Theater News

Deanna Dunagan and Mike Nussbaum to Announce Equity Jeff Award Nominations

A pair of Chicago legends will name this year’s honorees.

Tony winner Deanna Dunagan will join fellow Chicago actor Mike Nussbaum to announce the 48th Annual Equity Jeff Award nominations.
Tony winner Deanna Dunagan will join fellow Chicago actor Mike Nussbaum to announce the 48th Annual Equity Jeff Award nominations.
(© Joseph Marzullo)

Chicago theater legends Deanna Dunagan and Mike Nussbaum will announce the nominations for the 48th Annual Joseph Jefferson Awards, recognizing excellence in Chicago theater. The pair will name this year's nominees on a video to be released Tuesday, August 30 at www.jeffawards.org.

Dunagan, best known for her Tony-winning performance in Tracy Letts' August: Osage County, has received eight Jeff nominations and three awards throughout her career.

Nussbaum, acknowledged by Actors’ Equity Association as the oldest working American actor, has received 13 Jeff nominations and four awards: one for directing and three for acting. He was also the recipient of a Special Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

The nominations they will announce are for productions from 58 Chicago-area producing organizations that have contracts with Actors’ Equity Association. The 2016 awards ceremony will be held on Monday, October 17, at Drury Lane Oakbrook.