Here are the original questions posed to our nominees. In our 2009 Helen Hayes nominee published interviews, some questions were abbreviated for readability.
Outstanding Performance Nominations
1. Briefly describe your character for us.
2. How did you connect to the character?
3. What was the most surprising thing that happened during the run?
4. What was your favorite moment in the play?
5. Other than your own work, what were your favorite performances from the past year?
6. What are you working on now?
Outstanding Direction Nominations
1. What attracted you to this project?
2. What was the most challenging scene to direct and why?
3. Which was your favorite moment in the show?
4. How did the final run of the show compare to what you had in mind at the start of rehearsals?
5. If you could work with anyone in the theatre, living or dead, who would it be and why?
6. What’s next? (Next?)
Outstanding Musical Direction Nominations
1. What attracted you to this project?
2. What was most challenging about working with this score?
3. What was the best thing you did for this production?
4. If you could work with anyone in the theatre, living or dead, who would it be and why?
5. Is there a particular work of art you would like to see turned into a musical and why?
6. What’s next?
Outstanding Choreography
1. What attracted you to this project?
2. What was most challenging about working on this play?
3. Which was your favorite moment in the show?
4. When was the last time you performed as a dancer?
5. If you could choreograph for anyone in the theatre, living or dead, who would it be and why?
6. What would your dream dance assignment look like?
7. What’s next?
Outstanding Lighting, Set, Sound, Costume Designers
1. What was most challenging about designing for this show?
2. What’s the best thing you did for this production?
3. What new technology in the last few years has contributed the most to your art?
4. What would be your dream project?
5. What’s next?
Outstanding Playwrights, Librettists, Composers
1. What inspired you to create this piece?
2. From the time you began the writing, what has been the play’s biggest surprise?
3. When did you finish the play?
4. What has been your biggest challenge?
5. Did you see the DC production?
6. (If yes) which scene or moment did you most especially like?
7. Which other plays of yours will be produced in the coming year?
Outstanding Production
1. What was there about this play that made you choose it?
2. How did you first learn of the play?
3. Of all the elements you juggled while mounting the production, which was most challenging?
4. What about this production makes you most proud?
Outstanding Ensemble
1. When did you first realize there was something special about working with this cast?
2. What moment(s) in the play do you think best exemplify the ensemble’s work?
