The American Theatre Wing is pleased to announce that five theater artists will be honored by the Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee during the presentation of its 2017 Awards in a luncheon ceremony on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.
Honors for the 2017 awards were earned by artists working on, off and off-off Broadway. Scenic designer Laura Jellinek (A Life, Playwrights Horizons), costume designers Machine Dazzle (Taylor Mac: A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, St. Ann’s Warehouse) and Toni-Leslie James (Come From Away, Broadway), lighting designer Tyler Micoleau (The Band’s Visit, Atlantic Theater Company) and projection designer Jared Mezzocchi (Vietgone, Manhattan Theatre Club) will be honored with 2017 Henry Hewes Design Awards. Two of the five have received Henry Hewes Design Awards in the past. Jellinek, Dazzle, and Mezzocchi will receive their first Henry Hewes Design Awards. For the 2017 honors, 100 theater artists were nominated for outstanding artistry in 66 productions presented during the 2016-2017 New York theater season.
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 considered more than 200 productions when making its nominations.
Known as the Maharam Awards at their inception in 1965, the Hewes Awards were later known as the American Theatre Wing Design Awards beginning in 1986 in honor of the Wing’s long involvement. In 1999 the Awards were renamed for ATW Trustee, noted critic Henry Hewes, who played an instrumental role in the founding of the Awards, and who 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.
