The Stage Managers’ Association (SMA), a national organization that advocates for stage managers and provides professional opportunities, has announced the recipients of its 25th annual Del Hughes Awards. The awards honor excellence and artistic achievement in the art of stage management.
Jill Cordle, Marjorie Horne and Judy Martel were each named recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Lisa Dawn Cave was named recipient of the Founders Award, and the Broadway Advocacy Coalition was announced as the recipient of the Special Recognition Award. The honorees will be celebrated during a ceremony on Oct. 20.
In her decades-long career working on Broadway, Cordle has amassed nearly two dozen credits as a stage manager and production stage manager, including Best Play Tony Award winners “Art,” “God of Carnage,” “The Ferryman” and “The Inheritance.” Cordle served as treasurer of SMA in the 1990s.
The scope of Horne’s work stretches back to 1973, when she began stage managing for Circle Repertory Company, the first of many credits both on and Off-Broadway. Beyond the footlights, Horne began stage managing events in 2002 and subsequently became production supervisor of the Tony Awards in 2006, a title she has held for nearly every ceremony since, including this year’s 78th annual. Horne is a founding member and former chair of SMA.
Martel served as production stage manager at Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Chamber Theatre for 35 seasons. Additional credits include stage managing productions with Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Black Arts MKE, Hangar Theatre Company and Manhattan Punch Line. Martel previously received the SMA’s Lifetime Professional Membership Award in 2020.
Cave began her Broadway career onstage, having performed as a replacement in the original Broadway company of “Cats.” Her subsequent career backstage includes serving as stage manager or production stage manager for shows such “Show Boat,” “Caroline, or Change,” “West Side Story,” “Rocky” and “Shuffle Along, or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed,” and her current post as production supervisor for Disney’s “Frozen” and “The Lion King” worldwide. A 2023 Tony Award honoree for excellence in the theater, Cave is a founding member of Black Theatre United and Broadway and Beyond.
Established in 2016, Broadway Advocacy Coalition (BAC) is a nonprofit dedicated to using “arts and storytelling to build a more equitable society.” BAC has a focus on addressing systemic racism within the arts and the criminal legal system in New York City and state. BAC was honored with a special 2020 Tony Award.
SMA’s annual awards are named for Del Hughes, who served as a stage manager both on Broadway and in television from the 1930s through the 1970s. Hughes’ credits include the original Broadway productions of “Tobacco Road,” “The Crucible,” “Death of a Salesman,” “The Children’s Hour,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Next” and “The Price,” among many others.
Industry members submit nominations from which winners are selected by the awards recognition committee, which consists of stage managers from across the country. This year’s committee included Patreshettarlini Adams, Robert Bennett, Katrina Herrmann, Claudia Lynch, Melissa A. Nathan, Robin Rumpf, Tree O’Halloran, Matthew Stern and Joel Veenstra. Cheryl Mintz is the committee chair.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is the lead sponsor of the awards ceremony.
