photos
Michael Rishawn, nominated for Outstanding Feature Performance in a Play for “Table 17.” 
Nikiya Mathis on red carpet, nominated for Hair and Wig Design for “CATS: The Jellicle Ball” and “Liberation.” 
Norm Lewis, presenter at Drama Desk awards. 
Tatianna Cordoba, nominated for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical for “Real Women Have Curves.” 
Whitney White on red carpet, director of “Liberation,” which received special Ensemble Award.
“That’s exactly right, because there have been other shows about the Hispanic culture, but not any about undocumented people in this country, and we wanted the songs to humanize them and show that they are people like us who are just trying to get through,” said Velez. “We had a lot of fun trying not to make people feel we should feel bad for them, but [see] how strong they are, just champion them.”
“Liberation” playwright Bess Wohl was beaming about the show’s being picked to win this year’s “Ensemble Award.” The show, directed by African American Whitney White, told the story of a group of women trying to fight for women’s rights and a voice in the ’70s in Ohio. “I’m just so proud of all of them [the cast of Betsy Aidem, Audrey Corsa, Kayla Davion, Susannah Flood, Kristolyn Lloyd, Irene Sofia Lucio, Charlie Thurston, and Adina Verson],” said Wohl. “They built it together; it wouldn’t be the same without each one of them.”
White was joyous on the red carpet. Talking about her process in directing the production, she said, “When you’re dealing with a period piece — and ‘Liberation’ is a period piece, set in the early ’70s [and going] back and forth from the ’70s to now — [you do] did a deep dive into [the time and place]. When you look at this wave of feminism, what old women were doing, what housewives were doing, the way that they were putting themselves out there — walking out on their jobs and taking big risks for the little freedoms we have now, I really tried to treat it like a documentary project. I looked at photography: how did women sit, how did they present themselves, what was life like before social media? That’s how I started my journey to find the visual landscape of the world.”
Linda Armstrong videos
Interview with Brian Stokes Mitchell, who received William Wolf Award at Drama Desk Awards.
nterview with Camille A. Brown, nominated choreographer for “Gypsy” on red carpet.
Interview with Kara Young after she won Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play for “Purpose.”
Interview with George C. Wolfe after “Gypsy” won Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical.
Receiving the Ensemble Award “is my dream as a director — for the entire cast to be recognized for their contribution, especially in a world premiere in a new play,” White said. “It’s all about that cast. No one has done the roles before. It’s such an honor they are being recognized tonight.”
Kip Williams, creator and director of “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” nominated for Unique Theatrical Experience, also came down the red carpet. The multimedia production features Sarah Snook playing 26 characters, and there’s never been anything like it on Broadway.
“For me, at the start of every creative process, I have to push myself and I have to go into the unknown,” Williams said. “That’s the only reason to get out of bed as an artist. You don’t want to do things that have been done before — you want to take things and find new ways to look at them and to connect the audience in a new way, where we can see ourselves in a new light, and that’s what Oscar [Wilde] did when he wrote the novel.”
Wilde’s novel, Williams said, “was my North Star through the whole thing. If I can be as brave and courageous as he was and take that leap of faith, then I’ll be on the right track. I just used my imagination and my vision for it. It was a scary process, but to see it come alive in front of an audience — it was imaginary.”
When Brian Stokes Mitchell received the William Wolf Award, he said, “I’m really excited. I’m really honored, especially because this award is about service and it acknowledges people that help out the community, and I feel very lucky that I have been able to do that, along with the Entertainment Community Fund and all the people there — the staff, the board, volunteers.”
Reflecting on what he feels when he performs, Mitchell said, “It’s a joyous experience. A performance is given, but also an audience gives — you give energy to each other. You give energy to other people on stage. It’s the wonderful exchange of energy that happens and the celebration of being human and life.”
Mitchell and his wife Allyson are founding members of Black Theatre United (BTU). When asked about the importance of advocating for Blacks in this industry, he said, “It means everything. That’s why Allyson and I are founding members. It’s representation all around. It’s important because there hasn’t been the equity, diversity, and inclusiveness. We have needed it in the past and now that’s starting to happen, and that’s with the help of everybody in the community that it is starting to happen.”
Mitchell’s advice to young people who want a career in the theater was, he said, “Don’t do it. It’s not an industry I would wish on anybody, unless somebody has it in their DNA, their skin and their bones, in their spirit, in their heart to do it. You get more no’s than you get yes’s, but what’s hard with show business is when it’s a no, it’s not about the thing you made: It’s about you and it’s hard not to take that personally and that can be devastating to people after a while, so you just hope they have a very strong spirit. When you get knocked down, you get back up.”
Michael Rishawn, nominated for Outstanding Featured Role for “Table 17,” where he played three characters, discussed how he put it together: “In drama school, they trained me to play multiple roles. I really love the craft of acting. I believe my work has the capacity to touch all different types of people. For me, it’s about meeting and impact, and it’s always about playing the truth. If I play the truth, it will have an impact. That’s why I was able to do the three characters in ‘Table 17.’”
Norm Lewis, who was a presenter, said, “I’m just so happy to be a part of this celebration of theater tonight. It was such a great season — it represents what took so long to come back because of COVID. It’s been a long journey and we’re getting there.”
Nikiya Mathis said of her nominations, “I feel excited. When I spoke to Andre DeShields (about the wigs for “Cat”), he said, ‘I want a mane.’ We wanted it to be textured and other-worldly, so we started going into the lab and trying things … We look at the actors and what they will feel comfortable with … You don’t want to just throw hair on an actor; you need them to buy into it … It’s a meeting of the minds, a coming to Jesus moment.”
For Tatianna Cordoba, star of “Real Women Have Curves” and nominated for Lead Performance in a Musical in her Broadway debut, this new experience was “one of those things where you get on the bullet train and you just don’t get off. It’s so amazing. I’m surrounded by so many amazing people that I’m just in awe of every day, so I’m just very grateful to be here.”
Of her character, Cordoba said, “I feel like I know Anna — she is versions of me at 18, so I feel I know who she is. I’ve really been drawing on my own experience as a first-generation kid, as a young Latin Phillippino girl. I have a crazy Latin family, so I get what this is about.
“When you talk about any marginalized community and its women and the struggles, it’s important how we use joy to get us through that. There’s a lot that we have to deal with and face, and we’re going to do it with grace. There’s yet to be a show where Latin women are seen in our entirety on stage.”
Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, co-nominated for Outstanding Direction of a Musical for “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” were thrilled to be at the awards and said that their crowd-stunning musical was something they figured out together; the audiences yelled with joy at every performance.