Actors, directors, playwrights and theater artists around town will nibble their nails this week: Nominees for the fourth annual Kevin Kline Awards will be announced at 11 a.m. on Friday, Jan 16.

The nominations will be announced on KWMU-FM (90.7) during the “Cityscape” program. The winners will be announced at the Kevin Kline Awards ceremony on March 30 at the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts.

More than 100 plays and musicals, produced by 40 professional theater companies in St. Louis in 2008, are in contention for the nominations. Nominees will be named in 22 categories.

Each show was evaluated by seven members of a “floating” panel of 48 judges, who then submitted individual ballots. Each judge is required to submit a ballot within 24 hours of attending a show.

The Professional Theatre Awards Council, which presents the awards, was organized to honor excellence in St. Louis theater and to heighten awareness of professional productions here.