Three UNCSA Grads Are Nominated For Tony Awards

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., June 5, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Three School of Drama alumni of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) have been nominated for Tony Awards.

Billy Magnussen (2007) is nominated for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play, for his appearance opposite Sigourney Weaver and David Hyde Pearce in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Terrence Mann (1978) is nominated for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for his role as Charlemagne in Pippin, which recently opened to rave reviews. Lauren Ward (1992) is nominated for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Miss Honey in Matilda.

The Lost Colony, North Carolina's long-running outdoor drama, will receive a Tony Honor for Excellence in Theatre. Its director, Ira David Wood III, graduated from the School of Drama in 1970, and from the high school program in 1966. Over the years, many School of the Arts alumni have worked on stage, backstage or in the orchestra for the production, including Terrence Mann, who is currently its production designer.

UNCSA also has other ties to this year's Tony Award nominees:

Daniel Sherman (1998, Drama) appears in Kinky Boots, the Cyndi Lauper-scored musical which is nominated for Best Musical and received the most Tony nominations at 13.

Barclay Stiff (2000, Design and Production) is production stage manager for The Assembled Parties, nominated for Best Play.

William Ivey Long, nominated for Best Costume Design of a Musical for Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, is a member of the UNCSA Board of Visitors.

Several past UNCSA guest artists are nominated, including Nicholas Martin, Santo Loquasto, and John Lee Beatty. Ming Cho Lee, who was UNCSA's 2008 Commencement speaker, will receive a Tony for Lifetime Achievement. Peter Lawrence, also a past UNCSA guest artist, will receive a Tony Honor for Excellence in Theatre.

For his role as Spike, Magnussen was named to Playbill's list of breakout performances for the season. The publication said he "runs away with every scene he's in," and he delivers "one of the most detailed comic performances of the season."  Magnussen made his Broadway debut in the 2007 revival of The Ritz, and has appeared on television in "As the World Turns," "Boardwalk Empire" and "Law & Order."

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike received six nominations, including Best Play. 

Terrence Mann made his breakthrough performance as the Rum Tum Tugger in the original Broadway cast of Cats. He earned Tony nominations for playing Javert in Les Misérables and the Beast in Beauty and the Beast and later appeared in The Addams Family.

Pippin received 10 nominations, including Best Revival of a Musical.

Lauren Ward has previously appeared on Broadway in Follies, 1776, The Heiress, and Carousel. She won a Drama-Logue Award and a Theatre World Award and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress for her work off-Broadway in Violet. She has appeared on the stage in London and in various regional theatre productions.

Matilda received 12 Tony nominations, including Best Play.

The Lost Colony will celebrate its 76th season this summer and remains the premier outdoor drama in the country. It has the distinction of being one of the last remaining Federal Theatre Projects and enjoys a rich history which includes many luminaries in the theatre. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Paul Green, the symphonic outdoor drama premiered in 1937 at the Waterside Theatre in Manteo, N.C.

Since 1947 the Tony Award has been the highest award presented for excellence in the American theatre. The Tony Awards will be presented June 9 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, broadcast live on CBS. The Tony Honors will be presented at a private reception on June 8.

As America's first state-supported arts school, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts is a unique stand-alone public university of arts conservatories. With a high school component, UNCSA is a degree-granting institution that trains young people of talent in music, dance, drama, filmmaking, and design and production. Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, the School of the Arts opened in Winston-Salem ("The City of Arts and Innovation") in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

SOURCE University of North Carolina School of the Arts