A Helen Hayes Award is a theater award named for the famed actress Helen Hayes to recognize excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are presented by theatreWashington formerly known as the Helen Hayes Awards organization, which is the unified voice of Washington theatre since the 1980s. The organization – led by Linda Levy Grossman – works full-time to promote, represent and support all segments of Washington’s professional theatre community as well as strengthen Washington theatre’s powerful economic engine and world class brand .
Famous quotes containing the words helen hayes, hayes and/or award:
“The old-fashioned idea that the simple piling up of experiences, one on top of another, can make you an artist, is, of course, so much rubbish. If acting were just a matter of experience, then any busy harlot could make Garbo’s Camille pale.”
—Helen Hayes (1900–1993)
“The flattering, if arbitrary, label, First Lady of the Theatre, takes its toll. The demands are great, not only in energy but eventually in dramatic focus. It is difficult, if not impossible, for a star to occupy an inch of space without bursting seams, cramping everyone else’s style and unbalancing a play. No matter how self-effacing a famous player may be, he makes an entrance as a casual neighbor and the audience interest shifts to the house next door.”
—Helen Hayes (1900–1993)
“The award of a pure gold medal for poetry would flatter the recipient unduly: no poem ever attains such carat purity.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)