Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics announces key dates & new categories for its 2nd Dorian Theater Awards

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics has announced key dates, new categories, and criteria for its 2nd annual Dorian Theater Awards, which will honor Broadway and Off-Broadway productions of the 2023-2024 season. While the inaugural honors only named winners, GALECA’s theater wing members are moving to a traditional nominations and winners timeline this year. Nominees for the 2024 Dorian Theater Awards will be unveiled Monday, May 13th, 2024, and winners on Monday, June 3rd, 2024.

Like GALECA’s Dorian Film and TV Awards, the group’s theater awards celebrate both mainstream and LGBTQ+ themed productions. GALECA’s Dorian Theater Awards wing currently consists of 33 professional journalists who regularly critique, report on, or assign stories on New York theater. To be eligible for the 2024 awards, Broadway productions must open by Friday, April 26th, 2024, and Off-Broadway productions must open by Sunday, March 31st 2024.

The theater wing’s revised list of awards categories, now totaling 17, includes four new honors: Outstanding Lead Off-Broadway Performance, Outstanding Featured Off-Broadway Performance, Outstanding LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production, and LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season. The later recognizes a person who has recently elevated the New York theater world in a profound way, such as a director, producer, performer, choreographer, or other creative theater professional. All of GALECA’s performance categories are non-gendered.

Full list of 2nd Dorian Theater Awards categories:

Outstanding Broadway Musical
Outstanding Broadway Play
Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival
Outstanding Broadway Play Revival
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Musical
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Play
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Play
Outstanding Broadway Ensemble
The Broadway Showstopper Award – To a standout production number or scene
Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production
Outstanding Off-Broadway Production
Outstanding LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production
Outstanding Lead Off-Broadway Performance
Outstanding Featured Off-Broadway Performance
LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season – For leaving a profound mark on the New York stage
LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer Award – For creating art that inspires empathy, truth, and equity

GALECA Theater Wing members, 2023-2024 season:

Sam Eckmann (co-chair), Gold Derby
Merryn Johns (co-chair), Queer Forty
Marshall Heyman (Broadway lead), Town & Country
Cary Wong (Off-Broadway lead), Film Score Monthly Online
Frank J. Avella (Industry Liaison), Edge Media Network, Awards Daily
Kerensa Cadenas, Elle, Vogue
Chris Carpenter, Rage magazine, MovieDearest
Murtada Elfadl, The A.V. Club, Variety
Adam Feldman, Time Out
Brian Eugenio Herrera, #TheatreClique (Substack)
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review
Naveen Kumar, The New York Times
Christian Lewis, Variety, TheaterMania
Brian Scott Lipton, Cititour, Theater Pizzazz
Charles O’Keefe, E! News
Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater
Meg Masseron, Playbill
Abby Monteil, them
Michael Musto, The Village Voice
Louis Peitzman, Best Life, High Drama (Substack)
Juan Michael Porter II, The Body, TDF Stages
Juan A. Ramirez, Theatrely, The New York Times
Mathew Rodriguez, them
Gillian Russo, New York Theatre Guide
Michael Schulman, The New Yorker
Marcus Scott, National Black Theatre Cohort, 2023-24
Ashley Steves, Today on Broadway podcast, Broadway Radio
Tim Teeman, The Daily Beast
Kyle Turner, Interview
Lindsey Weber, Not Broadway (Substack)
Matthew Wexler, Queerty, LGBTQ Nation
Abbey White, The Hollywood Reporter
Curtis Wong, HuffPost

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and its Dorian Awards honor the best in film, television and, under its theater wing, Broadway and Off-Broadway. More than 500 members strong, GALECA reminds society that the world values the informed Q+ eye on everything entertainment. A nonprofit organization, GALECA also advocates for better pay, access and respect for entertainment journalists, especially the underrepresented.