Petition Submitted to Reinstate Tony Sound Design Award

A petition signed by 32,495 people has been submitted to the Tony Awards committee, asking for the reinstatement of the award for best sound design. The committee voted last summer to eliminate the award, sparking an industry-wide controversy. It is meeting today to consider a number of issues.

The names on the petition include Hugh Jackman, Diane Paulus, Marsha Mason, Stephen Sondheim, John Kander, Pam MacKinnon, Emily Skinner, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Jon Robin Baitz, Eric Bogosian, Joey Parnes, Scott Ellis, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Alex Timbers, and many others.

The comments offered by some of them couldn't be more pointed. Director/choreographer Susan Stroman wrote, "I depend on my sound designers. They play an integral part in adding richness and clarity to any production. They are storytellers too."

Director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell wrote, "In today's theater, especially in musicals, it really is an art form to get every word to the back of the house. Eliminating this contribution is ridiculous."

Composer Stephen Trask wrote, "I can't imagine the success of my musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch without the talents of our Tony Award-nominated sound designer Tim O'Heir and his amazing team. The sound required for that show shouldn't even be possible in a century old dramatic house like the Belasco, designed before amplification and with the idea of making the spoken voice resonate in the back of the upper sections. The tireless work this crew performed, from auditioning speakers and microphones, to interacting with the set design, to constant refinement of the sound to adjust to the specifics of the performances and the vagaries of the theater, was one of the lynchpins of this production."

Lyricist Lynn Ahrens wrote, "These designers are integral to our productions -- not only for clarity of words, lyrics, and music, but for ambience, soundscapes, sound effects, and more. You can do a production without a set, but not without sound."

Designer Tony Walton wrote, "The current ruling is truly unjust to a critically valuable community of designers and the award for them MUST be reinstated."

John Gromada, the sound designer, who has driven the petition, told The New York Times, "People may not think they have the skills to judge sound design, but we think they do if they're clearly told what to look and listen for. Let's at least give that a try first before getting rid of the awards." The Times also reports him as saying that designers were considering recording videos to post on YouTube explaining the ins and outs of sound design.

The Times added that Gromada and others have lobbied members of the committee, as well as costume designer William Ivey Long, who is chairman of the American Theatre Wing, which runs the Tony Awards with the Broadway League. It is not certain if the committee will discuss this issue; it is also unlikely that the award will be reinstated for this year. Nevertheless, it remains a developing situation; it is difficult to believe that the committee will ignore the comments of so many prominent members of the Broadway community.

http://americantheatrewing.org/