Allen Lee Hughes facts for kids

Allen Lee Hughes is an American lighting designer. He creates the lighting for plays, dance shows, and operas. He has worked a lot with Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. They even named a special program there after him! Allen Lee Hughes has been nominated for the famous Tony Award four times.

Who is Allen Lee Hughes?

Early Life and Education

Allen Lee Hughes earned his first degree, a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), from Catholic University of America. After that, he went to New York University Tisch School of the Arts. There, he earned his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in design for stage and film. Later, he joined the teaching staff at NYU and still teaches there today.

Designing for the Stage

Hughes started designing shows on Broadway in 1983. He has worked on 12 Broadway productions. These include the original show Clybourne Park and the 2012 revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He also designed the lighting for the original Once on This Island. For this show, he was nominated for a Tony Award.

A reviewer from The New York Times once said that Hughes's lighting can make the stage look like different places. It can turn a painted blue sky into gold or red. His most recent Broadway design was for A Soldier's Play. This show also earned him a Tony Award nomination. It was also recognized by Live Design for its excellent design.

Beyond Broadway, Hughes has designed many shows Off-Broadway. He has also worked at many regional theaters across the U.S. His lighting designs have also been seen in dance performances. He has worked with famous groups like American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet. He also worked with the National Ballet of Canada.

Helping New Designers

In 1990, the founder of Arena Stage, Zelda Fichandler, started a special program. It's called the Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship and Internship program. This program helps bring more different kinds of people into the theater world. Since it began, over 700 people have learned from this program. One famous person who was mentored there is Obie Award-winning director Lileana Blain-Cruz.

Hughes has also designed special lighting patterns called gobos for a company named Rosco. These gobos help create unique light shapes on stage.

Awards and Recognition

Allen Lee Hughes has been nominated for four Tony Awards. These nominations were for his work on K2, Strange Interlude, Once on This Island, and A Soldier's Play. He has also been nominated for ten Helen Hayes Awards, winning two of them.

For his work on K2, he also won the Outer Critics Circle Award and the Maharam Design Award. Other awards include the 2015 National Black Theatre Festival's Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Design Award. He also received the 2003 USITT Distinguished Achievement Award in Lighting Design. In 1997, he won the Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration.

On October 14, 2020, the American Theatre Wing's Henry Hewes Design Awards gave Hughes a very special honor. He received the Ming Cho Lee Lifetime Achievement Award. This award celebrates his amazing career. The head of the awards committee, Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, said that Hughes's work shows how light and shadow can make a story stronger. Hughes is only the third person to receive this important award. The previous winners were Ming Cho Lee and Jane Greenwood.