Light in the Piazza Designers Among Hewes Award Winners

By: Nov. 07, 2005
Enter Your Email to Unlock This Article

Plus, get the best of BroadwayWorld delivered to your inbox, and unlimited access to our editorial content across the globe.




Existing user? Just click login.

The Light in the Piazza's Michael Yeargan and Christopher Akerlind, and La Cage aux Folles' William Ivey Long were among the winners of the 41st annual Henry Hewes Design Awards.

The awards, which encompassed 51 productions presented during the 2004–2005 New York theater season (out of more than 200 eligible shows), will be presented at a November 11th luncheon at Sardi's. 

The annual awards honor designers for work in venues on Broadway (36 shows this season), Off-Broadway (12 shows) and Off-Off-Broadway (20 shows), recognizing not only the traditional design categories of sets, costumes and lighting, but also "Notable Effects," which encompasses sound, music, video, puppets and other creative elements. All nominated designs must have originated in United States productions.

The top nominated productions were The Light in the Piazza and Woman Before a Glass with four each; Belle Epoque and Spatter Pattern each received three nominations. 11 productions received two nominations.  MacDevitt and Donald Holder each received three nominations for their 2004–2005 lighting designs, and a total of 11 artists received more than one nomination.

Originally known as the Maharam Awards at their inception in 1965, the Hewes Awards were later known as the American Theatre Wing Design Awards.  They were renamed in 1999 for noted critic Henry Hewes, the American Theatre Wing board member who created the awards in the mid-60s.  The Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee includes theater critics Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chair, Tish Dace, Michael Feingold, Glenda Frank, Mario Fratti, Randy Gener, Hewes, and Joan Ungaro.

The list of winners is as follows:

Scenic Design
Michael Yeargan: The Light in the Piazza (Lincoln Center Theater/Vivian Beaumont)

Costume Design
William Ivey Long: La Cage aux Folles (Marquis Theatre)

Lighting Design
Christopher Akerlind: The Light in the Piazza (Lincoln Center Theater/Vivian Beaumont) & Belle Epoque Lincoln Center Theater/Mitzi Newhouse)

Notable Effects
Basil Twist (production design): Symphonie Fantastique (Dodger Stages)
Darron L. West (sound): Hot 'n' Throbbing (Signature Theatre Company)

The American Theatre Wing is a not-for-profit service organization dedicated to education and excellence in the theatre. In addition to creating and awarding the Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards®, ATW's programs include the long-running Working in the Theatre Seminars, broadcast in New York on CUNY-TV; a grants and scholarship program awarding support to more than 50 New York not-for-profit theatre companies and theatre students; "Downstage Center," a weekly theatrical interview show on XM Satellite Radio; the Theatre Intern Group, a professional development and networking organization for interns in commercial and
not-for-profit theatre; and SpringboardNYC, a two week boot camp for college students planning for careers in the New York theatre. ATW's media work is available for free, on-demand from the company's website, www.americantheatrewing.org.



Videos