2026 Henry Hewes Design Awards Honorees Revealed

The Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee has revealed the 2026 Henry Hewes Design Awards Honorees who will be recognized at the 62nd annual ceremony on October 19 in New York. 

Honorees:

Honors for the 2025–26 season were earned by 15 artists for their work on and Off Broadway. Scenic designer Dane Laffrey (The Lost Boys, Broadway's Palace Theatre), Costume Designer Brenda Abbandandolo (Cold War Choir Practice, Clubbed Thumb at the Wild Project), lighting designer Masha Tsimring (Practice, Playwrights Horizons; Cold War Choir Practice, Clubbed Thumb at the Wild Project; and Animal Wisdom, Signature Theatre), sound designer Mikhail Fiksel (Mexodus, Audible's Minetta Lane Theatre), media designer Kameron Neal (Rheology, Playwrights Horizons), and the production design team of Christopher Darbassie, Emmanuel Delgado, Sam Levy, Monkey Boys Productions, Tommaso Ortino, Muriel Parra, Lia Ouyang Rusli, André Azevedo Sweet, and Julio Torres (Color Theories, Performance Space New York) will be honored with 2026 Henry Hewes Design Awards. 

Background:

Twelve of the fifteen 2026 honorees are receiving their first award from the Hewes committee. For the 2026 honors, 114 theater artists were nominated for outstanding artistry in 63 productions presented during the 2025-26 New York theater season on, Off, and Off-Off Broadway. (A complete list of 2026 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 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.

Masha Tsimring and Scott Pask led all designers with three nominations each. Nineteen designers received two nominations for their work during the season. Thirty-One Productions received multiple nominations, with Broadway's The Lost Boys leading the way at six nominations. Ragtime on Broadway received five nominations. Six productions each received four nominations. Seven productions received three nominations, and 16 other productions 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 2026 awards, the Committee has bestowed 363 honors on 255 artists representing 310 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.

HHDA Committee:

The Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee includes theater critics Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chair; David Barbour; David Cote; Sara Holdren; Naveen Kumar; Martha Wade Steketee; and Diep Tran. The awards are sponsored by the Henry Hewes Foundation for the Theater Arts.

2026 Henry Hewes DESIGN AWARDS HONOREES

Scenic Design

Dane Laffrey
The Lost Boys, Palace Theatre

Costume Design

Brenda Abbandandolo
Cold War Choir Practice, Clubbed Thumb at Wild Project

Lighting Design

Masha Tsimring
Practice, Playwrights Horizons
Cold War Choir Practice, Clubbed Thumb at Wild Project
Animal Wisdom, Signature Theatre

Sound Design

Mikhail Fiksel
Mexodus, Audible's Minetta Lane Theatre

Media Design

Kameron Neal
Rheology, Playwrights Horizons

Notable Effects

Christopher Darbassie,
Color Theories, Performance Space New York
Emmanuel Delgado,
Sam Levy,
Monkey Boys Productions,
Tommaso Ortino,
Muriel Parra,
Lia Ouyang Rusli,
André Azevedo Sweet,
Julio Torres
(Production Design)

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