On Monday October 20^th, 2025, the Stage Managers’ Association (SMA) will present its annual Del Hughes Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Art of Stage Management, at the National Opera Center’s Marc A. Scorca Hall in NYC.  The distinguished 2025 honorees are theatrical Production Stage Managers Jill Cordle and Judy Martel, and theatrical and event Production Stage Manager Marjorie Horne.  In addition to these Lifetime Achievement Awards, the SMA will honor Lisa Dawn Cave with The Founders Award for her prolific career as a Stage Manager, Production Supervisor and a leading advocate for change.  This year’s Special Recognition Award will shine the spotlight on the Broadway Advocacy Coalition. 

The Del Hughes honor is awarded to those who represent the finest qualities and artistic achievement in stage management throughout their lifelong career.  Instituted in 1986, the award was named for Del Hughes, who had an illustrious career as a Broadway and television stage manager as well as a TV director from 1933 to the 1970s.  Honorees are chosen each February from nominations submitted by industry members.  

Event Producer Cheryl Mintz shares “This year the Stage Managers’ Association celebrates four remarkable women of the theater who have sculpted fulfilling careers, with deep service work for industry organizations, along with a mission driven non-profit led by a superb team of collaborators.”

Taking in this moment, Del Hughes honoree Jill Cordle reflects “I loved my career filled mostly with plays on Broadway.  It is the kind of work I knew I was best suited to do and so those were the jobs I looked for.  Most of the time, as a stage manager of straight plays with big stars, I have gone unnoticed.  I didn't mind, it was my pleasure to make sure the show was a success.  It is thrilling and gratifying to be honored."

Del Hughes honoree Marjorie Horne shares “What a crooked path my career has been.  I came to NYC to be an actress/dancer and found my place in the business as a stage manager.  My mission was to make a living in the theater and I am so proud that I have done that.  I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It On The Road impacted my life in so many ways:  Doing a project at The Public Theater, moving it to a commercial venue, opening companies in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago.  One of the oddest things is that it allowed me to realize a fantasy from childhood, going to college and being an archaeologist.”

Del Hughes honoree Judy Martel, with her prolific Midwest based career, expressed “I like that this honor pays tribute to the work of stage managers in smaller professional theater companies outside the major cities, and thereby also recognizes the value of such theaters. In my case, it also shines a spotlight on my 35-season relationship with Milwaukee Chamber Theatre and with Wisconsin’s vibrant theater community.  I have guided many young Assistant Stage Managers through their first professional theater experience.  And I have advocated for my area of the theater world in my volunteer work with Actors’ Equity, the SMA, and the Foundation for Stage Managers.”

Lisa Dawn Cave, being honored with The Founders Award, shares her personal mission for the career path she has charted for herself: “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope - for we are not products of our circumstances, but of our decisions.  May our choices reflect our hopes, not our fears.  Keep going.  Keep choosing.  Keep moving forward.”  With words inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi and Nelson Mandela.

On receiving the Special Recognition Award, Elz Cuya Jones, Executive Director of the Broadway Advocacy Coalition states, “Broadway Advocacy Coalition (BAC) expands how arts and storytelling can be a force for motivating system and cultural change.  We form coalitions and foster collaboration between theater professionals, activists and policy experts to create new communities working together for a just and equitable world.  At BAC, we want to be a political home for Broadway and off-Broadway professionals, activists and policy experts, where artivism is the language used to push social justice movements forward.  But the theater is under threat. With the current administration gutting the NEA and taking over our cultural institutions like the Kennedy Center and now the Smithsonian, we must amplify our voices for change now, while we still can.”

Cheryl Mintz and Matthew Stern, Chairs of the Del Hughes Award event, are pleased to announce the guest speakers at the event, which include Broadway Stage Manager Morgan Holbrook, Broadway Production Stage Manager Johnny Milani, Milwaukee Stage Manager and educator Veronica Zahn, and Broadway Company Manager and Co-Chair of the Broadway Green Alliance Susan Sampliner.  SMA Chair Adrienne Wells will give the welcome keynote.  Broadway Production Stage Manager James Latus will speak on behalf of the Foundation for Stage Managers.  The hosts are Cheryl Mintz, and past Founders Award honoree Elynmarie Kazle.  The SMA thanks Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS for their leading sponsorship, and Actors’ Equity Association for their sponsorship of the event.

The event is available virtually on Monday, October 20^th, 2025 at 7:30pm ET/4:30pm PT.  Registration is required and the event is free. Visit here to register.  

About the Stage Managers’ Association

The Stage Managers’ Association of the United States (SMA) is the only professional organization for working Stage Managers across the United States. 

Our mission is to create and maintain a strong community of Stage Managers by:

1. Protecting and promoting the interests of professional Stage Managers;
2. Serving as a resource and networking hub for the dissemination and advancement of ideas and developments in the craft of stage management;
3. Recognizing and promoting the recognition of professional Stage Managers at all career levels; and
4. Educating and advising those interested in the art and techniques of stage management.

Learn more about the Stage Managers’ Association.