2019 Helen Hayes Awards Nominations have been announced. View the full list!

The Helen Hayes Awards, now in its 35th year, recognizes outstanding achievement in more than 90 professional theatres across the Washington metropolitan area. Named for the legendary First Lady of the American Theatre Helen Hayes – a Washington native and legendary First Lady of the American Theatre – the award celebrates the artists and companies whose excellence exemplifies a standard of artistry that has made Washington a thriving, internationally recognized theatre town.

The annual Helen Hayes Awards are celebrated each spring during a festive awards ceremony and after-party. Nominations are the result of a rigorous year-long process in which 40 judges on five panels attended approximately 200 eligible productions, including 40-50 world premieres. Recognizing work produced in the previous calendar year, nominations are made in “Helen” or “Hayes” cohorts, depending on the number of Equity members involved in a production.

The Helen Hayes Awards are sponsored by TodayTix, a ticketing platform on a mission to connect the next generation of culture lovers to theater by making it more accessible, easy, and fun. Operating in the world’s most iconic theater markets, TodayTix's free mobile apps for iOS and Android secure the best discounted and full price tickets available for the hottest shows in the DC Metro Area, New York City, London’s West End, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Connecticut, Philadelphia, and Seattle. Life-long friends and Broadway producers Merritt Baer and Brian Fenty launched TodayTix in New York City in December 2013 and the company now has partnerships with more than 450 theater institutions around the world.

theatreWashington and the Helen Hayes Awards are supported in part by the DC Commission of the Arts and Humanities, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, The Share Fund, Prince Charitable Trust, and Craig Pascal and Victor Shargai.

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