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New York, NY – February 20, 2025 – TDF, the not-for-profit organization dedicated to sharing the power of the performing arts with everyone, will celebrate 50 years of its exceptional Costume Collection with a glamorous party, Costumes & Cocktails, on Monday, April 7 at Tao Downtown (92 Ninth Avenue). The evening will also include the presentation of the 2025 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards, celebrating the accomplishments of the theatrical design community.

Three-time Tony^® Award-winning costume designer Gregg Barnes will be honored with the TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design; costumes and textile designer Wilberth Gonzalez will receive the TDF/Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award; milliner and artisan Arnold S. Levine, Inc. will receive the TDF/Irene Sharaff Artisan Award; and legendary scenic designer Robert Israel will be honored with the Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design. The awards presenters will be announced at a later date.

Barnes, this year’s recipient of the TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design, was the first designer to be honored with the TDF/Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award (formerly the TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award) in 1994.

Costumes & Cocktails will begin with a festive cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by the awards presentation, dinner, and dancing compliments of a live DJ. Guests will be treated to special pop-up performances, displays of the honorees’ celebrated work, an exhibit of some of the most prized and historic pieces from the TDF Costume Collection, and more. To salute the founding decade of the collection, the 1970’s, the evening’s theme is Disco Era.

For ticket information, visit tdf.org/cocktails.

Stephen Cabral, Director of the TDF Costume Collection, said, "For 50 years, the TDF Costume Collection has been providing rentals to groups all over the country. From a community theatre in South Carolina to a high school in Pennsylvania, from an Equity theatre in Seattle to “Saturday Night Live” at 30 Rock, we are always here to help you dress your vision. As a proud member of the Collection staff for over 30 years, it is such a profound pleasure to honor this year’s extraordinary group of theatre artists with our annual tradition of the Irene Sharaff Awards, while also celebrating the history of the TDF Costume Collection and its enduring mission."

“We couldn’t be more excited to celebrate the iconic work of this year’s Irene Sharaff awardees AND 50 incredible years of our signature Costume Collection in a way that only TDF could—with a costume party!” said Deeksha Gaur, TDF's Executive Director. “The artistry of our awardees and the history of making costumes accessible to not-for-profit theatres, high schools, and other venues across the country reflect the power of the visual aspects of theatre to excite and inspire, bringing us together. We’re thrilled to salute our honorees and the Collection in support of our ongoing mission to make the magic of theatre accessible for all.”

TDF/IRENE SHARAFF AWARDS VOTING COMMITTEE:

The awardees were selected by the TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards Voting Committee, which consists of leading members of the theatrical costume design community: Stephen Cabral (Chair), Dede Ayite, Gregg Barnes, Linda Cho, Traci DiGesu, Lana Fritz, Jess Goldstein, Rodney Gordon, Brian Hemesath, Allen Lee Hughes, Holly Hynes, Dan Lawson, Anna Louizos, Katherine Marshall, Mimi Maxmen, David Murin, Sally Ann Parsons, Scott Pask, Robert Perdziola, Alejo Vietti, Court Watson, and David Zinn.

Throughout her long and distinguished career, costume designer Irene Sharaff was known for her elegance and attention to detail. Ms. 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 honorees of this year's TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards.

ABOUT THE AWARDS:

The TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design (formerly the Lifetime Achievement Award in Costume Design) was first presented to the legendary Ms. Sharaff in 1993. It is bestowed annually to a costume designer who has achieved great distinction. The award is presented to a designer whose work embodies the qualities of excellence represented in Ms. Sharaff's lifework: a keen sense of color, a feeling for material and texture, an eye for shape and form, and a sure command of the craft. The awardee's achievement may stem from work for the theatre, opera, dance, film, or—as was true of Ms. Sharaff—from all of them together.

Previous winners of the TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design are Desmond Heeley (1994), Miles White (1996), Alvin Colt (1996), Patricia Zipprodt (1997), Jane Greenwood (1998), Willa Kim (1999), Ann Roth (2000), Freddy Wittop (2001), Theoni V. Aldredge (2002), Jose Varona (2003), Anthony Powell (2004), Florence Klotz (2005), Lester Polakov (2006), Bob Mackie (2007), Robert Fletcher (2008), William Ivey Long (2009), Albert Wolsky (2010), Lewis Brown (2011), Carrie Robbins (2012), David Toser (2013), Deborah M. Dryden (2014), Jess Goldstein (2015), Susan Tsu (2016), Catherine Zuber (2017), Holly Hynes (2018), Susan Hilferty (2019), Fred Voelpel (2022), and Ann Hould-Ward (2024).

The Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design (formerly the Lifetime Achievement Award in Theatrical Design) honors its namesake and symbolizes Tobin's passion, respect, and esteem for the art of theatrical design. Recipients have achieved distinction in theatrical design and their work serves as an example of the beauty, feeling, and empathy that's created through true mastery of this art.

The Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design was first presented in 2004 to acclaimed set and costume designer Tony Walton. The award has since been presented to Robert O'Hearn (2005), Franco Zeffirelli (2006), Santo Loquasto (2007), John Conklin (2008), Bob Crowley (2009), Ming Cho Lee (2010), Robin Wagner (2011), Lloyd Burlingame (2012), Desmond Heeley (2013), Marjorie Bradley Kellogg (2014), Douglas W. Schmidt (2015), Michael Yeargan (2016), Tony Straiges (2017), Zack Brown (2018), John Lee Beatty (2019), Eugene Lee (2022), and Richard Hudson (2024).

The TDF/Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award (formerly the TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award) was named in honor of the late designer and previous Sharaff Awards Voting Committee Chair Kitty Leech. This award is presented to a designer whose promising work has come to fruition. With this honor, we recognize Kitty Leech's and Irene Sharaff’s wish to see designers encouraged as they achieve success and excellence in the field.

The TDF/Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award was previously bestowed upon Gregg Barnes (1994), Toni-Leslie James (1996), Paul Tazewell (1997), Martin Pakledinaz (1998), Suzy Benzinger (1999), Robert Perdziola (2000), Constance Hoffman (2001), Jonathan Bixby & Gregory Gale (2002), Anita Yavich (2003), Mirena Rada (2004), David Zinn (2005), Emilio Sosa (2006), Murell Horton (2007), Fabio Toblini (2008), Clint Ramos (2009), Alejo Vietti (2010), Olivera Gajic (2011), Mathew LeFebvre (2012), Daniel Lawson (2013), Linda Cho (2014), Brian Hemesath (2015), Suttirat Anne Larlarb (2016), Paloma Young (2017), Travis Halsey(2018), Miodrag Guberinic (2019), Dede Ayite (2022), and Machine Dazzle (2024).

The TDF/Irene Sharaff Artisan Award recognizes an individual or company that has made an outstanding supportive contribution in the field of costume technology. Honorees include assistant and associate costume designers, costume shops that transform sketches into glorious and breathtaking realities, teachers who dedicate their lives to turning raw talent into professional accomplished designers, and authors who create essential texts and trade publications without which designers could not function.

The TDF/Irene Sharaff Artisan Award was previously given to Ray Diffen (1999), Woody Shelp (2000), Barbara Matera (2001), Paul Huntley (2002), Maria Brizzi/Grace Costumes, Inc. (2003), Nino Novellino (2004), Vincent Zullo (2005), Martin Izquierdo (2006), Kermit Love (2007), Bessie Nelson (2008), Sally Ann Parsons (2009), John David Ridge (2010), Michael-Jon Costumes (2011), Lynn Pecktal (2012), Lawrence Vrba (2013), Marianne Krostyne (2014) Gino Bifulco – T.O. Dey Shoes (2015), Liz Covey & Rosemary Ingham(2016), Ernest Smith (2017), Fritz Masten (2018), Rodney Gordon (2019), Michael Curry (2022), and Tricorne, Inc. (2024).

ABOUT THE AWARDEES:

GREGG BARNES (TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design)
Born in 1956, Gregg Barnes is a three-time winner of the Tony Award for Best Costume Design in a Musical for his work on the Broadway productions of The Drowsy Chaperone (2006), Follies (2011), and Some Like It Hot (2022). Additional Broadway design credits: Side Show (1997), Flower Drum Song (2002), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005), Legally Blonde (2007), To Be or Not to Be (2008), Bye Bye Birdie (2009), Elf the Musical (2010), Kinky Boots (2013), Aladdin (2014), Something Rotten! (2015), Tuck Everlasting (2016), Mean Girls (2017), Pretty Woman: The Musical (2018). Other recent credits include the London production of The Devil Wears Prada (2024), BOOP! The Musical opening on Broadway this spring; and Disney’s Hercules which had its international premiere in 2024 at Neue Flora in Germany and is scheduled to open this summer at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. His other awards and nominations include Drama Desk Award wins for The Drowsy Chaperone (2006), Follies (2011), and Some Like It Hot (2022), with a nomination for Mean Girls (2017). His Outer Critics Circle Award win was for The Drowsy Chaperone (2006), and his nominations were for Follies (2011), Kinky Boots (2013), and Aladdin (2014). He has been nominated twice for Olivier Awards: The Drowsy Chaperone (2008) and Pageant (2001). Gregg served as the resident costume designer for Paper Mill Playhouse (Millburn, NJ) for nine years and taught at the NYU graduate school for 20 years. He has an MFA in Design from New York University and an undergraduate degree from San Diego University.

