Costume designer Jane Greenwood and set and costume designer Santo Loquasto are the recipients of this year’s Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration. In addition, the Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award will be given to Chicago-based lighting and scenic designer Michelle M. Habeck. The designers will be honored in a ceremony to be held Monday, May 6 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.
Greenwood, the veteran costumer who’s worked both on Broadway and for regional theatres and dance companies, is a faculty member of the Yale School of Drama. Her work can currently be seen on Broadway in Fortune’s Fool, off-Broadway in House and Garden at the Manhattan Theatre Club, and regionally in The Moliere Plays at the Mark Taper Forum. Loquasto, a regular collaborator with Woody Allen, has won numerous Tony Awards over the years; his most recent project is the sets for the Goodman production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Habeck has worked extensively in the Chicago area at such venues as the Goodman, Steppenwolf, Rivendell, Lookingglass, and Victory Gardens.
The Michael Merritt Endowment Fund was established in 1993 in memory of the designer and teacher who died in 1992. In addition to sponsoring professional design awards, the fund provides annual scholarship awards to theatrical design students. This year’s recipients are Zane Pihlstrom, DePaul University, and Michelle Tessdall, Northwestern University. The Endowment Fund’s John Murbach Scholarship for Collaborative Design this year goes to Columbia College student Wendy Hansen.
The awards ceremony begins at 5:30 pm at the Goodman, 170 N. Dearborn, with a cocktail reception, followed by a Dialogue with the Designers, the awards presentation, and a closing reception. Tickets, priced at $25, $5 for students, may be purchased by calling 312-663-1124, ext. 2.