Nominees Announced for the 42nd Helen Hayes Awards

The Washington, DC theatre community gathered at Studio Theatre on Sunday evening for the unveiling of nominees for the 42nd Annual Helen Hayes Awards. The ceremony honoring the region's best professional theatre will take place on Monday, May 18 at The Anthem.

Reginald L. Douglas, Artistic Director of Mosaic Theater Company and a Theatre Washington board member, emceed the announcement alongside a roster of local performers including Leela Aviles Dawson, Fabiolla Da Silva, Kecia Deroly, Lolita Marie, Michael Russotto, and Justin Schmitz.

A Community at a Crossroads

The evening carried an undercurrent of both celebration and resolve. Theatre Washington President & CEO Amy Austin addressed the challenges facing the local arts landscape head-on, pointing to The Kennedy Center's upcoming two-year closure and recent cuts to arts journalism at The Washington Post. Austin framed this year's awards as a moment for the community to come together and affirm the value of what's happening on DC-area stages.

"Our collective contributions to art, to empathy, to understanding, and to our fellow humans are now more essential than ever," Austin said.

By the Numbers

This year's nominees were drawn from 149 eligible productions across the Washington region during the 2025 calendar year. A panel of 49 judges evaluated nearly 2,000 individual elements — spanning design, direction, choreography, performance, and writing — across 41 award categories. The productions under consideration included 42 musicals, 107 plays, and 33 world premieres, grouped into "Helen" or "Hayes" cohorts based on the number of Equity members involved.

Who's Leading the Race

Signature Theatre dominated the nominations with 28 nods, followed by Round House Theatre with 21 and Arena Stage with 19.
Among individual productions, Round House Theatre's epic staging of The Inheritance: Parts One and Two led all shows with 14 nominations. Arena Stage's Damn Yankees followed closely with 13, while Synetic Theater's The Immigrant earned 10 and Ford's Theatre's The American Five picked up 9.

The Ceremony Takes Shape

The creative team for the May 18 ceremony was also revealed. Ashleigh King and Holly Twyford will co-direct the evening, with music direction by Christopher Wingert, a script by Trey Graham, and production stage management by Julia Singer. Hosting duties will fall to Felicia Curry, Awa Sal Secka, and Derrick Truby.

Adrienne Arsht to Receive Transformative Cultural Impact Award

Philanthropist and business leader Adrienne Arsht will be honored with the Transformative Cultural Impact Award at the ceremony. Arsht has been a major force behind some of the country's most prominent arts institutions, including Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Kennedy Center, where she served on the Board of Trustees. Her landmark 2008 gift to Miami's Performing Arts Center led to its renaming as the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, and she endowed a fully paid internship program there to expand access to careers in arts administration.

In Washington, Arsht founded the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council and created the Center for Resilience, which evolved into the National Security Resilience Initiative. She also launched the Community-Based Resilience Solutions Initiative at the Smithsonian Institution.

Looking Ahead to May 18

Honorary chairs for this year's ceremony are Robert Pullen and Luke Frazier. Lead Host Committee members include Jan Du Plain, Edie Fraser, Catherine Hand, Beth Mendelson, Bonnie Nelson Schwartz (who founded the Helen Hayes Awards), Annie Simonian Totah, and Jose Alberto Ucles and Tom Noll. Sponsors include Destination DC, Events DC, Giant Food, and OTJ Architects.

Named for Washington native Helen Hayes — the legendary First Lady of the American Theatre — the Helen Hayes Awards have celebrated excellence in professional theatre across the DC region for four decades.

The 42nd Helen Hayes Awards will be presented on Monday, May 18, 2026 at The Anthem.