2024 Henry Hewes Design Awards Honorees Announced

The Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee announces 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 theatre season was a memorable one for its breadth and creativity," says Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chairman of the committee. "We continue to recognize the outstanding contribution that designers make to the creative process in all theatre productions and we congratulate the 2024 Honorees for their excellent work."

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 theatre artists were nominated for outstanding artistry in 79 productions presented during the 2023-24 New York theatre 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.

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 theatre 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

2024 Henry Hewes Design Awards Nominees:

(2024 Honorees in bold)

Scenic Design Nominees:

Adam Rigg, Illinoise
Ao Li , Redwood
Arnulfo Maldonado , Dead Outlaw
Beowulf Boritt , The Connector
Brian Dudkiewicz , War Words
Charlie Corcoran, Philadelphia, Here I Come
Chika Shimizu, Death of a Salesman at the Beijing People's Art Theatre in 1983
Christopher and Justin Swader, Dig
David Korins , Here Lies Love
David Zinn , Here We Are
David Zinn , Stereophonic
Derek McLane, The Heart of Rock and Roll
dots, (pray)
dots, An Enemy of the People
dots , Appropriate
Greg Corbino , Snatch Adams & Tainty McCracken Present It's That Time of the Month
Jan Pappelbaum , Our Class
Jian Jung , Staff Meal
Kate Noll , Wet Brain
Marsha Ginsberg , Primary Trust
Nic Benacerraf , In Corpo
Normandy Sherwood and Daniel Allen Nelson, Psychic Self Defense
Paul Tate dePoo III, The Great Gatsby
Peiyi Wong, The Whitney Album
Raphael Mishler , The Fires
Regina Garcia, Between Two Knees
Riccardo Hernandez , Suffs
Scott Pask, Grey House
Taylor Friel , Where Women Go

Costume Design Nominees:

Andreea Mincic , Sad Boys in Harpyland
David Zinn , Here We Are
Dede Ayite , Appropriate
Dede Ayite , Buena Vista Social Club
Dede Ayite , Jelly's Last Jam
Emilio Sosa , Purlie Victorious
Enver Chakartash , Stereophonic
Enver Chakartash , Teeth
Gregory Gale , Ibsen's Ghost
Heather Freedman , Where Women Go
Holly Pierson, Oh, Mary!
Holly Pierson, Orlando
Jen Caprio , The Heart of Rock and Roll
Karen Boyer, Warrior Sisters of Wu
Kaye Voyce , Staff Meal
Kindall Almond , Partnership
Lux Haac, Between Two Knees
Machine Dazzle , Bark of Millions
Normandy Sherwood, Psychic Self Defense
Oana Botez , Orlando
Orla Long, Philadelphia, Here I Come
Paul Tazewell , Suffs
Tristan Raine, Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors
Wilberth Gonzalez, The Tempest

Lighting Design Nominees:

Adam Silverman, Our Class
Amith Chandrashaker , Jonah
Amith Chandrashaker , The Comeuppance
Barbara Samuels , Orlando
Ben Stanton , Mary Jane
Brandon Stirling Baker , Illinoise
Brian MacDevitt , The Outsiders
Bryan Ealey, The Fires
Cha See, Covenant
Christina Tang , Psychic Self Defense
Cory Pattak, The Great Gatsby
Elizabeth Harper, Between Two Knees
Eric Southern , Swing State
Isabella Byrd , An Enemy of the People
Isabella Byrd, Infinite Life
Jane Cox , Appropriate
Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew and Alex deNevers , CHILD presents 1-800-3592-113592
Jeff Croiter, The Night of the Iguana
Jen Schriever , Spain
Jiyoun Chang, Stereophonic
John Torres , Danny and the Deep Blue Sea
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Harmony
Justin Townsend , Here Lies Love
Lap Chi Chu , Suffs
Masha Tsimring, Staff Meal
Natasha Katz , Grey House
Natasha Katz, Here We Are
Reza Behjat , The Ally
Tyler Micoleau , Buena Vista Social Club

Notable Effects Nominees:

Andreea Mincic, production design, Sad Boys in Harpyland
Ashley Rae Callahan, hair and wig design, Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors
Caitlin Ayer, visual and puppetry design, Willa's Authentic Self
David Brian Brown, hair and wig design , Days of Wine and Roses
David Valentine, puppetry design, Poor Yella Rednecks
Eamon Goodman, spatial instrument design , The Lydian Gale Parr
Eric Dyer, production design , Faust (The Broken Show)
Leah J. Loukas, hair and wig design, Oh, Mary!
Nikiya Mathis, hair and wig design , Jaja's African Hair Braiding
Ray Wetmore, JR Goodman, and Camille Labarre, puppetry design , Water for Elephants
Robert Pickens and Katie Gell, hair and makeup design, Here We Arev Steve Cuiffo, illusion design, A Simulacrum
Steve Cuiffo, illusion design , Food
Tom Watson, hair and wig design , Spamalot

Sound Design Nominees:

Ben Jalosa Williams , The Whitney Album
Bobby McElver , Here There Are Blueberries
Brandon Aanes , Orlando
Bray Poor , Infinite Life
Bray Poor and Will Pickens , Appropriate
Gareth Owen , The Who's Tommy
Jake Rodriguez, Between Two Knees
Janet Bentley and Andy Evan Cohen, The Lights Are On
Jonathan Deans , Buena Vista Social Club
Justin Ellington , Corruption
Kai Harada and Joshua Millican, Dead Outlaw
Leah Gelpe , Scene Partners
M.L. Dogg and Cody Spencer, Here Lies Love
Matt Otto , All of Me
Mikaal Sulaiman , (pray)
Mikhail Fiksel , I Love You So Much I Could Die
Palmer Hefferan, The Comeuppance
Ryan Rumery , Stereophonic
Ryan Rumery and M. Florian Staab , Translations
Tei Blow, Staff Meal
Tom Gibbons, Here We Are

Media Design Nominees:

59 Productions, Corruption
Cinthia Chen, Death of a Salesman at the Beijing People's Art Theatre in 1983
David Bengali , Here There Are Blueberries
David Bengali , Scene Partners
Eric Dunlap , Our Class
Eric Dyer , Faust (The Broken Show)
Irfan Brkovic, Andrew Maillet and Yudam Hyung Seok Jeon, Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me
Jared Mezzocchi , Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy
Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew , The Connector
John Narun, The Seven Year Disappear
Nicholas Hussong , Wet Brain
Nicholas Zeig-Owens, Snatch Adams & Tainty McCracken Present
It's That Time of the Month
Peter Nigrini , Hell's Kitchen
Peter Nigrini, Here Lies Love
Peter Nigrini , Lempicka
Peter Nigrini , The Who's Tommy
Ryan Holsopple, Prometheus Firebringer
Shawn Duan, Between Two Knees
Suz Murray Sadler , CHILD presents 1-800-3592-113592
Sven Ortel , Once Upon a One More Time