Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Lighting Design

Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Lighting Design
Awarded for	Outstanding Lighting Design
Location	New York City
Presented by	Outer Critics Circle
Currently held by	Jon Clark, Stranger Things: The First Shadow (2025)
Website	OuterCriticsCircle.org

The Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Lighting Design is an honor presented at the Outer Critics Circle Awards, a ceremony established in 1950 for excellence in Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, to lighting designers of any production. The category was added to the ceremony in 1988 as "Best Lighting Design" before being changed to "Outstanding Lighting Design" in 1999.

Paul Gallo holds the record for the most wins, with five from eight nominations. Four designers share the record for the most nominations, with nine each: Donald Holder, Natasha Katz, Brian MacDevitt and Kenneth Posner.

Award winners and nominees

Key

  and bold indicates the winner.

1980s

Year	Name	Work	Ref.
Note: award given as "Best Set, Costume and Lighting Design"
1988
	Andrew Bridge	The Phantom of the Opera	[1] [2]
1989
	Paul Gallo	Lend Me a Tenor	[3] [4]

1990s

Year	Name	Work	Ref.
1990
	Paul Gallo	City of Angels	[5] [6]
1991
	Tharon Musser	The Secret Garden	[7]
1992
	Paul Gallo	Crazy for You	[8] [9]
	Trevor Dawson	Dancing at Lughnasa
	Richard Pilbrow	Four Baboons Adoring the Sun
	Peter Kaczorowski	Song of Singapore
1993
	Chris Parry	The Who's Tommy	[10] [11]
1994
	Paul Pyant	Carousel	[12]
1995
	Richard Pilbrow	Show Boat	[13] [14]
1996
	Nigel Levings	The King and I	[15] [16]
1997 (tie)
	Paul Gallo	Titanic	[17] [18]
	Peter Kaczorowski	Steel Pier'
	Ken Billington	Chicago
Beverly Emmons	Jekyll & Hyde
1998
	Donald Holder	The Lion King	[19] [20]
	Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer	Ragtime
	Mike Baldassari and Peggy Eisenhauer	Cabaret
	Natasha Katz	The Scarlet Pimpernel
Note: award given as "Outstanding Lighting Design"
1999
	Paul Gallo	The Civil War	[21] [22]
	Andrew Bridge	Fosse
	Brian MacDevitt	Night Must Fall
	Mark Henderson	The Iceman Cometh

2000s

Year	Name	Work	Ref.
2000
	Peter Kaczorowski	Contact	[23] [24]
	Paule Constable	Amadeus
	Donald Holder	The Green Bird
	Kenneth Posner	The Wild Party
2001
	Brian MacDevitt	The Invention of Love	[25] [26] <
	Peter Kaczorowski	The Producers
	Kenneth Posner	The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
	Paul Gallo	42nd Street
2002
	David Hersey	Oklahoma!	[27] [28]
	Donald Holder	Thoroughly Modern Millie
	David Weiner	36 Views
	James F. Ingalls	The Elephant Man
2003
	Nigel Levings	La Bohème	[29] [30]
	Rui Rita	Enchanted April
	Paul Gallo	Man of La Mancha
	Brian MacDevitt	Nine
	Kenneth Posner	Hairspray
2004
	Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer	Assassins	[31] [32]
	Kenneth Posner	Wicked
	David Lander	I Am My Own Wife
	Brian MacDevitt	Fiddler on the Roof
2005
	Christopher Akerlind	The Light in the Piazza	[33] [34]
	Brian MacDevitt	The Pillowman
	Mark Henderson	Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
	Hugh Vanstone	Spamalot
	Donald Holder	Gem of the Ocean
2006
	Howell Binkley	Jersey Boys	[35] [36]
	Paul Pyant	The Woman in White
	Richard Jones	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
	Jeff Nellis	Tryst
2007
	Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner and Natasha Katz	The Coast of Utopia	rowspan=4 [37] [38]
	Paule Constable	Coram Boy
	Howard Harrison	Mary Poppins
	Neil Austin	Frost/Nixon
2008
	Ken Billington	Sunday in the Park with George	[39] [40]
	Donald Holder	Les Liaisons Dangereuses
	Peter Kaczorowski	Young Frankenstein
	Kevin Adams	The 39 Steps
2009
	Rick Fisher	Billy Elliot	[41] [42]
	David Hersey	War Horse
	Kevin Adams	Hair
	Peter Kaczorowski	Ruined
	David Lander	33 Variations

2010s

Year	Name	Work	Ref.
2010
	Kevin Adams	American Idiot	[43] [44]
	Justin Townsend	Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
	Ken Billington	Sondheim on Sondheim
	Kevin Adams	The Scottsboro Boys
2011
	Paule Constable	War Horse	[45] [46]
	Natasha Katz	Sister Act
	Malcolm Rippeth	Brief Encounter
	David Lander	Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
2012
	Hugh Vanstone	Ghost The Musical	[47] [48]
	Neil Austin	Evita
	Brian MacDevitt	Death of a Salesman
	Donald Holder	Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark
2013
	Kenneth Posner	Pippin	[49] [50]
	Donald Holder	Golden Boy
	Paul Gallo	Dogfight
	Ken Billington	Chaplin
	Kenneth Posner	Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella
2014
	Kevin Adams	Hedwig and the Angry Inch	[51] [52]
	Paule Constable	Les Misérables
	Natasha Katz	Aladdin
	Philip S. Rosenberg	A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
	Howell Binkley	After Midnight
2015
	Paule Constable	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time	[53] [54]
	Japhy Weideman	The Visit
	Jeff Croiter	Something Rotten!
	Rick Fisher	The Audience
	Natasha Katz	An American in Paris
2016
	Justin Townsend	American Psycho	[55] [56] [57]
	Ben Stanton	Spring Awakening
	Donald Holder	She Loves Me
	Natasha Katz	Long Day's Journey Into Night
	Kenneth Posner	On Your Feet!
2017
	Bradley King	Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812	[58] [59]
	Christopher Akerlind	Indecent
	Donald Holder	Anastasia
	Natasha Katz	Hello, Dolly!
	Kenneth Posner	War Paint
2018
	Neil Austin	Harry Potter and the Cursed Child	[60] [61]
	Lap Chi Chu	Mlima's Tale
	Paul Russell	Farinelli and the King
	Paule Constable	Angels in America
	Kevin Adams	SpongeBob SquarePants
2019
	Bradley King	Hadestown	[62] [63]
	Stacey Derosier	Lewiston/Clarkston
	Neil Austin	Ink
	Jason Lyons	Sugar in Our Wounds
	Peter Mumford	King Kong

