Jenn Harris, Matthew Wilkas To Host Ct Critics Awards

enn Harris and Matthew Wilkas, stars of TheaterWorks’ annual holiday comedy “Christmas on the Rocks,” will share master of ceremony duties at the 28th annual Connecticut Critics Circle Awards June 11, hosted by the Westport Country Playhouse.

The 7:30 p.m. event, which is free and open to the public, honors outstanding work by the state’s professional theater during the 2017-18 season.

Among the honorees will be Michael O’Flaherty, longtime music director for Goodspeed Musicals, who will be the recipient of this years’s Tom Killen Award , which pays tribute to longtime excellence and service on behalf of Connecticut theater.

Harris is a actor, writer and producer whose off-Broadway acting credits include “Silence!  The Musical,” “Modern Orthodox,” “All in the Timing” and “The Understudy.” Harris is also a writer for “Billy on the Street,”  co-hosts the podcast ‘Touché” on iTunes and is the creator and host of "Offer Only,”  a live show where actors come to recreate auditions for shows they did not get.

Wilkas, an actor-writer, was in Broadway’s “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” and starred in the award-Winning indie film “Gayby.” Most recently he was nominated for an Ovation Award for his performance in “The Pride” at the Wallace Annenberg Center for the Arts in Beverly Hills. His TV credits include “Looking,” “Ugly Betty,” “Hope and Faith,” and the upcoming “Bonding” and “Boy Culture.” 

Harris and Wilkas wrote and star in the online series “New York is Dead,” which premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival this spring and which won Best Comedy at The New York Television Festival. It is on funnyordie.com.

Nominees for 2017-18 Connecticut Critics Circle Awards will be  announced  in early June. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony June 11.

Information: www.ctcritics.org.

Directions: Westport Country Playhouse is at 25 Powers Court in Westport, just off Route  (Exits 17 or 18 off I-91 brings you to Rt. 1.) www.westportplayhouse.org.