Allen Lee Hughes
{{short description|African American lighting designer}}
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| name = Allen Lee Hughes
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| nationality = American
| education = John Gleason{{Cite web|url=https://www.livedesignonline.com/memoriam-john-gleason-0 |title=In Memoriam: John Gleason |website=Live Design |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220195152/https://www.livedesignonline.com/memoriam-john-gleason-0 |archive-date=2020-12-20 |access-date=2020-09-01}}
| alma_mater = Catholic University {{small|(BFA)}}
New York University Tisch School of the Arts {{small|(MFA)}}
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| notable_works = {{unbulleted list
| K2, Original Broadway Production (1983)
| Strange Interlude, Broadway Revival (1985)
| Once on This Island, Original Broadway Production (1991)
| A Soldier's Play, Original Broadway Production (2020)
}}
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| awards = {{unbulleted list
| - Maharam Design Award for Lighting Design,{{efn|name=fn0 |In 1999, the American Theatre Wing renamed the award after Henry Hewes.{{Cite web|url=https://americantheatrewing.org/news-events/2017-hewes-awards/ |title=2017 Hewes Design Awards Honorees Announced |website=American Theatre Wing |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201192910/http://americantheatrewing.org/news-events/2017-hewes-awards/ |archive-date=2018-02-01 |access-date=2020-12-27}}}} 1983
| - NBTF Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Design Award, 2015
| - USITT Distinguished Achievement Award in Lighting Design, 2003
| - The Henry Hewes Design Awards' Ming Cho Lee Lifetime Achievement Award, 2020
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Allen Lee Hughes is an American lighting designer for theater, dance, and opera. He has a long association with Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.,{{efn|name=fn1|Where he has designed at least one show every season since 1979.{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JCcG5tDfXs| people= | date=2011-11-03 | title=I AM THEATRE: Allen Lee Hughes | medium=Online Video Series |access-date=2020-09-01|language=english|series=IAmTheatre | publisher=Theatre Communications Group}}}} where the fellowship and internship program is named in his honor.{{Cite web|url=https://www.arenastage.org/education/fellows-and-interns/|title=Fellows and Interns |website=Arena Stage |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020135718/https://www.arenastage.org/education/fellows-and-interns/ |archive-date=2020-10-20 |access-date=2020-09-01}} Hughes is a four time Tony Award nominee.
Biography
Hughes earned his BA at Catholic University of America and his MFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts Department of Design for Stage and Film, where he later joined the faculty and still teaches.{{Cite web|url=https://tisch.nyu.edu/about/directory/design/92900459|title=Allen Lee Hughes, Associate Arts Professor|website=tisch.nyu.edu|access-date=2020-09-01}}{{cite news |last=Pierce |first=Jerald Raymond |date=2019-11-19 |title=Role Call: People To Know |url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2019/11/19/lighting-designer-allen-lee-hughes/ |work=American Theatre |publisher=Theatre Communications Group |access-date=2020-12-19}}
Beginning in 1983 Hughes has designed 12 shows on Broadway including the original production of Clybourne Park, the 2012 revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and the original production of Once on This Island, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. In her New York Times review, Roberta Smith noted that Hughes's "lighting adds effective suggestions of foliage or architecture, turning the painted blue sky to gold or red, or draining its color entirely"{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Roberta |date=1990-10-10 |title=Behind the Painted World of 'Once On This Island' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/14/theater/theater-behind-the-painted-world-of-once-on-this-island.html |work=New York Times |access-date=2020-09-01}} His most recent Broadway design of A Soldier's Play was also nominated for a Tony Award and shortlisted for Live Design's 2020 Design Achievement Awards.{{cite news |last=Perkins |first=Meghan |date=2020-12-24 |title=From 1981 to 2020: Allen Lee Hughes' Tony-nominated Lighting for A Soldier's Play |url=https://www.livedesignonline.com/theatre/from-1981-to-2020-allen-lee-hughes-tony-nominated-lighting-for-a-soldier-s-play |work=LiveDesign |access-date=2020-12-19}} He also has done numerous designs Off-Broadway, at Regional theaters, and with numerous dance companies, including American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and National Ballet of Canada.
In 1990 the founding director of Arena Stage, Zelda Fichandler, created the Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship and Internship program to promote diversity with the theater industry. Since its founding, more than 700 people have been mentored, including Obie Award winning director Lileana Blain-Cruz.
Hughes has designed multiple lighting gobos for Rosco.{{Cite web|url=
https://www.rosco.com/spectrum/index.php/2018/07/the-rosco-gobo-design-contest/|title=Enter The Rosco Gobo Design Contest|website=www.rosco.com|access-date=2020-09-01}}
Hughes has been nominated for four Tony Awards (K2, Strange Interlude, Once on This Island, A Soldier's Play){{Cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/allen-lee-hughes-25707| title=Allen Lee Hughes |website=Internet Broadway Database |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220195830/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/allen-lee-hughes-25707 |archive-date=2020-12-20 |access-date=2020-12-20}} and ten Helen Hayes Awards, winning twice. For K2, he was also nominated for the Drama Desk Award and won the Outer Critics Circle{{Cite web|url=
https://outercritics.org/awards/1982-1983/|title=1982-1983 Awards|website=outercritics.org|access-date=2020-09-01}}{{efn|name=fn2|Joint winner with Ming Cho Lee as Best Set and Lighting Design.}} and Maharam Design Awards.{{Cite web|url=https://americantheatrewing.org/recipients/allen-lee-hughes/|title=Recipient: Allen Lee Hughes|website=americantheatrewing.org|access-date=2020-09-01}}{{efn|name=fn0}} Other wins include the 2015 National Black Theatre Festival's Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Design Award, 2003 USITT Distinguished Achievement Award in Lighting Design,{{Cite web|url=https://www.usitt.org/awards-and-grants/distinguished-achievement-awards|title=Distinguished Achievement Awards|website=www.usitt.org|access-date=2020-09-01}} and the 1997 Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration.{{Cite web|url=http://merrittawards.com/prizes/previous-recipients/ |title=Previous Recipients|website=merrittawards.com|access-date=2020-09-01}} On October 14, 2020, the American Theatre Wing's Henry Hewes Design Awards honored Hughes with the Ming Cho Lee Lifetime Achievement Award. The chair of awards committee, Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, remarked, "It is especially gratifying to honor Allen Lee Hughes, whose nearly five decades of work in lighting design demonstrates the power of light and shadow to strengthen the dramaturgical core of every production on which he works."{{cite news |last=Meyer |first=Dan |date=2020-09-14 |title=Allen Lee Hughes Receives Henry Hewes Design Awards' 2020 Ming Cho Lee Lifetime Achievement Honor |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/allen-lee-hughes-receives-henry-hewes-design-awards-2020-ming-cho-lee-lifetime-achievement-honor |work=Playbill |access-date=2020-12-19}} He is the third recipient of the award, following Ming Cho Lee and Jane Greenwood.{{Cite web|url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2020/09/21/allen-lee-hughes-to-receive-ming-cho-lee-award/ |title=Allen Lee Hughes to Receive Ming Cho Lee Award |website=American Theatre |publisher=Theatre Communications Group |date=2020-09-21 |access-date=2020-12-20}}
Notes
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References
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External links
- {{IBDB name|25707}}
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Category:American lighting designers
Category:African-American designers
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Tisch School of the Arts alumni