WILBERTH GONZALEZ (TDF/Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award)
Wilberth Gonzalez is a Mexican-American costume designer based in New York City. With a background in painting, his work focuses on crafting designs that blend striking color, intricate texture, and a signature balance of camp and glamour. His credits include serving as costume designer for The Tempest at The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park, opera design at New World Symphony, and reimagined productions of The Little Mermaid and The Jungle Book in Sweden. His costume work has also been featured on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Wilberth received an Emmy nomination for his Assistant Costume Design work on Marvel’s “Moon Knight.” He has also designed specialty costume pieces for Kiss of the Spider Woman (2025), Smile 2, Madonna’s Celebration Tour, Dicks: The Musical, Shotgun Wedding, Hustlers, HBO’s Watchmen, and Ocean’s 8. His upcoming projects include costume design for Aladdin: The Pop Musical in Sweden and co-costume designing Real Women Have Curves on Broadway.

ARNOLD S. LEVINE, INC. (TDF/Irene Sharaff Artisan Award)
Arnold S. Levine, Inc., Theatrical Millinery and Crafts, builds for all areas of the entertainment industry. Their work has been seen in numerous Broadway shows and tours, and international tours over the years. Recent Broadway credits include Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Disney’s Frozen, War Paint, Anastasia, Matilda, Here Lies Love, The Little Foxes, Peter Pan Live, Annie, Cyrano, Scandalous, Shucked, Motown, King Kong, Dr. Zhivago, Fiddler on the Roof, On the Town, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Hadestown. Their work may also be seen in countless shows, parades, and productions for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Disney Cruise Lines, Viking, Virgin Cruise Lines, Radio City Music Hall (The Rockettes’ soldier hats), the Frozen stage show at Disneyland, and Walt Disney World in Florida.

ROBERT ISRAEL (Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design)
Robert Israel's career in set and costume design for opera and theatre spans six decades and includes over 70 productions worldwide. He has designed for all of the major opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera House (which recently featured a revival of his 2000 design for Fidelio), Paris Opera Bastille, Santa Fe Opera, English National Opera, La Scala, Vienna State Opera, and the Washington National Opera. He has collaborated with Philip Glass, designing sets and costumes for the world premieres of The Voyage, Orphée, and Satyagraha, and the American premiere of Akhnaten; and with director Martha Clarke on many of her celebrated theatre pieces. He received an Obie Award for costume and sets for Clarke's production of The Hunger Artist in 1987, and in 1985 a collective Obie Award for Best Play for Clarke's Vienna Lusthaus, as well two Hewes Design awards, one for sets and the other for costumes. In addition to his set and costume design for theatre and opera, Israel has created sculptures and architectural designs, including the rooftop sculptures "Everyday Shapes Everything" at NYU Langone Children's Hospital in New York City and a collection of 11 monumental “Animal Sculptures” at The Johns Hopkins Hospital's Bloomberg Children’s Center in Baltimore. His work has been exhibited at numerous museums and galleries, including the Walker Art Center, the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Milwaukee Art Center, the Guggenheim Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul de Vence, France.

TDF wishes to thank its charitable sponsors, who play an essential role in making this event possible. Costumes & Cocktails is generously supported by the Tobin Theatre Arts Fund, which has been a stark supporter of the TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards for over 15 years. The after party will be sponsored by Southwest Airlines, a longtime partner of TDF’s theatregoing initiatives.

THE TDF COSTUME COLLECTION consists of the TDF Costume Collection Rental Program and the TDF Costume Collection Research Program. The Rental Program maintains an extensive inventory of more than 100,000 costumes and accessories for rent at discount prices by any not-for-profit theatre company, opera company, university, high school, religious group, etc. The Collection also provides costumes to commercial projects, like film, television, and photo shoots. The Collection resides in a 16,000-square-foot home at Kaufman Astoria Studios. It stocks all periods and accepts donations from productions, institutions, and individuals. These donations are tax deductible to the degree allowed by law. The Research Program provides resources for those looking to study the art of theatrical costume design.

ABOUT TDF: Founded in 1968, TDF (formerly known as Theatre Development Fund) is a not-for-profit service organization dedicated to sharing the power of the performing arts with everyone. TDF’s mission is to engage a broad and diverse audience by removing the financial, physical, and invisible barriers to participation in the performing arts. TDF’s initiatives include the TKTS by TDF Discount Booths; TDF Memberships; the TDF Costume Collection; and TDF Accessibility, Education, and Public Engagement Programs. Those Programs include open captioned, audio described, and ASL-interpreted performances; Autism Friendly Performances; the Veterans Theatregoing Program; school programs serving more than 11,000 NYC public school students annually; and partnerships with over 150 NYC community organizations serving 18,000 people in the tristate area. TDF envisions a world where the transformative experience of attending live theatre and dance is essential, relevant, accessible, and inspirational.

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