2018 Helen Hayes Awards Will Be A Celebration of DC's Professional Theatre Community

The 34th Annual Helen Hayes Awards will take place on Monday, May 14, 2018 at The Anthem, the cultural center of Southwest D.C.'s new District Wharf, with a celebratory party to follow. Esteemed Washington theatre artists Michael J. Bobbitt, five-time Helen Hayes Award nominee, choreographer and Artistic Director of Adventure Theatre MTC, and Alyssa Wilmoth Keegan, recipient of last year's Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play-Hayes Production for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, will host an evening showcasing the vibrant and diverse community of professional theatre artists in the Washington region.

There are 258 Helen Hayes Award nominations-selected from 202 eligible productions from 64 theatres in 2017. Tickets for the event are $100 for reserved seating and $275 for VIP premium seating. Reduced-priced tickets will be available to artists and administrators in the community at an industry rate, subsidized by Artist Supporter tickets. All tickets are now available for purchase through the theatreWashington website.

Monty Hoffman, Founder and CEO of PN Hoffman, a leader of real estate development in the D.C. metro area and visionary for the revitalization of the Wharf, will serve as Honorary Chairman for the Awards. Honorary Artist Supporter Chair, The Share Fund, will host the Nominee and Patron Celebration immediately preceding the Awards ceremony. Host Committee members presently are Scott Ableman, Andrew Ammerman, Michael Burke and Carl Smith, Joan Danziger, Edgar Dobie, Myrna Fawcett, William Hopkins, Thomas Mansbach, Craig Pascal & Victor Shargai, Michael Singer, Bonnie Nelson Schwartz & Arlie Schardt, Mary Tucker, Bill Tompkins, Gerry Widdicombe, and Margot Zimmerman.

The 2018 Helen Hayes Awards are also sponsored by TodayTix, continuing theatreWashington and the DC theatre community's longstanding partnership with the international, mobile-first ticketing platform.

A selected group of D.C.-area artists and theater administrators will present awards in 47 categories. Presenters include Victoria Murray Baatin, Weldon Brown, Tom Howley, Nanna Ingvarsson, Karen Lange, HB MacArthur, Ouida Maedel, Helen Murray, Ines Nasarra, Dat Ngo, Marni Penning, Tuyet Pham, Psalmayene 24, John Stange, Michele Caesar Turner, Matthew Ward, and Jacob Yeh.

theatreWashington President and CEO Amy Austin commented, "This year's Helen Hayes Awards will shine a spotlight on the depth of professional theater in the Washington region. There are thousands of working theater artists and administrators who make up this vibrant community. They are a fiercely creative local industry who produce, market, and create work on stages seven days a week, 365 days a year. This celebration is for them. The spectacular venue at The Anthem will be filled to the rafters with enthusiasm and pride for the collective contribution to the culture of the nation's capital."

The Helen Hayes Tribute will honor a fixture of Washington's stages for over 35 years, actor Nancy Robinette. One of the community's most respected artists, Robinette received her first of 18 Helen Hayes nominations in 1987 for Christmas on Mars at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Since then, she has also graced the stages of Shakespeare Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, Scena Theatre, Round House Theatre, Arena Stage, and others. Robinette made her Broadway debut in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in 2016 and will soon appear in Annie Baker's John at Signature Theatre.

Named for actor Helen Hayes - a Washington native and legendary First Lady of the American Theatre - the Helen Hayes Awards has honored excellence in professional theatre throughout the Washington region for more than three decades. Nominations are grouped in "Helen" or "Hayes" cohorts, depending on the number of Equity members involved in the production. Over the course of 2017, 41 judges evaluated 2,633 individual elements of work, including acting, directing, choreography, and design. Productions considered for the awards in 2017 included 56 musicals, 154 plays, 15 theater for young audiences, including 42 world premieres. The John Aniello Award will be given to an outstanding emerging theatre company. The two theatres eligible for the award in 2018 are Monumental Theatre Company and LiveArt DC. A full list of this year's 258 nominations can be found at: https://theatrewashington.org:8443/content/nominations-2018-helen-hayes-awards

About theatreWashington
The administration and celebration of the Helen Hayes Awards is just one element of theatreWashington's mission, which is to strengthen, represent, and support all segments of Washington's professional theatre community, including theatre companies, artists, staff, and diverse audiences of all ages. Over more than three decades of support and advocacy, theatreWashington has played a vital role in the transformation of the city's cultural identity, with the resulting revitalization of the whole community.

About The Anthem
Just blocks from the National Mall, The Anthem is the new $60 million music venue at The Wharf on Southwest Washington, D.C.'s waterfront. The Anthem has a flexible capacity of anywhere from 2,500 to a maximum of 6,000-with many seated and general admission configurations. With full arena production and rigging capabilities, internationally touring artists such as Foo Fighters, Bob Dylan, The Killers, and Lorde are making The Anthem their stop while on upcoming arena tours. The Anthem has a few rows in the balconies that are Super Excellent Seats. Each seat is uniquely angled to face the stage at the exact perfect position.

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