New York City
Theater Alliance’s ”Word Becomes Flesh” led the night with five awards.
Washington, D.C., celebrated its past season of theater last night at the 2017 Helen Hayes Awards ceremony, held at the Lincoln Theatre. Nominations are the result of a yearlong process in which carefully vetted judges attended 200 eligible productions, including 41 world premieres.
The winners included several Broadway and off-Broadway favorites, including Ford's Theatre's pre-Broadway run of Come from Away, which is now running at the Schoenfeld Theatre and is nominated for seven Tony awards, and Folger Theatre's production of Bedlam's recent hit Sense & Sensibility, which played at The Gym at Judson. Theater Alliance's Word Becomes Flesh led the night with five awards. The John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company was presented to Mosaic Theater Company of D.C.
Awards for Come From Away include Outstanding Musical Production. In addition, the company was honored with the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Musical and 2017 Tony Award nominees Christopher Ashley and Jenn Colella both won a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Director in a Musical and Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, respectively.
Recognizing work produced in the 2016 calendar year, nominations are made in "Helen" or "Hayes" cohorts, depending on the number of Equity members involved in a production.