Shanghai announced the list of nominees for the 33rd Shanghai Magnolia Stage Performance Award on Wednesday afternoon.

A total of 40 actors were shortlisted for the final competition, the result of which will be announced at the Magnolia ceremony at Shanghai Culture Square on Feb 27.

The award founded in 1989 is an annual celebration of live theater art that honors the best stage productions and actors.

This year organizers saw a larger number of participating productions and actors than any previous editions, with altogether 88 theater productions and 165 actors enrolled, according to Gu Haohao, chairperson of the Shanghai Dramatists Association, and deputy director of the jury panel for the Shanghai Magnolia Stage Performance Award.

Peking Opera artist Li Bingshu will be conferred the Special Contribution Award this year. The 83-year-old is an inheritor of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Peking opera and is known as a representative artist of the Mei Lanfang portraying leading female roles in repertoires such as the White Snake.

Among the 20 actors competing for the best leading role category is Maya Hakvoort. The Dutch musical actress was nominated for her performance as Lady Macbeth in Lady M, which premiered in Shanghai in May. Written by British playwrights James Beeny and Gina Georgio, the production was directed by Xu Jun, and marked the first English musical produced in China and premiered in Shanghai.