2023 HENRY HEWES DESIGN AWARDS
HONOREES ANNOUNCED

  59th Annual Awards Scheduled for October 23

Jules Fisher and Jennifer Tipton To Receive
Ming Cho Lee Lifetime Achievement Award

58^th Annual Henry Hewes Design Awards Ceremony
Scheduled for October 24

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PLEASE TRY TO INCLUDE FULL LIST OF NOMINEES
CONTACT: Jeffrey Eric Jenkins (718-789-9025); jej@illinois.edu)
October 10, 2022

The Henry Hewes Design Awards committee today announced that legendary lighting designers Jules Fisher and Jennifer Tipton will each be honored with the Ming Cho Lee Award for Lifetime Achievement in Design, bestowed by the Henry Hewes Design Awards at the 58^th annual event on October 24 in a livestream awards ceremony. 

“In honoring Jules Fisher and Jennifer Tipton, both of whom have had a profound impact on the artistry, history, and innovation in the craft of illumination, we celebrate two pioneers who have given us so many important dramatic memories—and have lit the way for those who follow,” said Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chair of the HHDA committee. “It gives me great pleasure to announce that they are both being honored with the 2022 Ming Cho Lee Award for Lifetime Achievement in Design.”​​​​​​​

Jules Fisher
In a Broadway career spanning more than 50 years, Jules Fisher has conceived and designed productions for Broadway, film, the music industry, and digital animation.  He has designed more than a hundred plays and musicals and has been honored with 9 Tony Awards and 21 nominations. The Henry Hewes Design Awards committee has honored him for 7 productions dating back to Dancin’ in 1978. Among his celebrated Broadway designs are the original versions of Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin, Ragtime, Bring ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk, Angels in America, Assassins, and the recent revival The Iceman Cometh starring Denzel Washington.   

His film lighting designs have been seen on Dreamgirls with director Bill Condon, on Rob Marshall’s Best Picture winner Chicago and Richard Linklater’s School of Rock, among other projects. Evolving naturally into dramatic and fantastical lighting in the digital realm, his musical lighting scenes have been conceived for CG environments in the live-action Beauty and the Beast, as well as development projects for DreamWorks Animation. (Link to full bio).

Jennifer Tipton
Tipton came to New York to study dance, after attending Cornell.  Her interest in lighting began with a course in the subject at the American Dance Festival, Connecticut College. She has been awarded two “Bessies” and a Laurence Olivier Award for lighting dance; her work in that field includes pieces choreographed by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jiri Kylian, Dana Reitz, Jerome Robbins, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, and Dan Wagoner, among many others.

In the theatre, she has won a Joseph Jefferson Award, a Kudo, a Drama-Logue Award, two American Theatre Wing Awards, an Obie, two Drama Desk Awards, the first for The Cherry Orchard and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf; the second for Jerome Robbins' Broadway, and two Tonys for The Cherry Orchard and Jerome Robbins' Broadway. Ms. Tipton was recently nominated for a Tony Award for To Kill A Mocking Bird. 

She is a recipient of six Henry Hewes Design Awards and teaches lighting design at the Yale University School of Drama. (Link to full bio).

About Ming Cho Lee 
Legendary theatre designer Ming Cho Lee was the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Henry Hewes Design Awards, and the award was renamed for him at that presentation ceremony. Lee, who designed more than 300 productions across the globe, received a Tony Award in 1983 for K2 and taught for 48 years at the Yale School of Drama. He was also the recipient of a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2013.

Lee was honored with three other Henry Hewes Design Awards: the first for the 1964 production of Electra for Shakespeare in the Park, the second for Ergo in 1968 at the Public Theater, and the last for K2 in 1983, for which he also received Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics’ Circle Awards. Lee, who passed in 2020, was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 1998 and received the National Medal of Arts in 2002.

