Oakland University alumna Jayne Houdyshell wins 2016 Tony Award

Oakland University alumna Jayne Houdyshell has earned a 2016 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for her work in The Humans.

Houdyshell’s nomination for the character of Deirdre Blake was one of six total nominations for The Humans, a play that began off-Broadway at its inception and has been playing at the Helen Hayes Theatre since February. The play revolves around a family’s Thanksgiving dinner in New York City.

Houdyshell was in Tony Award competition in that category along with Pascale Armand and Saycon Sengbloh, from Eclipsed and Megan Hilty and Andrea Martin from Noises Off.

It was the third nomination and first win for Houdyshell, who was nominated in 2012 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for Follies and in 2006 for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her work in Well.


The Humans was nominated for six awards overall and won four of them, including Best Play for author Stephen Karam, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for Reed Birney, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for Houdyshell and Best Scenic Design of a Play for David Zinn.

The 70th annual Tony Awards was hosted by James Corden and broadcast live on CBS from New York's Beacon Theatre on June 12.

This was Corden’s first time hosting the Tony Awards. He won a Tony in 2012 for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for his performance in One Man, Two Guvnors.

The Tony Awards were presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.