theatreWashington announces further details for the 36th annual Helen Hayes Awards, which were originally scheduled to take place at The Anthem on May 18, 2020.
Celebrated over four weeks as a series of virtual events, the Awards will recognize the outstanding work on Washington-area stages in 2019, reflect on this unprecedented time in our industry, and gather a full community of theatre-makers and theatre-lovers in virtual spaces.
The individual
Helen Hayes Awards were announced via Zoom calls with nominees, presenters, and guests from the community from August 31-September 11, 2020. All recipient information
is available on the theatreWashington website. The full recordings of all of the announcements by category are available on the
theatreWashington YouTube channel.
As a culmination of the 2020
Helen Hayes Awards celebrations, the community will gather together virtually for a celebratory evening.
The evening will kickoff at 6pm EDT with a virtual red carpet on Instagram live (
@theatrewash), with the co-hosts of the 2019
Helen Hayes Awards theatre artists (and best friends)
Rick Hammerly and
Felicia Curry. The red carpet will feature nominees, recipients, and special guest stars. Viewers can also pop in to say hello and show us their at-home
Helen Hayes Awards fashion choices.
The main program at 7pm EDT is a virtual event streamed live on YouTube and co-hosted by Washington stage luminaries
Felicia Curry and
Naomi Jacobson. The program will include 11 award announcements-for outstanding productions, ensembles, and the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company-in addition to other remembrances, special guest appearances, and fun surprises. Tickets are complimentary (or by donation to the Taking Care Fund) but required and are available through TodayTix at:
bit.ly/HHATickets
The party continues with an after party at 8:15pm EDT on Zoom DJ'd and hosted by Edward Daniels, DC actor and owner of Scorpio Entertainment. Guests can dance in their living room (or kitchen or garage) to music, see their friends and colleagues in their
Helen Hayes Awards finest, and most important, celebrate the nominees, recipients, and the Washington theatre community.
Recognizing work from 185 eligible productions presented in the 2019 calendar year, there are 255 nominations in 47 categories and grouped in "Helen" or "Hayes" cohorts, depending on the number of Equity members involved in the production. Nominations are the result of 40 carefully vetted judges considering 2,570 individual pieces of work, such as design, direction, choreography, performances, and more. Productions under consideration in 2019 included 46 musicals, 139 plays, and 45 world premieres.
This year, though adjudicated as "actor" and "actress", 16 performance categories are being renamed and will be integrated and presented as gender-inclusive Awards-listed, for example, as Outstanding Lead Performer and Outstanding Supporting Performer, with two recipients in each category. Since 2018, the
Helen Hayes Awards adjudication committee has been pursuing a process to make these performance Awards gender-inclusive. After research, consultation with other award organizations, and input from the community-including nonbinary and transgender performers-the committee has announced that beginning with the 2021
Helen Hayes Awards (for productions in 2020), the performance categories, will be adjudicated as gender-inclusive and expanded to ten nominees each (from the previous five). Two recipients will be chosen for each category to maintain the current number of recipients that are selected and honored each year.
A full history of the evolution, process, and further details is available on the theatreWashington website.
During the
Helen Hayes Awards season, theatreWashington will be raising money for the Taking Care COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund. This Fund, started in March 2020, has surpassed its original goal of $330,000-which was distributed in microgrants to local theater professionals in need during the near shutdown of our industry. We now have a gift of $25,000-from generous community donors Craig Pascal, Holly Hassett, and area foundations, with the board of directors of theatreWashington-to be matched by the community, raising an additional $50,000 for this Fund.
Those wishing to make a donation to the Taking Care COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund, can do so here.
theatreWashington continues to celebrate Victor Shargai, long-time theatreWashington board chair, theater lover, and philanthropist, who passed away peacefully at home on December 24, 2019. For decades, Victor dedicated himself to celebrating theater artists and strengthening the theater institutions in the Washington D.C. region. As a champion and a supporter, and with his beloved husband Craig Pascal, he believed fervently in theater's power to transform lives and communities. On the occasion of a memorial celebration of his life in July 2020, in partnership with Craig Pascal,
Amy Austin, President & CEO of theatreWashington, announced the creation of a new
Helen Hayes Award in Victor's honor. The Victor Shargai Leadership Award will recognize excellence in leadership in new ways. The first award will be given in 2021 when we can gather again.
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