About Henry Hewes Design Awards:
These annual awards honor designers for work in venues on Broadway, off Broadway and off-off Broadway, recognizing not only in such categories as Scenic Design, Costume Design, Lighting Design, Sound Design and Media Design but also “Notable Effects,” which encompass music, puppetry, and other creative elements. All nominated designs must have originated in United States productions. The Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee annually considers more than 200 productions when making its nominations.

Known as the Maharam Awards at their inception in 1965, the Hewes Awards were later renamed the American Theatre Wing Design Awards in honor of the Wing’s generous sponsorship. In 1999, they became the Henry Hewes Design Awards to honor noted critic Henry Hewes, who created and nurtured the awards until his death in 2006 at age 89.

The Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee includes theater critics Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chair; David Barbour; David Cote; Naveen Kumar; Helen Shaw; and Martha Wade Steketee. Brittani Samuel observed the committee’s 2022 deliberations and now serves as a full voting member. The awards are sponsored by the Henry Hewes Foundation for the Theater Arts. 

2022 HENRY HEWES DESIGN AWARDS
HONOREES ANNOUNCED

58th Annual Awards 
Scheduled for October 24

TONI-LESLIE JAMES AND ANN ROTH TO
RECEIVE MING CHO LEE AWARDS 

57th Annual Henry Hewes Design Awards Ceremony
Scheduled for November 1

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeffrey Eric Jenkins (718-789-9025; jej@illinois.edu)

New York – October 12, 2021 - Legendary costume designers Toni-Leslie James and Ann Roth each will be honored with a Ming Cho Lee Award for Lifetime Achievement in Design, bestowed by the Henry Hewes Design Awards at the 57th annual event on November 1 in a livestream awards ceremony.

“As audiences don their masks, show their vaccination cards, and begin to file back into our theatres, it is an exciting time for the Henry Hewes Design Awards to lift two extraordinary talents,” said Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chair of the awards committee. “After a difficult 18 months of quarantines, alienation, and cultural disruption, who better to honor than two costume designers whose individual creative excellence have made theatrical storytelling more startling, more compelling, and more beautiful.

“In honoring Toni-Leslie James and Ann Roth with the Ming Cho Lee Award for Lifetime Achievement, we consider literally thousands of images from the wide range of these two designers’ experience. Every article of clothing, every piece of fabric used in the creation of their worldviews, take us deeper into their dramatic imaginations.”

Given the dearth of new designs accessible to the Henry Hewes committee and the overwhelming challenges that faced members of the design community, the committee has also chosen to honor five service organizations whose efforts helped keep the design community functioning and healthy as the pandemic unfolded. The organizations to be honored are United Scenic Artists Local 829, the Costume Industry Coalition (CIC), the See Lighting Foundation, the Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA), and Wingspace. Representatives of these organizations will be invited to speak about their vision and mission at the online ceremony, where they will be presented with a citation and a donation from the Henry Hewes Foundation for Theater Arts.
The online award ceremony will be hosted on Monday, November 1, at 8 pm (Eastern USA time) via Zoom webinar by Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and Illinois Theatre at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

About Ming Cho Lee:

Legendary theatre designer Ming Cho Lee was the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Henry Hewes Design Awards and the award was renamed for him at that presentation ceremony. Lee, who has designed more than 300 productions across the globe, won a Tony Award in 1983 for K2 and taught for 48 years at the Yale School of Drama. He was also the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 2013.

Lee previously won three Henry Hewes Design Awards: the first for the 1964 production of Electra at Shakespeare in the Park, the second for Ergo in 1968 at the Public Theater, and the last for K2 in 1983, for which he also won Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Lee is also a member of the Theater Hall of Fame and holds five honorary degrees.

About Henry Hewes Design Awards:

These annual awards honor designers for work in venues on Broadway, off Broadway and off-off Broadway, recognizing not only the traditional categories of Scenic Design, Costume Design and Lighting Design, but also “Notable Effects,” which encompass sound, music, video, projections, puppetry, and other creative elements. All nominated designs must have originated in United States productions. The Hewes Awards Committee annually considers more than 200 productions when making its nominations.

