Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design

The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design was an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in the theatre across collective Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. The award was first presented in 1975, for work in either a play or musical production. It was briefly retired, when it was replaced in 2009 by separate play and musical categories, but returned as a singular category starting in 2010. It was permanently retired after the 2015 presentation, again replaced by separate play and musical categories.

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design
Awarded for	Outstanding Lighting Design
Location	New York City
Country	United States
Presented by	Drama Desk
First award	1975
Final award	2015
Website	dramadesk.org (defunct)

Winners and nominees

1970s

Year	Designer	Production
1975
	Neil Peter Jampolis	Sherlock Holmes
	Feder	Goodtime Charley
	Roger Morgan	Saturday Sunday Monday
	Julia Trevelyan Oman	Brief Lives
	Andy Phillips	Equus
1976
	Jules Fisher	Chicago
	Ian Calderon	Trelawny of the 'Wells'
	Leon DiLeone	Angel Street
	Robert Ornbo	Travesties
	Thomas R. Skelton	Legend
	James Tilton	A Memory of Two Mondays / 27 Wagons Full of Cotton
		They Knew What They Wanted
1977
	Jennifer Tipton	The Cherry Orchard
		For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
	John Bury	No Man's Land
	Burl Hash	The Crazy Locomotive
	Gilbert V. Hemsley, Jr.	Porgy and Bess
	Ron Wallace	Comedians
1978
	Jules Fisher	Dancin'
	John Arnone and Garland Wright	K
	Gilbert V. Hemsley, Jr.	The Mighty Gents
	Roger Morgan	Dracula
	Ronald Wallace	The Gin Game
	Marc B. Weiss	Deathtrap
1979
	Roger Morgan	The Crucifer of Blood
	Ken Billington	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
	Beverly Emmons	The Elephant Man
	Tharon Musser	Ballroom
		They're Playing Our Song

1980s

Year	Designer	Production
1980
	Dennis Parichy	Talley's Folly
	David Hersey	Evita
	John McLain	Émigrés
	Tharon Musser	Children of a Lesser God
	Richard Nelson	Morning's at Seven
	Duane Schuler	Teibele and Her Demon
1981
	Jules Fisher and Robby Monk	Frankenstein
	John Bury	Amadeus
	Pat Collins	Penguin Touquet
	Dennis Parichy	Fifth of July
	Thomas R. Skelton	Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
	Jennifer Tipton	Lunch Hour
1982
	Marcia Madeira	Nine
	Tharon Musser	Dreamgirls
	Beverly Emmons	The Dresser
	Eugene Lee	The Hothouse
1983
	David Hersey	Cats
	Ken Billington	Foxfire
	Allen Lee Hughes	K2
	Richard Nelson	Death of Von Richthofen Witnessed from Earth
	Mal Sturchio	Johnny Got His Gun
1984
	Richard Nelson	Sunday in the Park with George
	Frances Aronson	Painting Churches
	Jules Fisher	La Cage aux Folles
	John Gisondi	Sound and Beauty
	Tharon Musser	The Real Thing
	Marc B. Weiss	The Rink
1985
	Richard Riddell	Big River
	Ken Billington	Grind
	Kevin Rigdon	Balm in Gilead
	Jennifer Tipton	Whoopi Goldberg
	Ron Wallace	Requiem for a Heavyweight
	Terry Wuthrich	Tracers
1986
	Pat Collins	Execution of Justice
	Paul Gallo	The Mystery of Edwin Drood
	Phil Monat	Goblin Market
	Kevin Rigdon	The Shawl
	Jennifer Tipton	Hamlet
1987
	Chris Parry	Les Liaisons Dangereuses
	Martin Aronstein	Wild Honey
	David Hersey	Les Misérables
	Dennis Parichy	Coastal Disturbances
	Jennifer Tipton	Worstward Ho
1988
	Andrew Bridge	The Phantom of the Opera
	Pat Collins	Woman in Mind
	Paul Gallo	Wenceslas Square
		Anything Goes
	David Hersey	Chess
	Richard Nelson	Into the Woods
1989
	Jennifer Tipton	Waiting for Godot
		Jerome Robbins' Broadway
		Long Day's Journey into Night
	Mary Jo Dondlinger	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
	Paul Gallo	Miracolo D'Amore
		Lend Me a Tenor
	Neil Peter Jampolis and Jane Reisman	Black and Blue
	Kevin Rigdon	Our Town

