TheaterMania Will Present Drama Desk Awards at Town Hall June 3

Liev Schreiber and Audra McDonald announce the 2011 Drama Desk nominations.

TheaterMania will present the 57^th Annual Drama Desk awards this year at Town Hall on Sunday, June 3 at 8 pm.

The collaboration was announced by Gretchen Shugart, CEO of TheaterMania.com, which will present the awards ceremony with Robert R. Blume and David S. Stone in association with Renee McCurry.

TheaterMania.com, which has been involved with the Drama Desk Awards for the past 10 years, has engaged Joey Parnes Productions to produce and general manage the production.

"We are thrilled to take an active role in presenting the 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards ceremony and show,"Shugart said. "TheaterMania's mission has always been to support theater large and small and since New York is our home, it makes sense that we celebrate this sensational theater season with the best talent on and off Broadway. We hope to provide a simple, elegant evening that will be fun and entertaining for the industry at the theater district's legendary Town Hall, while giving the public a peek inside through our various media channels."

Parnes is a veteran Broadway producer and general manager who served as coordinating producer for the TONY Awards from 2001 to 2008 and formed Joey Parnes Productions in November 2011 after being interim executive director of the Public Theater since early 2011.

"The Drama Desk organization is thrilled to have the support of TheaterMania.com in producing the 57^th Annual Drama Desk Awards,” said Isa Goldberg, president of the Drama Desk. “Their generous partnership takes our awards event to a new stage, while propelling the significant role of the Drama Desk Awards in the theater community.”

 The date and venue of the Nominations Announcement News Conference will be announced shortly, as well as the date and venue for the Nominees Cocktail Reception.

The Drama Desk was founded in 1949 to explore key issues in the theater and to bring together critics and writers in an organization to support the ongoing development of theater in New York. The organization began presenting its awards in 1955, and it is the only critics' organization to honor achievement in the theater with competition between Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway shows.

TheaterMania.com is a leading source for theater information and tickets nationwide. Founded in 1999, TheaterMania.com has connected the theater community to the public as the leading online resource for consumers to find shows, save money, and buy tickets nationwide using its website, iPad magazine and iPhone app. TheaterMania.com publishes comprehensive show listings, editorial content, and video coverage for over 40 markets and widely distributes free email newsletters and special offers to over 650,000 registered subscribers. In addition, TheaterMania.com creates online marketing programs for performing arts organizations,

and provides technology to power ticketing, fund raising, and CRM through its proprietary software, OvationTix.