Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design

The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound 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 1980, for work in either a play or musical production. It was retired after the 2009 ceremony, replaced by separate play and musical categories (Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical and Outstanding Sound Design in a Play).

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design
Awarded for	Outstanding Sound Design
Location	New York City
Country	United States
Presented by	Drama Desk
First award	1980
Final award	2009
Website	dramadesk.org (defunct)

Paul Arditti and Dan Moses Schreier hold the record for most wins in the category before its retirement, with three wins each, followed by Steven Canyon Kennedy with two wins. Mark Bennett leads the nominees with the most nominations, netting eight.

Winners and nominees

Key

  and bold indicates the winner.

1980s

Year	Designer	Production	Ref.
1980
	Norman L. Berman	Strider	[1]
	Richard Peaslee	Teibele and Her Demon
	Stanley Silverman	Bent
1981-1984	—
1985
	John DiFusco	Tracers	[2]
	Nigel Hess	Cyrano de Bergerac
		Much Ado About Nothing
John Malkovich	Balm in Gilead
1986
	Otts Munderloh	The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe	[3]
	Tom Morse	Execution of Justice
	The Red Clay Ramblers	A Lie of the Mind

1990s

Year	Designer	Production	Ref.
1991
	Aural Fixation	Red Scare on Sunset	[4][5]
	Olu Dara	Let Me Live
	John Gromada	Machinal
	Janet Kalas	The Good Times Are Killing Me
1992
	Paul Arditti	Four Baboons Adoring the Sun	[6]
	Mark Bennett and Jim van Bergen	Lypsinka! A Day in the Life
	Stewart Werner	Lips Together, Teeth Apart
1993
	Steve Canyon Kennedy	The Who's Tommy	[7][8]
	Rodrigo Bachler-Klein	Les Atrides
	Dan Moses Schreier	Spic-O-Rama
	Richard Woodbury	Wings
1994
	John A. Leonard	Medea	[9]
	Mark Bennett	The Lights
	T. Richard Fitzgerald	Beauty and the Beast
	John Gromada	Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
1995	—
1996
	Dan Moses Schreier	Floyd Collins	[10][11]
	David Van Tieghem	The Grey Zone
1997
	John Gromada	The Skriker	[12][13] [14]
	Dan Moses Schreier	God's Heart
	Marc Anthony Thompson	A Huey P. Newton Story
1998
	Tony Meola	The Lion King	[15][16]
	Paul Arditti	The Chairs
	Mark Bennett	A View from the Bridge
	Thomas Cabaniss	Mamba's Daughters
	Rinde Eckert and Gina Leishman	Thérèse Raquin
	David Van Tieghem	Scotland Road
1999
	Christopher Shutt	Not About Nightingales	[17][18] [19]
	John Collins and James Johnson	House/Lights
	Jonathan Deans	Parade
	Fergus O'Hare	Electra
	David Van Tieghem	Stop Kiss
	Darron L. West	Bob

2000s

Year	Designer	Production	Ref.
2000
	Jamie Mereness	Charlie Victor Romeo	[20][21]
	Marc Gwinn	Coyote on a Fence
	Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen	Space
	Darron L. West	Chesapeake
		Y2K
2001
	Christopher Shutt	Mnemonic	[22][23]
	Mark Bennett and Michael Creason	Dogeaters
	Bruce Ellman	Comic Potential
	Gregory Kostroff	Lypsinka the Boxed Set
	Mic Pool and David Bullard	The Unexpected Man
	Jerry Vager	Up Against the Wind
2002
	Dan Moses Schreier	Into the Woods	[24][25]
	John Collins, Geoff Abbas and Jim Dawson	To You, the Birdie!
	Mark Huang	Cressida Among the Greeks
	Scott Lehrer	Franny's Way
	Matthew Spiro	36 Views
	David Van Tieghem	The Glory of Living
2003
	Acme Sound Partners	La Bohème	[26][27] [28]
	Mark Bennett	Julius Caesar
		Golda's Balcony
	Francois Bergeron	Cirque du Soleil: Varekai
	Janet Kalas	Take Me Out
	Mel Mercier and David Meschter	Medea
2004
	Dan Moses Schreier	Assassins	[29][30] [31]
	Mark Bennett	Henry IV
	Scott Jennings	Ramayana 2K3
	Brian Ronan	Bug
	David Van Tieghem	The Stendhal Syndrome
2005
	Paul Arditti	The Pillowman	[32][33]
	Acme Sound Partners	The Light in the Piazza
	Jill DuBoff	Miss Julie
		Spatter Pattern
	Jeff Lorenz	Frankenstein
	Darron L. West	Hot 'n' Throbbing
2006
	Steve Canyon Kennedy	Jersey Boys	[34][35]
	Acme Sound Partners	See What I Wanna See
		The Drowsy Chaperone
	Brian Ronan	Grey Gardens
		The Pajama Game
	Dan Moses Schreier	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
2007
	Gregory Clarke	Journey's End	[36][37] [38]
	Acme Sound Partners	In the Heights
	Mark Bennett	The Coast of Utopia
	Duncan Edwards	LoveMusik
	Frank Gaeta	Dai (enough)
	Richard Woodbury	Talk Radio
2008
	Scott Lehrer	South Pacific	[39][40] [41]
	Adam Cork	Macbeth
	Jorge Cousineau	Opus
	Joseph Fosco	The Conversation
	Mic Pool	The 39 Steps
	Tony Smolenski, IV	Adding Machine
2009
	Paul Arditti	Billy Elliot the Musical	[42][43] [44]
	Acme Sound Partners	Irving Berlin's White Christmas
	Gregory Clarke	Equus
	John Gromada	Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont
	André J. Pluess	33 Variations
	John Shivers	9 to 5

Multiple wins

3 wins

• Paul Arditti
• Dan Moses Schreier

2 wins

• Steve Canyon Kennedy

Multiple nominations

8 nominations

• Mark Bennett

6 nominations

• Dan Moses Schreier
• Acme Sound Partners

5 nominations

• David Van Tieghem

4 nominations

• John Gromada
• Paul Arditti
• Darron L. West

3 nominations

• Brian Ronan

2 nominations

• Janet Kalas
• Richard Woodbury
• Steve Canyon Kennedy
• John Collins
• Mic Pool
• Scott Lehrer
• Jill DuBoff
• Gregory Clarke

See also

• Laurence Olivier Award for Best Sound Design
• Tony Award for Best Sound Design
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design in a Play