Tis the season of theater awards. We've already covered the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and Tony nominations. Now it's time for the Theater World Awards. Unlike the other theater prizes the Theater World Awards don't have nominations, just winners. Their purpose is honoring performers who made either Broadway or Off-Broadway debuts or delivered breakout performances during the theatrical season. Most of the names are new to us but you'll recognize a couple of stars from film and television among the possible future theater legends.
The thirteen performers who will be honored at their event are after the jump...
THEATER WORLD WINNERS 2019
Gbenga Akinnagbe (To Kill a Mockingbird)
The 40 year old Nigerian-American stage and screen actor plays in To Kill a Mockingbird. He's been in several movies now (Detroit, The Savages, and Crown Heights among them) and appeared in a handful of acclaimed TV shows (The Wire, Nurse Jackie, The Good Wife, and The Deuce)
Tom Glynn-Carney (The Ferryman)
The 24 year-old British actor was also seen in the TV miniseries The Last Post and made his film debut in Dunkirk (2017). Later this year you'll see him in the cast of the Timothée Chalamet movie The King. He received a Drama Desk nomination for this role in The Ferryman but the Tonys passed him over.
Sophie Anne Caruso (Beetlejuice)
This 17 year old actress has been in a few indie movies and played "Brigitta" in The Sound of Music Live (2013) on TV but now she's on Broadway in the Winona Ryder role in Beetlejuice.
Paddy Considine (The Ferryman)
Considine is, of course, well known from numerous great performances in film (Tyranossaur, Last Resort, In America, My Summer of Love) but he made his Broadway debut this year. He is also nominated at the Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Play. [Instagram]
James Davis (Oklahoma!)
This Juilliard graduate has been treading the boards for several years now to often stellar reviews, including a run as Juliet opposite Finn Wittrock (!) in an all male production of Romeo & Juliet in DC. Currently he's playing Will Parker in theexciting reinvention of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic. It's actually his second Broadway show but he had a minor part in his first (and only previous Broadway run) eight years ago so perhaps the Theater World Awards politely looked the other way to honor him for the fine reviews he's winning this season. [He seems fun -- loves cats and Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette according to his Instagram]
Michaela Diamond (The Cher Show)
This queer 19 year old, who moved to NYC when she was 10, auditioned to play Cher between high school graduation and her first week at Carnegie Mellon University and won the role of "Babe". That's the youngest version of the iconic singer/actress in the triple-cast show. Before starting work on Cher she appeared in "Jesus Christ Superstar Live!" as well. So that's a bright future ahead in showbiz... she had to cancel the college plans for now but hopefully she'll find a way to do both. [Instagram]
Bonnie Milligan (Head Over Heels)
You might have already seen Bonnie Milligan even if you don't know her name. She played "Bitsy", a waitress in two parts of the miniseries Escape to Dannemora and was in 5 episodes of the comedy series Search Party. Milligan has been a well liked performer in NYC for awhile and finally made her Broadway debut which she completely aced as the hilariously vain lesbian princess in Head Over Heels for which she received Outer Critics Circle and Drama League nominations. To be honest we're pretty pissed that the Tony nominators skipped her in Featured Actress in a Musical. [Instagram]
Simone Missick (Paradise Blue)
This actress, who originally hails from Detroit, is already famous thanks to Netflix (where she played Detective Misty Knight in various Marvel superhero streaming series set in NYC). She made her off Broadway debut this year. [Instagram]
Jeremy Pope (Choir Boy)
The 26 year old actor was double nominated at the Tonys this year for lead actor, drama and featured actor, musical (Choir Boy and Aint Too Proud) and is also a nominee for Best Male Dancer at the Chita Rivera Awards (Aint Too Proud). He's had quite a year and that's obviously an understatement. He's also released a single. Given the talent combined with being incredibly handsome, you can safely expect Hollywood to come calling in 3...2...1... [Instagram]
Colton Ryan (Girl from the North Country)
He was understudying for multiple roles in Dear Evan Hansen before he even graduated from college and people also took note of his performance in the depression era set "Girl from the North Country" which used Bob Dylan songs as its score. We haven't seen him personally seen him perform yet but people are completely gobsmacked by his voice. [Instagram | YouTube]
Stephanie Styles (Kiss Me, Kate)
You might spot this 27 year old Texan in the upcoming comedy Booksmart, which is her second film appearance after The Submarine Kid (2015). She's been winning awards since her High School performances (where she was a finalist for the Jimmy Awards -- that's the top theater prize for high schoolers across the country). She plays Bianca in the revival of this musical comedy classic so she gets the classic song "Alway True to You in My Fashion". [Instagram]
Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag)
You already know Phoebe Waller-Bridge as an actress from her TV and film work (Fleabag, Broadchurch, Solo: A Star Wars Story, etcetera) but she's obviously also a writer (brilliant work on Killing Eve, Crashing, Fleabag, etcetera). Theater World is honoring her for her one woman show Off Broadway.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Nathan Lane
You know him.