TDF has announced the recipients of its annual Irene Sharaff Awards, which honor excellence in theatrical costume design. The recipients will be feted at the nonprofit’s “Costumes and Cocktails” gala, which will be held on April 7 at Tao Downtown in Manhattan. The event will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of TDF’s Costume Collection.
Three-time Tony Award winner Gregg Barnes will be honored with the award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design. In a near-30-year career designing on the Main Stem, Barnes has received nine Tony nominations, taking home the trophy for 2006’s “Drowsy Chaperone,” 2011’s “Follies” and 2022’s “Some Like It Hot.”
The Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award, presented to a designer whose promising work has come to fruition, will go to Wilberth Gonzalez, who has served as associate or assistant designer on seven Main Stem productions including “The King and I” and “Moulin Rouge!” Gonzalez will make his debut as the lead costume designer with the upcoming musical “Real Women Have Curves.”
Arnold S. Levine, Inc., Theatrical Millinery and Crafts, will receive the Artisan Award, which recognizes an individual or organization that has proven a significant contribution in the field of costume technology. The organization has created millinery for numerous Broadway productions, including “Moulin Rouge!,” “Frozen,” “War Paint,” “Here Lies Love” and “The Little Foxes.”
Finally, Robert Israel will be presented with the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design. Israel’s six-decade career encompasses scenic and costume designs for the Metropolitan Opera House, Paris Opera Bastille, Santa Fe Opera, English National Opera, La Scala, Vienna State Opera and the Washington National Opera.
The Costume Collection’s Rental Program catalogs over 100,000 costumes and accessories from professional theatrical productions, which are available for rent at discounted prices by nonprofit theater and opera companies, as well as educational institutions (university and high school). The Collection’s Research Program offers resources on the art and history of theatrical costume design.
The event will have a disco-era theme to match the 1970s founding decade of the Collection.
“For 50 years, the TDF Costume Collection has been providing rentals to groups all over the country,” said the Collection’s director Stephen Cabral in a statement. “From a community theater in South Carolina to a high school in Pennsylvania, from an Equity theater in Seattle to ‘Saturday Night Live’ at 30 Rock, we are always here to help you dress your vision. As a proud member of the Collection staff for over 30 years, it is such a profound pleasure to honor this year’s extraordinary group of theater artists with our annual tradition of the Irene Sharaff Awards, while also celebrating the history of the TDF Costume Collection and its enduring mission.”
“We couldn’t be more excited to celebrate the iconic work of this year’s Irene Sharaff awardees and 50 incredible years of our signature Costume Collection in a way that only TDF could—with a costume party!,” added TDF executive director Deeksha Gaur. “The artistry of our awardees and the history of making costumes accessible to nonprofit theaters, high schools and other venues across the country [reflects] the power of the visual aspects of theater to excite and inspire, bringing us together. We’re thrilled to salute our honorees and the Collection in support of our ongoing mission to make the magic of theater accessible for all.”
The awards honor the namesake of the late Irene Sharaff, who won a Tony for designing the costumes for the original Broadway production of “The King and I” in 1951.