Known as the Maharam Awards at their inception in 1965, the Hewes Awards were later renamed the American Theatre Wing Design Awards in honor of the Wing’s generous sponsorship. In 1999, they became the Henry Hewes Design Awards in honor of noted critic Henry Hewes, who created the awards and served as a board member of the American Theatre Wing until his death in 2006 at age 89.

The Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee includes theater critics Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chair; David Barbour; David Cote; Glenda Frank; Naveen Kumar; Helen Shaw; Michael Sommers; and Martha Wade Steketee. The awards are sponsored by the Henry Hewes Foundation for Theater Arts.

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2020 HENRY HEWES DESIGN AWARDS

HONOREES PRESENTED

Allen Lee Hughes Receives the Ming Cho Lee
​​​​​​​Lifetime Achievement Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                              

New York – October 15, 2020 - The 2020 Henry Hewes Design Award Honors for the 2019–2020 theater season were presented yesterday at a virtual awards ceremony attended by more than 100 people.

Awards were presented in 6 different categories and Allen Lee Hughes was awarded the Ming Cho Lee Lifetime Achievement Award.

"It is a pleasure to honor these 13 artists for their wonderful work,” said Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chair of the Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee. “It is especially gratifying to honor Allen Lee Hughes, whose nearly five decades of work in lighting design demonstrates the power of light and shadow to strengthen the dramaturgical core of every production on which he works.”

2020 Honorees:
Honors for the 2019–20 season were earned by twelve artists for their work. Scenic designer Paul Steinberg (Judgment Day, Park Avenue Armory), costume designer Anita Yavich (Soft Power, Public Theater), lighting designer Isabella Byrd (Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Playwrights Horizons), sound designer Justin Ellington (Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Playwrights Horizons), media designer Hannah Wasileski (Fires in the Mirror, Signature Theatre), and hair, wigs and make-up designer Nikiya Mathis (Stew, Page 73 at Walkerspace) will be honored with 2020 Henry Hewes Design Awards. Five of the six 2020 honorees are receiving their first award from the Hewes committee.

The committee also awarded a special citation to the design team for Fefu and Her Friends, for their collaborative work. Honored with these special citations are Adam Rigg, scenic design; Montana Levi Blanco, costume design; Jane Cox, lighting design; Palmer Hefferan, sound design; Cookie Jordan, hair and wig design; and Andrew Diaz, properties design.

These annual awards honor designers for work in venues on Broadway, off Broadway and off-off Broadway, recognizing the traditional categories of Scenic Design, Costume Design, Lighting Design, and Notable Effects. For 2020, the committee and the Hewes Foundation have created new categories of Sound Design and Media Design. All nominated designs must have originated in United States productions. The Hewes Awards Committee annually considers more than 200 productions when making its nominations.

The online award ceremony was produced by Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and Illinois Theatre at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Allen Lee Hughes:
Mr. Hughes has been honored with three Tony nominations, Audelco and Ovation Award nominations, Outer Critics Circle Award, Joseph Maharam Award, USITT Distinguished Achievement Award in Lighting Design, Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration, two Helen Hayes awards and eight other Helen Hayes nominations. He was the recipient of the 2015 National Black Theatre Festival Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Design Award and is proud that The Fellows’ Program at Arena Stage bears his name.
Broadway designs include: A Soldier’s Play;Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; Clybourne Park; Having Our Say; Mule Bone; Once on this Island; K2; Strange Interlude; Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Quilters.

Mr. Hughes was honored by the Hewes committee in 1983 for K2, and has been nominated numerous times for other productions.

Henry Hewes Design Awards:
Known as the Maharam Awards at their inception in 1965, the Hewes Awards were later renamed the American Theatre Wing Design Awards in honor of the Wing’s generous sponsorship. In 1999, they became the Henry Hewes Design Awards in honor of noted critic Henry Hewes, who created the awards and served as a board member of the American Theatre Wing until his death in 2006 at age 89.
The Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee includes theater critics Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chair; David Barbour; David Cote; Naveen Kumar; Helen Shaw; Michael Sommers; and Martha Wade Steketee. The awards are sponsored by the Henry Hewes Foundation for the Arts.

