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RELEASED: May. 30, 2002
DANVILLE, KY-Mary Hall Surface, a 1980 graduate of Centre, won a 2002 Helen Hayes Award earlier this month in Washington, D.C.
Surface was named Outstanding Director of a Resident Musical for her production of "Perseus Bayou." Winners of the 18th annual Helen Hayes Awards were announced at a Kennedy Center gala. It was Surface's first Helen Hayes Award and the fourth time she had been nominated as an Outstanding Director.
Surface, along with "Perseus Bayou" co-director David Maddox, also was nominated for the Charles McArthur Award for Outstanding New Play for "Perseus Bayou." The production received five nominations.
"I'm so proud of all the artists who worked to make the show a success and our nominations are a real tribute to all of us," said Surface, a native of Bowling Green, Ky. "This was my fourth nomination for director and I expected that this year I would remain in my seat clapping for another director when it came time for my category. I was extremely surprised and delighted when my name was called. And the cheers from my colleagues that filled the Kennedy Center's concert hall were especially gratifying.
"Receiving the award this year feels like a real tribute to the kind of work I've been trying to do for 20 years—challenging, innovative work that families can enjoy together."
"Perseus Bayou" opened in March of 2001 at the Theater of First Amendment at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. "Perseus Bayou" is a retelling of the Perseus and Medusa myth reset in post-Civil War Louisiana that interweaves a complex patchwork of dialogue, music and storytelling.
The Washington Post called it a "triumph of atmosphere and theatrical imagination."
Surface's "Sing Down the Moon: Appalachian Wonder Tales" was nominated for five Helen Hayes Awards in 2001, the most nominations for a family production. "Sing Down the Moon" won for best actor in a resident musical.
Helen Hayes Award nominations were gleaned from among hundreds of plays and musicals that were staged at Washington area theatres during 2001.
The Helen Hayes Awards, named for the First Lady of the American Theatre and Washington, D.C. native, Helen Hayes, honor achievement in the professional theatre.
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