The Tony Awards® Administration Committee has announced that Rosie O’Donnell will receive the 2014 Isabelle Stevenson Award.

O’Donnell, an Emmy Award-winning performer, writer, producer, and three-time past host of the Tony Awards ceremony, will be honored for her commitment to arts education and her work with New York City’s public school children through her organization Rosie's Theater Kids. The award will be presented at the 2014 Tony Awards on Sunday, June 8.  The 2014 Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

“We are excited to announce Rosie as this year’s Isabelle Stevenson Award recipient,” said Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director of The Broadway League and Heather Hitchens, Executive Director of the American Theatre Wing, in a statement. “Rosie exemplifies the spirit and the generosity of the Broadway community through her ‘pay it forward’ mentality within the arts community and beyond. Rosie constantly works to make our world a better place, and unconditional generosity like hers deserves great recognition.”

The Isabelle Stevenson Award is presented annually to a member of the theatre community who has made a substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian, social service or charitable organizations. Past Isabelle Stevenson Award recipients are Larry Kramer (2013), Bernadette Peters (2012), Eve Ensler (2011), David Hyde Pierce (2010), and Phyllis Newman (2009).

About Rosie’s Theater Kids

In 2003, Rosie’s For All Kids Foundation launched Rosie’s Broadway Kids, which is now known as Rosie’s Theater Kids (RTKids).  Rosie’s Theater Kids is a non-profit arts education organization which continually provides training in dance, music and drama for students attending public school in New York City. RTKids serves students who otherwise would not have the opportunity to experience theatre, positively changing the trajectory of their lives by providing comprehensive classes in music, dance and drama; thoughtful mentoring; and structured academic guidance. Dedicated to enriching the lives of children though the arts, their goal is to inspire excellence, motivate learning, uplift the human spirit, build confidence, and spark a lifelong appreciation for the arts.  

Rosie's Theater Kids in action

RTKids provides a number of programs, including:

• PS Broadway – An in-school program for NYC public school fifth-graders.  During the year, RTKids staff members teach dance and music as part of a 15-week program that serves 22 schools throughout Manhattan.  Every class of students takes a free trip to see a Broadway musical and participates in a question-and-answer session with performers, directors, conductors and members of the production’s technical staff.  Each semester this program is wrapped up with a school assembly where the students perform for their peers, parents and teachers.
• ACTE II (A Commitment to Excellence) – A scholarship program in which outstanding graduates of PS Broadway have the opportunity to receive further training in free after-school classes in ballet, tap, jazz, voice and drama.   The program includes a Summer Intensive program that provides group classes and private lessons, preparing students for a final performance for family, friends and industry professionals.
• Spotlight on Fitness (SoFit) – Developed in collaboration with a school-based health care program and the NYC Department of Education, SoFit is a physical education program that fulfills state and local curriculum requirements in both the arts and physical education.
• A+ (Arts Plus) – This program provides supplementary tools to enhance the academic achievement of the ACTE II Students at the secondary level. A+ includes after-school tutoring, High School admission guidance, private coaching and preparation for performing arts school auditions (both high school and collegiate) and professional PSAT and SAT preparatory classes.  To date, with the individual coaching and assistance from RTKids, 100% of the 8^th grade students were placed in competitive New York City performing arts high schools for the past two years. 

About Rosie O'Donnell

For six years, Rosie O'Donnell served as host and executive producer of the critically acclaimed and Emmy Award-winning nationally syndicated talk/variety series The Rosie O’Donnell Show. In her first season on the air, she won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host. She continued her success for five consecutive seasons by winning a total of 12 Daytime Emmys for both Outstanding Talk Show Host and Outstanding Talk Show. Rosie was also seen on daytime television as moderator on the tenth season of ABC's The View, and hosted the satellite radio show Rosie Radio on SiriusXM. She returned to television hosting in the fall of 2011 with The Rosie Show on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network through spring 2012. 

Rosie has hosted the Tony Awards three times (1997, 1998, and 2000). She won the Emmy for  Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special for the 52nd annual Tony Awards in 1998. Her theatre credits include "Rizzo" in Tommy Tune’s 1994 Broadway revival of Grease; Seussical and Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway; Love, Loss and What I Wore; and the Encores! production of No, No, Nanette. In 2004, Rosie combined her love of Broadway with 80s pop musical sensation Boy George and produced the musical Taboo. 

Rosie made her dramatic television debut in CBS’s Hallmark Hall of Fame production Riding the Bus with My Sister, and has made guest appearances on Will and Grace, All My Children, Suddenly Susan, Spin City, Sesame Street, The Nanny, The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Nip/Tuck, Queer as Folk, Happily Divorced, Bomb Girls, and Showtime’s Web Therapy. O'Donnell has also executive produced and hosted Stand Up Spotlight on VH1, and hosted Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Awards from 1997–2003. Rosie executive co-produced, co-wrote, and starred in the 2009 Lifetime Original Film America. Rosie has also been involved in several HBO documentaries. She was the co-executive producer of Rosie’s Family Cruise, A Family Is a Family Is a Family: A Rosie O’Donnell Celebration, and Don’t Divorce Me.  On the big screen, O’Donnell has starred in A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, Another Stakeout, The Flintstones, Exit to Eden, Now and Then, Beautiful Girls, Harriet the Spy, Wide Awake, and was the voice of "Turk" in Walt Disney's Tarzan.

The 2014 Tony Awards

Nominations for the 68^th Annual Tony Awards will be announced on Tuesday, April 29. You can watch the announcement LIVE (8:30am ET) in their entirety here at TonyAwards.com.  

Hugh Jackman will host the 2014 Tony Awards in a live, three-hour ceremony broadcast from Radio City Music Hall on the CBS television network on Sunday, June 8 at 8/7c (delayed PT).