2020 Henry Hewes Design Awards Honorees

Scenic Design: Paul Steinberg (Judgment Day, Park Avenue Armory)
Costume Design: Anita Yavich (Soft Power, Public Theater)
Lighting Design: Isabella Byrd (Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Playwrights Horizons)
Sound Design: Justin Ellington (Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Playwrights Horizons)
Media Design: Hannah Wasileski (Fires in the Mirror, Soho Rep)
Notable Effects: (Hair, Wigs and make-up Design) Nikiya Mathis (Stew, Page 73/Walkerspace)

Special Citation:
Design Team (Fefu and Her Friends, Theatre for a New Audience)

Adam Rigg, Scenic Design
Montana Levi Blanco, Costume Design
Jane Cox, Lighting Design
Palmer Hefferan, Sound Design
Cookie Jordan, Hair and Wig Design
Andrew Diaz, Properties Design

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2020 HENRY HEWES DESIGN AWARDS NOMINEES
(2020 Honorees in bold)

JANE GREENWOOD TO RECEIVE
MING CHO LEE AWARD

Award Ceremony Scheduled for October 7

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
(New York - September 4, 2019) Legendary designer and teacher Jane Greenwood will be honored with the Ming Cho Lee Lifetime Achievement Award bestowed by the Henry Hewes Design Awards at the 55th annual luncheon ceremony October 7 in New York.
 
"Jane has been a major influence in theatrical design on both sides of the Atlantic for 50 years," said Ming Cho Lee. "I can think of no one more deserving of this recognition for a lifetime of brilliant designs and dedication to the craft."
 
Greenwood was honored by the Hewes committee in 1965 for Tartuffe, in 1995 for The Heiress and Sylvia, and for Tartuffe again in 2003. She has been honored by Tony Awards twice for her extraordinary work and is a member of the Theater Hall of Fame.
 
"It is a pleasure to bestow this honor on such a deserving and talented recipient," said Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chairman of the Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee. "We look forward to honoring her at our award ceremony in October."
 
About Ming Cho Lee:
 
Legendary theatre designer Ming Cho Lee was the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Henry Hewes Design Awards and the award was renamed for him at that presentation ceremony. Lee, who has designed more than 300 productions across the globe, won a Tony Award in 1983 for K2 and taught for 48 years at the Yale School of Drama. He was also the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 2013.
 
Lee previously won three Henry Hewes Design Awards: the first for the 1964 production of Electra at Shakespeare in the Park, the second for Ergo in 1968 at the Public Theater, and the last for K2 in 1983, for which he also won Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Lee is also a member of the Theater Hall of Fame and holds five honorary degrees.
 
About Henry Hewes Design Awards:
 
These annual awards honor designers for work in venues on Broadway, off Broadway and off-off Broadway, recognizing not only the traditional categories of Scenic Design, Costume Design and Lighting Design, but also “Notable Effects,” which encompass sound, music, video, projections, puppetry, and other creative elements. All nominated designs must have originated in United States productions. The Hewes Awards Committee annually considers more than 200 productions when making its nominations.
 
Known as the Maharam Awards at their inception in 1965, the Hewes Awards were later renamed the American Theatre Wing Design Awards in honor of the Wing’s generous sponsorship. In 1999, they became the Henry Hewes Design Awards in honor of noted critic Henry Hewes, who created the awards and served as a board member of the American Theatre Wing until his death in 2006 at age 89.
 
The Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee includes theater critics Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chair; David Barbour; David Cote; Glenda Frank; Helen Shaw; Michael Sommers; and Martha Wade Steketee. The awards are sponsored by the Henry Hewes Foundation for Theater Arts.

