2024 Hewes Design Awards Winners Revealed

The Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee has revealed the 2024 Henry Hewes Design Awards Honorees who will be recognized at the 60th annual ceremony on October 21 in New York.

“The 2023-24 theater season was a memorable one for its breadth and creativity”, said Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chairman of the committee. “We continue to recognize the outstanding contribution that designers make to the creative process in all theater productions and we congratulate the 2024 Honorees for their excellent work.”

HONOREES:

Honors for the 2023–24 season were earned by 12 artists for their work on and Off Broadway. Scenic design team dots (Appropriate, Broadway), costume designer Oana Botez (Orlando, Signature Theatre Company), lighting designer Jane Cox (Appropriate, Broadway), sound designer Jonathan Deans (Buena Vista Social Club, Atlantic Theater Company), media designer David Bengali (Here There Are Blueberries, New York Theatre Workshop), and hair and wig designer Nikiya Mathis (Jaja's African Hair Braiding, Broadway) will be honored with 2024 Henry Hewes Design Awards. The Hewes Committee also voted a Special Citation for Excellence in Design to the Broadway design team of Stereophonic. These Special Citation honorees include David Zinn, Enver Chakartash, Jiyoun Chang, Ryan Rumery, Robert Pickens, and Katie Gell.

Seven of the twelve 2024 honorees are receiving their first award from the Hewes committee. For the 2024 honors, an all-time high of 130 theater artists were nominated for outstanding artistry in 79 productions presented during the 2023–24 New York theater season on, Off, and Off-Off Broadway. 

Media designer Peter Nigrini led all designers with four nominations. He was closely followed by the design team known as dots, by David Zinn, and by Dede Ayite who earned three nominations each for their design work in the 2023-24 New York theater season. Thirteen designers received two nominations for their work. Thirty-seven productions received multiple nominations, with Between Two Knees at the Perelman Performing Arts Center and Here We Are at The Shed each earning five nominations. Five productions each received four nominations. Four productions received three nominations and 26 other productions each received two nominations.

Henry Hewes DESIGN AWARDS:

These annual awards honor designers for work in venues on Broadway, Off Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway, recognizing the categories of Scenic Design, Costume Design, Lighting Design, Sound Design, Media Design, and Notable Effects. All nominated designs must have originated in United States productions. The Hewes Awards Committee annually considers approximately 200 productions when making its nominations.

The HHDA Committee named honorees in six standard categories: Scenic Design, Costume Design, Lighting Design, Sound Design, Media Design, and Notable Effects. As of the 2024 awards, the Committee has bestowed 349 honors on 231 artists representing 294 productions. (These numbers do not include the Ming Cho Lee Award for Lifetime Achievement in Design.)

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; Brittani Samuel; Helen Shaw; and Martha Wade Steketee. The awards are sponsored by the Henry Hewes Foundation for the Theater Arts.

2024 Henry Hewes DESIGN AWARDS HONOREES

Scenic Design

dots (Appropriate, Broadway)

Costume Design

Oana Botez (Orlando, Signature Theatre Company)

Lighting Design

Jane Cox (Appropriate, Broadway)

Sound Design

Jonathan Deans (Buena Vista Social Club, Atlantic Theater Company)

Media Design

David Bengali (Here There Are Blueberries, New York Theatre Workshop)

Notable Effects

Nikiya Mathis (Jaja's African Hair Braiding, Hair and Wig Design)

Special Citation for Excellence in Design:

Stereophonic (Broadway)

Scenic: David Zinn

Costumes: Enver Chakartash

Lighting: Jiyoun Chang

Sound: Ryan Rumery

Hair and wigs: Robert Pickens and Katie Gell