Theatre Development Fund Announced Sharaff Awardees

Legendary designers Santo Loquasto and Bob Mackie are among the recipients of this year's TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards. For his achievements as both a costume and set designer, 14-time Tony Award nominee and 3-time Tony winner Santo Loquasto will receive the TDF/Irene Sharaff Award's special Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatrical Design.

Acclaimed costume designer Bob Mackie will receive the 2007 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony on Friday, March 23, at the Hudson Theatre in New York City.

In addition to Mr. Loqauasto's Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Lifetime Achievement and Mr. Mackie's TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award, costume designer MURELL HORTON will receive the TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award; famed theatre craftsman/designer KERMIT LOVE will receive the TDF/Irene Sharaff Artisan Award; and ROUBEN TER-ARUTUNIAN, the famed designer and director, will be named the winner of the TDF/Irene Sharaff Posthumous Award.

Throughout her long and distinguished career, elegance and an attention to detail were the trademarks of costume designer IRENE SHARAFF. Miss Sharaff was revered as a designer of enormous depth and intelligence, equally secure with both contemporary and period costumes. Her work exemplified the best of costume design. Such excellence is demonstrated by the winners of the 2007 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards, who were selected by the TDF Costume Collection's Advisory Committee. The TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards are presented through Theatre Development Fund's Costume Collection.

SANTO LOQUASTO (Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Lifetime Achievement) has designed the sets and/or costumes for 58 Broadway productions. A 14-time Tony Award nominee, he has won the coveted award three times: The Cherry Orchard (1977 - costumes), Café Crown (1989 - scenic design) and Grand Hotel (1990 - costume design). Some of his more recent Broadway productions have been: Movin' Out (scenic design), A Touch of the Poet (costumes and scenic design), Three Days of Rain (costumes and scenic design), Shining City (scenic design) and The Times They Are A-Changin' (scenic and set design). On film, he has collaborated with Woody Allen on 24 films. His costume designs for Zelig (1983) and production designs for Radio Days (1987) and Bullets Over Broadway (1994) received Academy Award nominations. In the world of dance, he has designed works for Twyla Tharp, Jerome Robbins, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Agnes DeMille, James Kudelka, Mark Morris, Helgi Tomasson and David Parsons. One of the most prolific artists working in the theatre, Mr. Loquasto is represented on Broadway this spring with Prelude to a Kiss (scenic design); Inherit the Wind (costumes and scenic design) and 110 in the Shade (costumes and scenic design). He was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2004.

BOB MACKIE (TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award) Costume and fashion designer Bob Mackie is a nine-time Emmy Award winner. His name is synonymous with television design, but his contributions to theatre and film are considerable. His theatrical credits include: Moon over Buffalo and Putting It Together, both starring Carol Burnett; Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public; Minnelli on Minnelli; Lorelei with Carol Channing; and the revival of On the Town with Bernadette Peters and Phyllis Newman. Bob also designed Pennies from Heaven, Lady Sings the Blues and Funny Lady, all of which earned him Oscar nominations. Additionally, he designed the costumes for Broadway shows on television, including Once upon a Mattress starring Carol Burnett, Gypsy starring Bette Midler; Carousel; Brigadoon; Of Thee I Sing; and Kismet. His inventive and memorable designs have helped raise entertainers like Diana Ross, Elton John, Ann-Margret, Carol Channing, Bernadette Peters, Carol Burnett, Bette Midler and Cher to iconic status both onscreen and off.

MURELL HORTON (TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award) works in theatre, opera, dance and fashion, but is generally most known for his design work at Washington, DC's Shakespeare Theatre. -- www.tdf.org