hhhhhelen hhhhhayes.

monday was the 24th annual Helen Hayes Awards. for non-DC folks, you can think of this 2 ways... the DC equivalent of the Tonys. or theatre prom.

it is a little of both.

the highlight of the awards portion of the evening was that Reefer Madness (which i designed last july) was nominated for 6 awards. it won 2 of them! Outstanding Director, Resident Musical and it took the biggie it was nominated for... Outstanding Resident Musical.

the party was loads of fun... as captured in the picture (taken by my gal pal Meghan). yes, i know... shock of all shocks, i wore yellow!

i was going to go with a long black evening gown, but it was pouring rain all day and i was not interested in mopping the streets of downtown DC. dress was a happy accident... as was my 1960s hairstyle.

oh, and ps... i have the most attractive friends ever.

it was all good. i stayed the right amount of time. i had the perfect number of drinks. i saw and hugged at least 80% of the people i wanted to see and hug. my date was awesome. i liked my dress. and i got to sleep in on tuesday! i didn't even have to be at work until 3pm. all of these = great time.

he won!

congratulations go out to thehairyape and all his pals in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. monday night they won the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Ensemble. pictured to the left is thehairyape's "I won!" face. i think i will be seeing a lot of it for a while.

also note, we both clean up awful pretty.

this was a very special and exciting year at the awards because some results were highly unexpected. in past years there has been complaining about the same people always winning for doing the same old thing year after year. Congratulations, we love your mediocrity! Keep it up!

this year a lot of first time nominees who worked their butts off won. there were also a couple of nominees who had been nominated up to 8 times (!?!) and never won--but they finally got their nod this year. in a typical year there are a few underdog nominees, and at the party afterward their friends are slapping them on the back and telling them they have been robbed. this year, i think a few people who were considered a sure thing, got to walk a mile in their shoes.

nice change of pace.

i will say, however, that there were two "i'm honored, as usual, because i win this every year" speeches, and i am thinking daggers at those people. have some class--don't sound as rented as your tuxedo.

here are the photos of monday night. enjoy!

helen hayes awards 2007