1990s

Year	Designer	Production
1990
	Jules Fisher	Grand Hotel
	Andrew Bridge	Aspects of Love
	Paul Gallo	City of Angels
	Tharon Musser	Artist Descending a Staircase
	Kevin Rigdon	The Grapes of Wrath
1991
	David Hersey	Miss Saigon
	Jules Fisher	Hamlet
	Donald Holder	Caucasian Chalk Circle
	Tharon Musser	The Secret Garden
	Kenneth Posner	Machinal
1992
	Jules Fisher	Jelly's Last Jam
	Paul Gallo	Guys and Dolls
	Christopher Akerlind	Mad Forest
	Trevor Dawson	Dancing at Lughnasa
	Mimi Jordan Sherin	'Tis Pity She's a Whore
1993
	Chris Parry	The Who's Tommy
	Robert Christen	Wings
	Jules Fisher	Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
	Brian MacDevitt	Three Hotels
	Mimi Jordan Sherin	Woyzeck
1994
	Rick Fisher	An Inspector Calls
	Christopher Akerlind	The Lights
	Beverly Emmons	Passion
	Paul Pyant	Carousel
	Mimi Jordan Sherin	All's Well That Ends Well
1995
	Richard Pilbrow	Show Boat
	Beverly Emmons	The Heiress
	Paul Gallo	Blade to the Heart
	Mark Henderson	Indiscretions
	Brian MacDevitt	Love! Valour! Compassion!
1996
	Peggy Eisenhauer and Jules Fisher	Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk
	Beverly Emmons and Jules Fisher	Chronicle of a Death Foretold
	Nigel Levings	The King and I
	Chris Parry	A Midsummer Night's Dream
1997
	Ken Billington	Chicago
	Kevin Adams	Henry VI
	Donald Holder	Juan Darien
	Jean Kalman	The Waste Land
	Richard Pilbrow	The Life
1998
	Donald Holder	The Lion King
	Paul Anderson	The Chairs
	Mike Baldassari and Peggy Eisenhauer	Cabaret
	Peggy Eisenhauer and Jules Fisher	Ragtime
	Peter Maradudin	Ballad of Yachiyo
	Kenneth Posner	Pride's Crossing
		A View from the Bridge
1999
	Chris Parry	Not About Nightingales
	Howell Binkley	Parade
	Michael Chybowski	Wit
	Paul Gallo	The Civil War
	Natasha Katz	Twelfth Night
	Mimi Jordan Sherin	Bob

2000s

Year	Designer	Production
2000
	Peter Kaczorowski	Contact
	David J. Lander	Dirty Blonde
	Brian MacDevitt	An Experiment with an Air Pump
	Robert Perry	The Water Engine
	Kenneth Posner	The Wild Party
	Scott Zielinski	Space
2001
	Paul Anderson	Mnemonic
	Howell Binkley	The Full Monty
	Peter Kaczorowski	The Producers
	Brian MacDevitt	The Invention of Love
	Kenneth Posner	The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
	Hugh Vanstone	The Unexpected Man
2002
	T.J. Gerckens	Metamorphoses
	Frances Aronson	Psych
	David Hersey	Oklahoma!
	Natasha Katz	Sweet Smell of Success
	Peter Mumford	Private Lives
	Kenneth Posner	Monster
2003
	Nigel Levings	La Bohème
	Kevin Adams	Take Me Out
	Russell H. Champa	Yellowman
	Donald Holder	Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme
		Movin' Out
	Peter Mumford	Vincent in Brixton
2004
	Peggy Eisenhauer and Jules Fisher	Assassins
	T.J. Gerckens	The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci
	Donald Holder	The Violet Hour
	David J. Lander	I Am My Own Wife
	Brian MacDevitt	Henry IV
	Kenneth Posner	Wicked
2005
	Christopher Akerlind	The Light in the Piazza
	Christopher Akerlind	Belle Époque
	Mark Henderson	Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
	Donald Holder	Gem of the Ocean
	R. Lee Kennedy	The Audience
	James Japhy Weideman	Frankenstein
2006
	Richard G. Jones	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
	Christopher Akerlind	Awake and Sing!
	Traci Klainer	The Asphalt Kiss
	Martin Labrecque	Rain
	John McKernon	The Trip to Bountiful
	Robert Wilson	Peer Gynt
2007
	Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner and Natasha Katz	The Coast of Utopia
	Howell Binkley	LoveMusik
	Paul Gallo	Blackbird
	Mark Jonathan	Prometheus Bound
	James Japhy Weideman	Jack Goes Boating
2008
	Kevin Adams	The 39 Steps
	Ken Billington	Sunday in the Park with George
	Maruti Evans	Slaughterhouse-Five
	Donald Holder	South Pacific
	Natasha Katz	The Little Mermaid
	Keith Parham	Adding Machine
2009	—

2010s

Year	Designer	Production
2010
	Neil Austin	Red
	Neil Austin	Hamlet
	Christian DeAngelis	Lizzie Borden
	Maruti Evans	John Ball's In the Heat of the Night
	Natasha Katz	The Addams Family
	Dane Laffery	The Boys in the Band
2011
	David Lander	Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
	Jean Kalman	John Gabriel Borkman
	R. Lee Kennedy	See Rock City & Other Destinations
	Laura Mroczkowksi	Spy Garbo
	Ben Stanton	The Whipping Man
	David Weiner	A Small Fire
2012
	Brian MacDevitt	Death of a Salesman
	Kevin Adams	Carrie
	Neil Austin	Evita
	David Lander	One Arm
	Kenneth Posner	Death Takes a Holiday
	Paul Pyant	Richard III
2013
	Justin Townsend	Here Lies Love
	Daniel Winters	The Man Who Laughs
	Ken Billington	Chaplin: The Musical
	Jane Cox	Passion
	Kenneth Posner	Pippin
	Scott Zielinski	A Civil War Christmas
2014
	Christopher Akerlind	Rocky the Musical
	Jane Cox	Machinal
	David Lander	The Civil War
	Peter Mumford	King Lear
	Brian Tovar	Tamar of the River
	Japhy Weideman	Macbeth
2015
	Paule Constable	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
	Howell Binkley	Hamilton
	Paule Constable and David Plater	Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
	Maruti Evans	Deliverance
	Natasha Katz	The Iceman Cometh
	Ben Stanton	Our Lady of Kibeho

See also

• Laurence Olivier Award for Best Lighting Design
• Tony Award for Best Lighting Design