Ann Hould-Ward and Richard Hudson Receive TDF's Irene Sharaff Awards

TDF, the not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts, has just announced that celebrated costume designer Ann Hould-Ward and legendary scenic designer Richard Hudson are among the 2024 TDF/Irene Sharaff Award recipients. Ms. Hould-Ward will be honored with the TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design while Mr. Hudson will receive The Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design. Additionally, costume designer Machine Dazzle will receive the TDF/Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award and TRICORNE, INC. will receive the TDF/Irene Sharaff Artisan Award.

The awards ceremony will be presented through the TDF Costume Collection on Friday, April 5 at 6:30 p.m. at The Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street). A pre-awards cocktail reception will begin at 5:30 p.m. For ticket information call 212-989-5855 ext. 219 or email tdfsharaffawards@gmail.com.

“These 2024 awardees represent the very best of our design community in all of its glorious and varied forms,” said Stephen Cabral, Director of the TDF Costume Collection. “We get to celebrate a designer who led “the Beast” to the dance, an artisan that helped Bob Mackie “Turn Back Time,” a scenic designer who showed us the “Circle of Life,” and a multidisciplinary artist who constantly dazzles. I truly couldn’t be more excited about the TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards this year.”

“When the diverse communities we serve attend the theatre for the first time, they enter new worlds, transported by the magic created by the show’s designers. The TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards fete these makers and the worlds that they bring to life, sparking our collective imagination and allowing us to dream,” said DEEKSHA GAUR, TDF’s Executive Director. “We are grateful to Mel Weingart, Linda Hardberger and Robert Perdziola of the Tobin Theatre Arts Fund for their continued support of this joyful event.”

TDF/Irene Sharaff AWARDS VOTING COMMITTEE:

The awardees were selected by the TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards Voting Committee, which consists of leading members of the theatrical costume design community: Stephen Cabral (Chair), Dede Ayite, Gregg Barnes, Dean Brown, Linda Cho, Traci DiGesu, Lana Fritz, Jess Goldstein, Rodney Gordon, Brian Hemesath, Allen Lee Hughes, Holly Hynes, Dan Lawson, Anna Louizos, Katherine Marshall, Mimi Maxmen, David Murin, Sally Ann Parsons, Scott Pask, Robert Perdziola, Carrie Robbins, Alejo Vietti, Court Watson and David Zinn.

Throughout her long and distinguished career, costume designer Irene Sharaff was known for her elegance and attention to detail. Ms. Sharaff was revered as a designer of enormous depth and intelligence, equally secure with both contemporary and period costumes. Her work exemplified the best of costume design. Such excellence is demonstrated by the honorees of this year's TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards.

ABOUT THE AWARDS:

The TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design (formerly the Lifetime Achievement Award in Costume Design) was first presented to the legendary Ms. Sharaff in 1993. It is bestowed annually to a costume designer who has achieved great distinction. The award is presented to a designer whose work embodies the qualities of excellence represented in Ms. Sharaff's lifework: a keen sense of color, a feeling for material and texture, an eye for shape and form, and a sure command of the craft. The awardee's achievement may stem from work for the theatre, opera, dance, film or—as was true of Ms. Sharaff—from all of them together.

Previous winners of the TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design are Desmond Heeley (1994), Miles White (1996), Alvin Colt (1996), Patricia Zipprodt (1997), Jane Greenwood (1998), Willa Kim (1999), Ann Roth (2000), Freddy Wittop (2001), Theoni V. Aldredge (2002), Jose Varona (2003), Anthony Powell (2004), Florence Klotz (2005), Lester Polakov (2006), Bob Mackie (2007), Robert Fletcher (2008), William Ivey Long (2009), Albert Wolsky (2010), Lewis Brown (2011), Carrie Robbins (2012), David Toser (2013), Deborah M. Dryden (2014), Jess Goldstein (2015), Susan Tsu (2016), Catherine Zuber (2017), Holly Hynes (2018), Susan Hilferty (2019) and Fred Voelpel (2022).

The Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design (formerly the Lifetime Achievement Award in Theatrical Design) honors its namesake and symbolizes Tobin's passion, respect and esteem for the art of theatrical design. Recipients have achieved distinction in theatrical design and their work serves as an example of the beauty, feeling and empathy that's created through true mastery of this art. The Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design was first presented in 2004 to acclaimed set and costume designer Tony Walton. The award has since been presented to Robert O'Hearn (2005), Franco Zeffirelli (2006), Santo Loquasto (2007), John Conklin (2008), Bob Crowley (2009), Ming Cho Lee (2010), Robin Wagner (2011), Lloyd Burlingame (2012), Desmond Heeley (2013), Marjorie Bradley Kellogg (2014), Douglas W. Schmidt (2015), Michael Yeargan (2016), Tony Straiges (2017), Zack Brown (2018), John Lee Beatty (2019), and Eugene Lee (2022).

The TDF/Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award (formerly the TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award) was named in honor of the late designer and previous Sharaff Awards Voting Committee Chair Kitty Leech. This award is presented to a designer whose promising work has come to fruition. With this honor, we recognize Kitty Leech's and Irene Sharaff’s wish to see designers encouraged as they achieve success and excellence in the field.

The TDF/Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award was previously bestowed upon Gregg Barnes (1994), Toni-Leslie James (1996), Paul Tazewell (1997), Martin Pakledinaz (1998), Suzy Benzinger (1999), Robert Perdziola (2000), Constance Hoffman (2001), Jonathan Bixby & Gregory Gale (2002), Anita Yavich (2003), Mirena Rada (2004), David Zinn (2005), Emilio Sosa (2006), Murell Horton (2007), Fabio Toblini (2008), Clint Ramos (2009), Alejo Vietti (2010), Olivera Gajic (2011), Mathew LeFebvre (2012), Daniel Lawson (2013), Linda Cho (2014), Brian Hemesath (2015), Suttirat Anne Larlarb (2016), Paloma Young (2017), Travis Halsey (2018), Miodrag Guberinic (2019), and Dede Ayite (2022).

The TDF/Irene Sharaff Artisan Award recognizes an individual or company that has made an outstanding supportive contribution in the field of costume technology. Honorees include assistant and associate costume designers, costume shops that transform into glorious and breathtaking realities, teachers who dedicate their lives to turning raw talent into professional accomplished designers, and authors who create essential texts and trade publications without which designers could not function.

The TDF/Irene Sharaff Artisan Award was previously given to Ray Diffen (1999), Woody Shelp (2000), Barbara Matera (2001), Paul Huntley (2002), Maria Brizzi/Grace Costumes, Inc. (2003), Nino Novellino (2004), Vincent Zullo (2005), Martin Izquierdo (2006), Kermit Love (2007), Bessie Nelson (2008), Sally Ann Parsons (2009), John David Ridge (2010), Michael-Jon Costumes (2011), Lynn Pecktal (2012), Lawrence Vrba (2013), Marianne Krostyne (2014), Gino Bifulco – T.O. Dey Shoes (2015), Liz Covey & Rosemary Ingham (2016), Ernest Smith (2017), Fritz Masten (2018), Rodney Gordon (2019), and Michael Curry (2022).

The TDF/Irene Sharaff Memorial Tribute was created to recognize, celebrate and remember the artists who pioneered the art of costume design, setting the standard for years to come. TDF believes that in reliving and reviewing the body of work of these artists, a new generation of designers can learn and grow, standing on the shoulders of the giants who came before. As has been a tradition since the awards were founded, the memorial tribute will feature a screening of a 15-minute film created by designer Suzy Benzinger.

The TDF/Irene Sharaff Memorial Tribute Award was previously bestowed upon Raoul Pene Du Bois (1999), Lucinda Ballard (2000), Aline Bernstein (2001), Cecil Beaton (2002), Ruth Morley (2003), Lemuel Ayers (2004), Oliver Messel (2005), Lila de Nobili (2006), Rouben Ter-Arutunian (2007), Tanya Moiseiwitsch (2008), Irene Sharaff (2009), Randy Barceló (2010), Charles LeMaire (2011), William and Jean Eckart (2012), Martin Pakledinaz (2013), Sam Kirkpatrick (2014), Raoul Pene Du Bois (2015), Dorothy Jeakins (2016) Motley Margaret Harris, Sophie Harris and Elizabeth Montgomery  Wilmot (2017), Karinska (2018),  Irene Sharaff (2019) and Caroline F. Siedle (2022).