Hugh Jackman, Stephen Sondheim Sign Petition to Bring Back Tony Awards For Sound Design

Just in time for a Nov. 12 Tony Award Committee meeting, a sound design petition has been submitted, reports ArtsBeat of the New York Times.



Broadway sound designers have sent a petition to the Tony Award Committee to encourage them to reverse their decision to remove the awards for best sound design for a play and for a musical. To date, the petition has 32,495 signatures including previous Tony winners Hugh Jackman, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Diane Paulus and Stephen Sondheim.

In June of 2014, the awards were removed because the committee felt as though voters had little understanding of sound design and neglected to vote due to their lack of expertise. Some committee members thought that sound design fell under a technical skill rather than a theatrical art.

John Gromada sound designer for Broadway's revival of The Elephant Man, Tony-nominated for last year's The Trip to Bountiful, and winner of two Drama Desks for The Best Man and The Skirker, began the petition at ThePetitionSite.com and originally set its goal at 1,000 signatures. In only a few months, that goal has been quickly surpassed.

There is no confirmation that the petition will be a part of the committee's agenda for Thursday. If the awards are brought back, they would not be voted on for the 2014-2015 Tony season because voting consideration has already begun.

Read more about the events leading up to the petition and the committee meeting here.