Broadway to Dim Lights for Martin Pakledinaz Tomorrow

The Broadway community mourns the loss of Martin Pakledinaz, who passed away from brain cancer on July 8th at age 58. The marquees of Broadway theatres in New York will be dimmed in his memory on Thursday, July 12th, at exactly 8:00 p.m. for one minute.

Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director of The Broadway League, said, "Our thoughts go out to friends, family, and colleagues of Marty Pakledinaz. His contributions to Broadway, opera, dance, and regional theater via costume design inspired countless performers and creative teams to tell stories with truth and style. His passion and deep knowledge of American theatre history, combined with his detailed approach and natural creativity was a gift to all of us.”

Pakledinaz was nominated 10 times for Tony Awards® (most recently for Nice Work If You Can Get It and Anything Goes) and won twice. He received the 2002 Tony Award® for Best Costume Design for Thoroughly Modern Millie and the 2000 Tony Award for Best Costume Design for the revival of Kiss Me, Kate.

He became interested in theatre when a teenager; initially, he had dreams of becoming an actor. He began his career in New York costume design doing sketches for Theoni V. Aldredge and worked as a designer on productions at The York Theatre, New York Shakespeare Festival, McCarter Theatre and Roundabout Theatre Company. For director-choreographer Kathleen Marshall, he worked on Broadway revivals of Wonderful Town, Grease, The Pajama Game and Anything Goes, as well as the new musical using old Gershwin songs, Nice Work If You Can Get It.

In addition to his contributions as a designer, Mr. Pakledinaz was a generous contributor to countless charities and funds, and taught on the graduate level at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.