INTO THE WOODS, SWEENEY TODD, and More Nominated For 2023 Hewes Design Awards
The 59th annual ceremony will be held on October 23 in New York.
By: Stephi Wild Sep. 19, 2023
The Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee has announced the 2023 Henry Hewes Design Awards Honorees who will be recognized at the 59th annual ceremony on October 23 in New York.
“We are delighted that the Henry Hewes Design Awards will once again bring the entire design community together in-person for the first time since 2019,” 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 2023 Honorees for their excellent work.”
Honors for the 2022–23 season were earned by eight artists for their work on, Off, and Off-Off Broadway. Scenic design team dots (a collaboration of Santiago Orjuela-Laverde, Andrew Moerdyk and Kimie Nishikawa) (Public Obscenities, Soho Rep/National Asian American Theatre Company), costume designer Brenda Abbandandolo (The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, Broadway), lighting designer Barbara Samuels (Public Obscenities, Soho Rep/National Asian American Theatre Company), sound designer Tei Blow (Public Obscenities, Soho Rep/National Asian American Theatre Company), media designer Kameron Neal (Dark Disabled Stories, Public Theater), and puppetry designer James Ortiz (Into the Woods, Broadway) will be honored with 2023 Henry Hewes Design Awards. Seven of the eight 2023 honorees are receiving their first award from the Hewes committee. For the 2023 honors, 98 theater artists were nominated for outstanding artistry in 58 productions presented during the 2022–23 New York theater season on, Off, and Off-Off Broadway. (A complete list of 2023 nominees follows this awards announcement. Please share widely.)
These annual awards honor designers for work in venues on Broadway, Off Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway, recognizing the traditional 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 design team known as dots led all artists with five nominations for their design work. Clint Ramos received three nominations for his work. Eleven designers received two nominations for their work. Twenty-eight productions received multiple nominations, with Public Obscenities at Soho Rep/National Asian American Theatre Company getting five nominations. Two productions each received four nominations. Six productions each received three nominations and seventeen other productions each received two 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 2023 awards, the Committee has bestowed 337 honors on 224 artists representing 288 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.
2023 Henry Hewes DESIGN AWARDS HONOREES
Scenic Design
dots (Public Obscenities, Soho Rep/National Asian American Theatre Company)
Costume Design
Brenda Abbandandolo (The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, Broadway)
Lighting Design
Barbara Samuels (Public Obscenities, Soho Rep/National Asian American Theatre Company)
Sound Design
Tei Blow (Public Obscenities, Soho Rep/National Asian American Theatre Company)
Media Design
Kameron Neal (Dark Disabled Stories, Public Theater)
Notable Effects
James Ortiz (Into the Woods, Broadway Puppetry Design)
2023 Henry Hewes DESIGN AWARDS NOMINEES
SCENIC DESIGN NOMINEES
Arnulfo Maldonado
My Broken Language
Arnulfo Maldonado
Topdog/Underdog
Beowulf Boritt
New York, New York
Christopher and Justin Swader
Arden of Faversham
Christopher and Justin Swader
Modern Swimwear
Clint Ramos
A Raisin in the Sun
Clint Ramos
The Far Country
Dane Laffrey
A Christmas Carol
dots
Dark Disabled Stories
dots
Public Obscenities
dots
The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window
dots
You Will Get Sick
Frank J. Oliva
On Set With Theda Bara
John Lee Beatty
Epiphany
Junghyun Georgia Lee
Romeo and Juliet
Marsha Ginsberg
Primary Trust
Maruti Evans
Amani
Michael Yeargan
Pictures From Home
Parker Lutz
The Trees
Rachel Hauck
Good Night, Oscar
Soutra Gilmour
A Doll's House
Wilson Chin
A Bright New Boise
COSTUME DESIGN NOMINEES
Andrea Hood
Into the Woods
Brenda Abbandandolo
The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window
Caitlin Ayer
Willa's Authentic Self
Clint Ramos and Sophia Choi
KPOP
David Zinn
Almost Famous
Donna Zakowska
New York, New York
Enver Chakartash
The Trees
Enver Chakartash
Public Obscenities
Gregg Barnes
Some Like It Hot
Jennifer Moeller
Camelot
Jennifer Moeller and Miriam Kelleher
The Comeuppance
Karen Perry
A Raisin in the Sun
Kindall Almond
Black Odyssey
Mika Eubanks
Twelfth Night
Montana Levi Blanco
White Girl in Danger
Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung
Dancin'
Susan Hilferty
Parade
Wendy Yang
Your Own Personal Exegesis
LIGHTING DESIGN NOMINEES
Adam Honoré
Black Odyssey
Allen Lee Hughes
Ohio State Murders
Amith Chandrashaker
The Comeuppance
Barbara Samuels
Public Obscenities
Ben Stanton
A Christmas Carol
Heather Gilbert
Parade
Isabella Byrd
Epiphany
Isabella Byrd
The Good John Proctor
Jen Schriever
My Broken Language
Jiyoun Chang
The Far Country
John Torres
The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window
Jon Clark
A Doll's House
Ken Billington
New York, New York
Lap Chi Chu
The Coast Starlight
Masha Tsimring
Montag
Natasha Katz
Sweeney Todd
Oona Curley
Dark Disabled Stories
Reza Behjat
Arden of Faversham
Stacey Derosier
On Set With Theda Bara
NOTABLE EFFECTS NOMINEES
Buffy Cardoza (Properties Design)
The Good John Proctor
Caitlin Ayer (Puppetry Design)
Willa's Authentic Self
James Ortiz (Puppetry Design)
Into the Woods
Steven Wendt (Shadow Puppetry Design)
This and That
Tom Sepe (Robot Design)
The Orchard
SOUND DESIGN NOMINEES
Ben and Max Ringham
A Doll's House
Christopher Darbassie
Camp Siegfried
Elisabeth Weidner
F*ck Seventh Grade
Fabian Obispo
Once Upon a (korean) Time
Frederick Kennedy
Twelfth Night
Joanna Lynne Staub
Weightless
Kai Harada
New York, New York
Kathy Ruvuna
Dark Disabled Stories
Lee Kinney
Exception to the Rule
Lee Kinney
The Good John Proctor
Leegrid Stevens
War Dreamer
Megan Culley
Hang Time
Mikaal Sulaiman
Evanston Salt Costs Climbing
Nevin Steinberg
Sweeney Todd
Palmer Hefferan
The Comeuppance
Scott Lehrer and Alex Neumann
Into the Woods
Sinan Rafik Zafar
Montag
Tei Blow
Public Obscenities
MEDIA DESIGN NOMINEES
59 Productions
Pictures From Home
59 Productions
The Coast Starlight
Alex Basco Koch
The Orchard
Brittany Bland
Amani
Brittany Bland
Twelfth Night
Caite Hevner
Between the Lines
Dan Scully
The Butcher Boy
David Bengali
Monsoon Wedding
David Bengali
The Thanksgiving Play
dots and Sam Levy
Kate
Johnny Moreno
Public Obscenities
Josh Higgason
White Girl in Danger
Kameron Neal
Dark Disabled Stories
Kelly Colburn, Alex Hawthorn, Justin Nestor
American Television(s)
Lucy Mackinnon
A Christmas Carol
Phil Soltanoff
This and That
Sven Ortel
Parade
Videos