Helen Hayes Awards
| Helen Hayes Award | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Excellence in professional theatre in the Washington, D.C. area |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | theatreWashington |
| First awarded | 1983 |
| Official website | www.theatrewashington.org |
A Helen Hayes Award is a theater award named for the famed actress Helen Hayes to recognize excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are named in tribute to Helen Hayes, known as the "First Lady of American theatre." They are presented by theatreWashington (formerly known as the Helen Hayes Awards organization), which is the unified voice of Washington theatre since the 1980s. The organization – led by Amy Austin – works full-time to promote, represent and support all segments of Washington’s professional theatre community as well as strengthen Washington theatre’s powerful economic engine and world class brand.
In the early 1980s, the Washington Theatre Awards Society was founded to recognize and encourage excellence in professional theatre in the Washington region through the presentation of The Helen Hayes Awards. After the first few Helen Hayes Awards presentations, the region and the country understood the quality of theatrical excellence to be found on Washington area stages. Using this prestigious credential, theatres attracted new audiences and support, they invested in programming and infrastructure, and in response, audiences grew and artists came to Washington to do the work they loved.
The organization launched innovative education and communication programs, but the early success of the Helen Hayes Awards suggested that the organization do business under the name of its most visible program.
By building audiences, by introducing students to theatre, by promoting Washington across the nation as a vibrant cultural capital, and with the national and international significance of The Helen Hayes Awards, the organization has helped drive the continually growth of Washington theatre. Now, at the request of the theatre community and the encouragement of a wide range of stakeholders, a stronger and more robust organization has evolved — and with a new name theatreWashington has become a structure that better reflects the breadth and geographic scope of the organization’s realigned activities.
Due to criticism of the "one size fits all" philosophy of the awards, in September 2013 theatreWashington announced that effective with the 2015 awards the awards would be split into
These awards will be at the production level, not at the company level.
The story begins in 1983 on a flight from Chicago back home to Washington D.C.,when Broadway producer Bonnie Nelson Schwartz pondered the state of theatre in her hometown. Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Awards had just been presented. Impressed with the way the Jefferson Awards had galvanized Chicago theatre, Bonnie wondered what could be done to strengthen and cultivate live theatre in Washington.
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