Video: Go Inside the 2023 Drama League Awards

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

We're at the Ziegfeld Ballroom for the 89th Annual Drama League Awards

celebrating the very best of the 2022-2020-23 Broadway and off-Broadway season. How excited are you to be here, the Drama League

Yay, the Drama League. This one's one of the most magical events of the season

It's like such a celebration of Broadway and off-Broadway and all the things

theater, it's magic. What have you enjoyed the most about being back on Broadway this season with Sweeney Todd

and sharing the stage? with your co-star Josh Grover. You know, this season of theater, I think

is truly a representation of the rebuilding of the American theater. The theater was devastated by the coronavirus

in a way that we don't talk about enough. Every other industry got to come back sooner than we did

And so this year is truly a celebration of the rebuilding and a celebration of theater

And being here with all these people you know. Oh, it's so, so swell to be with old

old friends and new and also just a reflection of gratitude that we're here

I'm just so relieved, given what was going on with a pandemic. I don't know

You probably go to the same way. Yeah, to see almost every Broadway theater full right now and all those projects that

were on hold and we thought might never come to be are now on Broadway

And it's just, it's amazing to have this full, rich season. What have you enjoyed the most about being back on Broadway and bringing so much joy to so many

theater lovers? The audiences. The audiences are really special. Meeting people at the stage door

I was heartbroken during the pandemic. And I really wanted to give back to my community

as much as possible. I'm a New Yorker. I love being in New York. I walk to the theater from my house

So it been a very magical experience and it won end Now I like okay when I asked my agent I was like when the soonest I could come back without looking bad

What's it like being here tonight? It's amazing. I'm standing next to Jessica Chastain

Never thought I'd say that sentence. We're going to eat lunch later together and her last name's C

so we might even be close. But it's amazing. It's such a celebration of our community, and I'm just so thrilled to be here

and if Ben is giving some awards away today, it's amazing. It's all just, like, dreamy and incredible

I mean, this is why I love... I'm not a naturally competitive person

So what I love about what awards do are that they highlight the work as a whole

And our community gets the light shine on them for this moment

and this is one of the things that does that, and it's a really, really special moment

Just being a part of this theater season this year, what it means to you? It means the world, honestly, in a bigger way, just because we're sort of, this season, to me, felt like the true, like, post-pandemic, like, sort of establishing some normalcy

And the fact that we get to gather and be here without the stress feels very, very wonderful

This is just such a fun, fun event. It's so great, A, because of the work those Drama League does, and to celebrate that work

but also because, you know, we are all in our perspective stage doors, you know

and, you know, the crazy, the cruel thing about being part of the Broadway community when you're in it

is oftentimes you don't get a chance to really mingle and see other people's work and talk to people about their work

So this is just something that's so great, and especially around Tony's season, this is sometimes the first time we all get to kind of come together and see each other

and have lunch in front of a lot of people. And so it really a way for us to all kind of hug it out and congratulate each other and celebrate this incredible season You been here before I course you been a winner before What it like being at this event Beth Well this time I a little less deeply anxious and I a little less 23 which is nice

It's wonderful. This is a super communal one where everybody gets to kind of just be together in this nice pen and schmooze

And I'm just so happy for Michaela, my co-star, and seeing her go through it for the first time

And I'm just honored to be part of it. It's so exciting, getting to see all of it

these people that you look up to and you're just standing next to them and now I get to talk with

them and we're celebrating theater. We're celebrating history. It's a really important moment

I just being nominated for this I think is genuinely so special when I think of who comprises the

nominating committee for this and it's not only peers and critics but directors and people that

I have respected and wanted to work for and with my entire life and didn't even know it

So this is a crazy room of colleagues and peers and now friends

And so it's a bit overwhelming, to be honest. What does this mean to being here today for the Drama League Awards

Well, I've never been nominated for anything. I got nominated for an ensemble thing once, but no one's ever nominated

So it feels really good. I've worked a long time, and it's a nice little tip of the cap and a nice little pat on the back

And I couldn't be more honored. I'm super grateful and kind of blown away that I'm even here

So, you know, I had a wonderful time working on Leopoldstadt. I, it was, you know, the success of that show was no surprise to me

And I'm just thrilled to have been a part of it and to be here representing it today

I mean this is like the pinnacle of awards They give you get it once in your lifetime They give one a year And I know from when I I 31 and when I was 24 way too young I was a drama

league nominator. So I was like seeing all the shows and scoring people and scoring plays and knowing sort

of what goes into it behind the scenes. It's a big job. And so I have great respect to that team and the fact that the nominators chose to single me

out for a, you know, a production that was also my off-Broadway playwriting debut is a major

a major compliment, and I'm very grateful. I love this. This is the best free meal in town, man

You know, an actor loves a free lunch, and this is the best of them

And being here with all of your peers, because you're all on the same schedule. Yes, yes, yes

I mean, you know, I was here once when I did have a show to go do now

I don't have to go and do a show. So I think I might have a couple of drinks too

But I love this. I love this. I love being with the peers

I was thinking this morning how, what a blessing it is to be a part of this community

And then, you know, we're a part of this community all in our own separate lives

But then we all come together and actually all in the room together

It's really beautiful. And I think, you know, the community is the performers and the crew

and Broadway Cares and Black Theater United and dancers responding to AIDS

You know, it's everybody and all the people who come together to support different factions

and ultimately all of us together. That's just really nice to be part of that caring community