Prolific Broadway set designer John Lee Beatty will be honored with this year's Ming Cho Lee Award for Lifetime Achievement in Design at the Henry Hewes Design Awards. Beatty, plus the previously announced 2025 honorees, will be celebrated at the 61st annual ceremony October 20 in New York.

Beatty's almost five decades–long Broadway career began with Knock Knock in 1976, and has gone on to include the scenic design to Ain't Misbehavin', Is There Life After High School?, Baby, Chicago, Once Upon a Mattress, Footloose, Proof, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Doubt, The Color Purple, Other Desert Cities, Venus in Fur, After Midnight, Sweat, Plaza Suite, and Cult of Love, among many others. His two Tony Awards are for 1980's Talley's Folley and 2013's The Nance.

“John Lee Beatty is truly one of the legends in theatre design,” says HHDA committee chairman Jeffrey Eric Jenkins in a statement. “It is with great appreciation for his work and leadership that the Henry Hewes Design Awards committee honors him with the Ming Cho Lee Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Previously announced honorees include scenic designer Jason Sherwood (Bad Kreyòl, Signature Theatre Company), costume designer Qween Jean (Cats: “The Jellicle Ball,” PAC NYC), lighting designer Adam Honoré (Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”), sound designer Rena Anakwe (The Swamp Dwellers, Theatre for a New Audience), media designer Finn Ross (BOOP! The Musical), and puppetry designer Greg Corbino (Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!, Soho Rep).

Additionally, the Committee voted to give two special citations. The Broadway design team of Maybe Happy Ending (Dane Laffrey, Clint Ramos, Ben Stanton, Peter Hylenski, George Reeve, Craig Franklin Miller, and Suki Tsujimoto) will receive citations for Excellence in Design. Designer Nikiya Mathis will be honored with a special citation for Individual Achievement in Design for her "extraordinary contributions to hair and wig design in Cats: 'The Jellicle Ball,' Liberation, and Wine in the Wilderness."

Twelve of the 14 2025 honorees are receiving their first award from the Hewes committee. For the 2025 honors, 107 theatre artists were nominated for outstanding artistry in 54 productions presented during the 2024-25 New York theatre season on, Off-, and Off-Off Broadway. The Hewes Awards Committee annually considers approximately 200 productions when making its nominations. A complete list of nominees can be found here.

This year's Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee included theatre critics Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, David Barbour, David Cote, Naveen Kumar, Brittani Samuel, Helen Shaw, and Martha Wade Steketee.