Eugene Lee to Receive L.B. Tobin Award

TDF, the not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts, announces that celebrated costume designer Fred Voelpel and legendary scenic designer Eugene Lee are among the 2022 TDF/Irene Sharaff Award recipients. Although Voelpel passed away in June, he will be honored posthumously with the TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design while Lee will receive The Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design. The awards ceremony will be presented through the TDF Costume Collection on Friday, October 7 at 6:30pm at The Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street). A pre-awards cocktail reception will begin at 5:30pm. For ticket information, please call 212-989-5855 ext. 219 or email tdfsharaffawards@gmail.com. Additionally, costume designer Dede Ayite will receive the TDF/Kitty Leech Young Master Award and visual artist Michael Curry will receive the TDF/Irene Sharaff Artisan Award.

"These wonderful awardees were originally chosen by the committee for the 2020 awards ceremony. Sadly, the pandemic put that and last year's ceremony on hold, but we're thrilled to finally celebrate these incredible artists" says Stephen Cabral, director of the TDF Costume Collection. "We were very upset to lose Fred Voelpel this past June. I had been in contact with Fred and he was happy to have been chosen for the award and had been looking forward to attending. He will be sorely missed."

For this year's TDF/Irene Sharaff Memorial Tribute, iconic costume designer Caroline F. Siedle will be remembered with an original 15-minute film created by designer Suzy Benzinger.