Monday night, February 23, at a celebration honoring outstanding theater on stages across the Washington area, theater artists, administrators, patrons, and special guests gathered at Studio Theatre for Theatre Washington’s announcement of nominees for the 42nd Helen Hayes Awards, which will be p resented on Monday, May 18, at an event at The Anthem. The nominations are for productions in the Washington, DC, region in the 2025 calendar year.​ ​Reginald L. Douglas, Artistic Director of Mosaic Theater Company and Board of Directors Member for Theatre Washington, welcomed the audience and Washington, DC-area performers Leela Aviles Dawson, Fabiolla Da Silva, Kecia Deroly, Lolita Marie, Michael Russotto, and Justin Schmitz joined him to announce the nominations. The nomination presenters: Justin Schmitz, Lolita Marie, Fabiolla Da Silva, Michael Russotto, Kecia Deroly, and Leela Aviles Dawson. DCTA photo. Amy Austin, President CEO of Theatre Washington, said, “With the recent announcements of The Kennedy Center’s two-year closure and the massive cuts to arts journalists at The Washington Post, the Washington, DC, area theater industry is at a moment of reflection about our collective future. The Helen Hayes Awards, as they do each year, offer our community a chance to celebrate and demonstrate the big, robust, and truly extraordinary work that’s being produced on our stages. Our collective contributions to art, to empathy, to understanding, and to our fellow humans are now more essential than ever.” Recognizing work from 149 eligible productions, nominations were announced in 41 categories and grouped in “Helen” or “Hayes” cohorts, depending on the number of Equity members involved in the production. Nominations are the result of 49 carefully vetted judges considering 1,997 individual pieces of work, such as design, direction, choreography, performances, writing, and more. Productions under consideration in 2025 included 42 musicals, 107 plays, and 33 world premieres. Signature Theatre saw the most nominations with 28, followed by Round House Theatre with 21 and Arena Stage with 19. The most nominated productions include The Inheritance: Parts One and Two at Round House Theatre (with 14), Damn Yankees at Arena Stage (with 13), The Immigrant at Synetic Theater (with 10), and The American Five at Ford’s Theatre (with 9). View all nominations by category. View all nominations by production.View all nominations by theater. The creative team for the Helen Hayes Awards Ceremony on May 18 was also announced. Ashleigh King and Holly Twyford will co-direct, with music direction by Christopher Wingert, script writing by Trey Graham, and production stage management by Julia Singer. The hosts for the evening will be celebrated performers Felicia Curry, Awa Sal Secka, and Derrick Truby. Adrienne Arsht, philanthropist and business leader, will receive the Transformative Cultural Impact Award at the ceremony in May. Arsht has made transformative contributions to some of the nation’s leading arts institutions, including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where she served on the Board of Trustees. In 2008, she made a landmark gift to Miami’s Performing Arts Center, which became the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, and endowed the Center to establish a fully paid internship program, expanding access to careers in arts administration. In Washington, DC, Arsht founded the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council to focus on the role of Latin America and the Caribbean in the trans-Atlantic community. She also created and funded a Center for Resilience at the Atlantic Council, which evolved into the National Security Resilience Initiative, and launched the Community-Based Resilience Solutions Initiative at the Smithsonian Institution. Helen Hayes Awards Honorary Chairs are Robert Pullen and Luke Frazier, with lead Host Committee members Jan Du Plain, Edie Fraser, Catherine Hand, Beth Mendelson, Bonnie Nelson Schwartz (founder of 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 actor Helen Hayes — a Washington native and legendary First Lady of the American Theatre — the Helen Hayes Awards have honored excellence in professional theater throughout the Washington region for four decades.The full list of nominations — by category, production, and theater — is available at theatrewashington.org. About Theatre WashingtonThrough collaborative partnerships, advocacy and programs, Theatre Washington supports the Washington, DC-area’s professional theatre community to celebrate artistic achievement, strengthen the theatrical workforce, support institutional growth and advancement, and cultivate collective action. Theatre Washington’s core programs include: the Helen Hayes Awards, Theatre Week, Theatre Work, and the Taking Care Fund. SEE ALSO:Recipients of the 2026 Victor Shargai Leadership Award Announced (news story, January 25, 2026) The post Theatre Washington announces nominees for 2026 Helen Hayes Awards appeared first on DC Theater Arts. ...read more read less