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2019 HENRY HEWES DESIGN AWARDS

HONOREES ANNOUNCED

55th Annual Awards Scheduled for October 7

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                               

New York – August 21, 2019 - The 2019 Henry Hewes Design Award Honors for the 2018–2019 theater season were announced today and will be presented at the awards ceremony on October 7 in New York. 

The 5 recipients are scenic designer Charlie Corcoran (The O’Casey Trilogy, Irish Repertory Theatre), costume designer Montana Levi Blanco (Ain’t No Mo’, Public Theater), lighting designers Amith Chandrashaker (Boesman and Lena, Signature Theatre) and Yi Zhao(The House That Will Not Stand, New York Theatre Workshop), and sound designer Mikaal Sulaiman (Fairview, Soho Rep).

"All five of the 2019 honorees are receiving their first award from the Hewes committee," said Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chairman of the Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee. "We are delighted to honor them for their brilliant work and superb contributions to the world of New York theater design." 

For the 2019 honors, 94 theater artists were nominated for outstanding artistry in 63 productions presented during the 2018-2019 New York theater season on, off, and off-off Broadway. (A complete list of 2019 nominees follows this awards announcement.)

2019 Henry Hewes Design Awards Honorees:

Scenic Design:

Charlie Corcoran (The O’Casey Trilogy, Irish Repertory Theatre)

Costume Design:

Montana Levi Blanco (Ain’t No Mo’, Public Theater)

Amith Chandrashaker (Boesman and Lena, Signature Theatre)

Lighting Design:

Yi Zhao (The House That Will Not Stand, New York Theatre Workshop)

Notable Effects (Sound Design)

Mikaal Sulaiman (Fairview, Soho Rep)

Nominations:

Montana Levi Blanco led all artists with four nominations for his design work. Dede M. Ayite and Laura Jellinek each received three nominations for their designs. Fourteen other designers received two nominations each for their work during the 2018-2019 season. Beetlejuice, the Broadway musical, received six nominations. Three productions (Head Over Heels, Oklahoma! and Spaceman) each received four nominations. Seven productions each received three nominations and twenty other productions each received two nominations.

The HHDA Committee named honorees in four categories: Scenic Design, Costume Design, Lighting Design and Notable Effects. As of the 2019 awards, the Committee has bestowed 313 honors on 204 artists representing 273 productions.

About Henry Hewes Design Awards:

These annual awards honor designers for work in venues on Broadway, off Broadway and off-off Broadway, recognizing not only the traditional categories of Scenic Design, Costume Design and Lighting Design, but also “Notable Effects,” which encompass sound, music, video, projections, puppetry, and other creative elements. All nominated designs must have originated in United States productions. The Hewes Awards Committee annually considers more than 200 productions when making its nominations.

Known as the Maharam Awards at their inception in 1965, the Hewes Awards were later renamed the American Theatre Wing Design Awards in honor of the Wing’s generous sponsorship. In 1999, they became the Henry Hewes Design Awards in honor of noted critic Henry Hewes, who created the awards and served as a board member of the American Theatre Wing until his death in 2006 at age 89.

The Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee includes theater critics Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chair; David Barbour; David Cote; Glenda Frank; Helen Shaw; Michael Sommers; and Martha Wade Steketee. The awards are sponsored by the Henry Hewes Foundation for the Theater Arts. 

HELEN SHAW PRESENTED WITH
GEORGE JEAN NATHAN AWARD

​​​​​​​January 20, 2019 - Committee member, Helen Shaw has received the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. In awarding Ms. Shaw, the George Jean Nathan Award, they cited her “penetrating insight into the strategies of the contemporary theater’s most daring artists. Shaw's particular gift is to acknowledge, and linger in, her own uncertainty—to write with muscular ambivalence about works that don’t always realize their ambitions, and that are all the more invigorating as a result.”

Here’s a link to the announcement:
https://english.cornell.edu/news/winners-2017-18-george-jean-nathan-award-dramatic-criticism-announced

Congratulations, Helen Shaw!