Ken Billington Inducted into Theater Hall of Fame

	Ken Billington

Noted theatre lighting designer Ken Billington is to be inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. The latter is a not-for-profit organization that honors professionals of the American Theatre. Each year, a handful of theatre greats are added to the hall of fame, which is located in the lobby of Broadway's Gershwin Theatre. To be eligible for induction, one must have given 25 years distinguished service to the American theatre and at least five major Broadway productions. The annual ballot is voted on by 275 members of the members of the Theater Hall of Fame and American Theater Critics Association.

Billington has enjoyed an extraordinarily prolific and fruitful Broadway career. Starting out as an assistant to the lighting designer Tharon Musser, he made his Broadway debut with the Phoenix/APA Repertory. Notable productions over the next several decades include Sweet Bird of Youth (1975), with Christopher Walken and Irene Worth; On the Twentieth Century (1978); Sweeney Todd (1979); Foxfire, with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy (1982); Tru, starring Robert Morse (1989); the blockbuster revival of Chicago (1996); Footloose (1998); The Lily Tomlin solo show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (2000); The Drowsy Chaperone (2006); the revival of Sunday in the Park with George (2008); Sondheim on Sondheim (2010); The Scottsboro Boys (2010); Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway (2011); and Act One (2014). He is currently represented on Broadway by Chicago and Amazing Grace; next month, he opens the revival of Dames at Sea. He has also designed many revivals of Hello, Dolly!, Fiddler on the Roof, and Annie.

Off Broadway, his credits include the groundbreaking prison drama Fortune and Men's Eyes (1969); Diamonds (1984); 3 Guys Naked from the Waist Down (1985); The Lisbon Traviata (1989); Breaking Legs (1991); Lips Together, Teeth Apart (1992); Annie Warbucks (1993); London Suite (1995); Sylvia (1995); Fame on 42nd Street (2003); Nikolai and the Others (2013); and Little Miss Sunshine (2013).

Billington has been nominated for eight Tony Awards and six Drama Desk Awards. He won both awards for Chicago.

Billington was principal lighting designer at Radio City Music Hall from 1979-2004. He has also worked extensively in dance, opera, concerts, regional theatre, theme parks, television, and industrials. And he has worked as an architectural lighting designer and theatre consultant.

The rest of this year's inductees include Tony Kushner, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Julie Taymor, Robert Falls, Stacy Keach, the late Broadway publicist Merle Debuskey and, the late Roger Rees. Other designers in the Theater Hall of Fame include Theoni V. Aldredge, Boris Aronson, Howard Bay, John Lee Beatty, Ben Edwards, Abe Feder, Jules Fisher, Jane Greenwood, Florence Klotz, Eugene Lee, Ming Cho Lee, Santo Loquasto, Jo Mielziner, Tharon Musser, Donald Oenslager, Martin Pakledinaz, Irene Sharaff, Lee Simonson, Oliver Smith, Robin Wagner, Tony Walton, and Patricia Zipprodt.