Deirdre O’ConnellLucas Hnat, who played a woman violently abducted by a white supremacist in a female play “Dana H.,” won Tony for Best Lead Actress in a Drama.
She did so without saying a word on stage.
Receiving the award, he said: “I want this little gift to be a token for anyone wondering if they should try to create something that could work on Broadway or win the Tony Award, or create different art. It haunts me, it scares me, I do not know how to create, I do not know if anyone around the world will understand?
“Please let me stand here,” she continued, “just be a little sign to you from the universe to create different art.”
O’Connell, 70, told The New York Times that Hnat’s mother – Dana Higgin’s son – in – law, who was abducted in 1997 by a former convict and a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, had lip service to the protagonist’s 75 – minute testimony. Last month, at a pre-Tony event, she had no idea at first whether the lip sync job would be happy or painful.
“At first I said, ‘Why can’t I do it solo? Why can’t I do it?'” It’s clear why not. This section is about surrendering to our ability to empathize with another person.
“Dana H.,” ran At the Vineyard Theater from Broadway in 2020 Before opening on Broadway in October, it was a favorite of critics. Jesse Green, chief drama critic for The New York Times, called the production “deep chaos.” Praised O’Connell “For brilliantly pulling off one of the strangest and toughest challenges ever asked of an actor.”
“Call it a thriller karaoke, and the story is just as dangerous as the way it is told,” he wrote. “You’ll worry that O’Connell will be synchronized with the recording, which will not stop as soon as the play begins.”
Despite critical acclaim, ticket sales did not continue, and the product, “”Is this a room”Tina Chatter’s Word Drama closed two months ago in November after 25 shows.
This is the first Tony hit for O’Connell, the beloved veteran of off-Broadway stages who won the OP Award for his production on Vineyard in 2020 (he is currently on stage in Florides Horizon’s production of Will Arbury’s “Corsicana”).
Director Les Waters and sound designer Michael Fixell were also nominated.
Matt Stevens contributed to the reporting.
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