The League of Professional Theatre Women has announced that its 2006 Ruth Morley Designing Woman Award will be given to Natasha Katz, lighting designer for her outstanding work in the field of lighting design. The League's Lucille Lortel Award for emerging creative talent will be given to Justine Lambert, Artistic Director of the Looking Glass Theatre. Both will be honored at the League's Awards Luncheon on June 15th at noon at Trattoria Dopo Teatro, 125 West 44th Street in New York City.
Katz has designed extensively for the theatre, opera, and dance. She is currently represented on Broadway by Tarzan, for which she has been nominated for a 2006 Tony Award. Other currently running Broadway productions includes Beauty and the Beast and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. In 2000, Katz received a Tony Award for Aida. In 2002 and 2003, she received the National Broadway Theatre Award for Best Visual Presentation for the touring production of Aida. Other Broadway design credits include Taboo, Lennon, Urban Cowboy, Flower Drum Song, Sweet Smell of Success, Twelfth Night, Dance of Death, The Capeman, Gypsy, Barrymore, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, Aren't We All?, Shogun, Breaking The Code, and Pack of Lies. She has also designed the lighting for the worldwide productions of Beauty and the Beast and Aida. Her other design credits include Cyrano at the Metropolitan Opera, Don Quixote for American Ballet Theatre, Tryst for the Royal Ballet of London and Continuum at the San Francisco Ballet. Katz has designed extensively Off-Broadway and for American regional theatres.Videos