Encore! GLAAD Media Awards Will Applaud Broadway Shows Again

by Brandon Voss

16h ago

Take a bow again, Broadway!

GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, has announced that the Outstanding Broadway Production category will return to the GLAAD Media Awards this year after a six-year hiatus. Nominees for the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards will be announced later this month.

The GLAAD Media Awards, which celebrate fair and accurate LGBTQ representation in media, currently recognize nominees in 29 English and Spanish-language categories. For the first time since 2014, the awards will also honor LGBTQ-inclusive plays and musicals on Broadway. Is The Inheritance, a two-part epic about three generations of gay men in the shadow of AIDS, a shoo-in to take the prize?

“The Outstanding Broadway Production category comes after a recent surge of powerful LGBTQ-inclusive shows on Broadway that featured diverse LGBTQ characters and illuminated LGBTQ issues,” according to an official statement. “Part of GLAAD’s advocacy work is to consult with media creators, and the GLAAD Media Institute has also worked behind-the-scenes on a number of recent Broadway productions and amplified impactful shows to media and LGBTQ theatergoers.”

The award “will be given to theatrical productions or performances that run in a professional Broadway theater and open during the calendar year. Revivals may be considered within the limits of the category description; however, in accordance with the overall GLAAD Media Awards criteria, the revival should include bold and original content. The Award is given to the play or musical. Writers, directors, producers, and/or actors may accept.”

“Broadway is an impactful part of American culture and has an undeniable legacy of including LGBTQ stories and characters that entertain and enlighten,” said GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “As GLAAD’s work in theater grows, this category will not only honor worthy productions, but raise the bar for LGBTQ-inclusion on Broadway.”

Previous Broadway and off-Broadway recipients of the GLAAD Media Award include Rent, Angels in America, Falsettos, I Am My Own Wife, The Normal Heart, and The Little Dog Laughed.

While Broadway hasn’t been officially awarded in recent years, its been acknowledged at the annual ceremony with performances by musicals The Prom and Fun Home. The cast of The Boys in the Band presented Jim Parsons with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award in 2018.

The 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards will be held March 19 in New York City and April 16 in Los Angeles.