The Theater Hall of Fame Inc. has announced its 2024 inductees: actors Elizabeth Ashley (Take Her, She's Mine; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Boyd Gaines (Gypsy, The Heidi Chronicles), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Between Riverside and Crazy, Fences), and Donna Murphy (Passion, The King and I); actor and playwright Charles Busch (The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, Taboo); composer William Finn (Falsettos, A New Brain); playwright David Rabe (Sticks and Bones, Hurlyburly); and, posthumously, producer Todd Haimes, the late artistic director of the Roundabout Theatre Company.
The 53rd annual Theater Hall of Fame for Lifetime Achievement in the
American Theater induction ceremony will be held November 18 at
Broadway's Gershwin Theatre. The evening's host and presenters will be announced at a later date.
The Theater Hall of Fame—founded in 1970 by James M. Nederlander, Earl Blackwell, and Gerard Oestreicher—honors eight theatre professionals annually for lifetime achievement. To be eligible for nomination, the theatre professional must have at least 25 years in the American theatre or be a leader of Off-Broadway or a regional theatre pioneer. The more-than-200 voters are past Hall of Fame inductees as well as members of the American Theater Critics Association.
The 2023 inductees included actors Mandy Patinkin, Bebe Neuwirth, Judd Hirsch, and Laurie Metcalf; director JoAnne Akalaitis; librettist John Weidman; composer Maury Yeston; and, posthumously, playwright Amiri Baraka.
Terry Hodge Taylor produces the annual invitation-only event.