2020s

Year	Name	Work	Ref.
2020 (Hon.)	Hugh Vanstone	A Christmas Carol	[64]
		The Height of the Storm
	Isabella Byrd	Heroes of the Fourth Turning
	Justin Townsend	Moulin Rouge!
	Heather Gilbert	The Sound Inside
2021	No award given due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2022
	Jon Clark	The Lehman Trilogy	[65]
	Natasha Katz	MJ
	Bradley King	Flying Over Sunset
	Brian MacDevitt	The Minutes
	Jen Schriever	Lackawanna Blues
2023
	Tim Lutkin	Life of Pi	[66]
	Neil Austin	Leopoldstadt
	Ken Billington	New York, New York
	Ben Stanton	A Christmas Carol
	Natasha Katz	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
2024
	Brian MacDevitt	The Outsiders	[67]
	Justin Townsend	Here Lies Love
	Amanda Zieve	The Who's Tommy
	Tim Lutkin and Hugh Vanstone	Back to the Future
	Bradley King	Water for Elephants
2025
	Jon Clark	Stranger Things: The First Shadow	[68] [69]
	Natasha Chivers	The Hills of California
	Justin Townsend	Death Becomes Her
	Ben Stanton	Maybe Happy Ending
	Kevin Adams	Swept Away

Multiple wins

5 wins

• Paul Gallo

3 wins

• Brian MacDevitt

2 wins

• Peter Kaczorowski
• Nigel Levings
• Paule Constable
• Kenneth Posner
• Kevin Adams
• Bradley King

Multiple nominations

9 nominations

• Donald Holder
• Natasha Katz
• Brian MacDevitt
• Kenneth Posner

8 nominations

• Paul Gallo

7 nominations

• Kevin Adams

6 nominations

• Peter Kaczorowski
• Paule Constable

5 nominations

• Ken Billington
• Neil Austin
• Hugh Vanstone
• Justin Townsend

4 nominations

• Bradley King

3 nominations

• Peggy Eisenhauer
• David Lander
• Ben Stanton

2 nominations

• Andrew Bridge
• Richard Pilbrow
• Paul Pyant
• Nigel Levings
• Jules Fisher
• Mark Henderson
• David Hersey
• Christopher Akerlind
• Howell Binkley
• Rick Fisher
• Tim Lutkin

See also

• Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Play
• Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Musical
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design
• Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lighting Design

References

1. "1987–1988 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
2. "Circle Awards to Butterfly and Phantom". The New York Times. May 3, 1988. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
3. "Heidi Wins Critics Award". The New York Times. May 3, 1989. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
4. "1988–1989 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
5. Rich, Frank (May 1, 1990). "Outer Critics Awards to Grapes and Angels". The New York Times. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
6. "1980–1990 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
7. "1990–1991 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
8. "1991–1992 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
9. "Dancing at Lughnasa Wins Outer Critics Circle Award". The New York Times. April 28, 1992. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
10. Rich, Frank (April 27, 1993). "Outer Critics Circle Names Award Winners". The New York Times. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
11. "1992–1993 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
12. "1993–1994 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
13. "Outer Critics Float Show Boat". Variety. April 1995. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
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15. "Extra, Extra! Late‑Breaking News from the World of Entertainment". NY Daily News. April 16, 1996. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
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17. Lefkowitz, David (May 5, 1997). "Outer Critics Circle Award Winners Announced". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
18. "1996–1997 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
19. Viagas & Lefkowitz (April 27, 1998). "Lion King Roars With Six Outer Critics Circle Awards". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
20. "1997–1998 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
21. "Nightingales, Wit, Iceman & Fosse Win Outer Critics Awards; Ceremony May 28". Playbill. April 26, 1999. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
22. "1998–1999 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
23. "Contact and Kiss Me, Kate Big Winners of 2000 Outer Critics Awards". Playbill. April 30, 2000. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
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45. "The Book of Mormon, War Horse and Anything Goes Top 2011 Outer Critics Circle Awards". Broadway.com. May 16, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
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54. "2014–2015 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
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57. "2015–2016 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
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59. "2016–2017 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
60. McPhee, Ryan (May 7, 2018). "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, My Fair Lady Win Big at 2018 Outer Critics Circle Awards". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
61. "2017–2018 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
62. Lefkowitz, Andy (May 13, 2019). "Hadestown Leads Winners of 2019 Outer Critics Circle Awards". Broadway.com. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
63. "2018–2019 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
64. "Maybe Happy Ending Leads 2025 Outer Critics Circle Awards; See the Full List of Winners". Playbill. Playbill. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
65. "The Lehman Trilogy Leads 2022 Outer Critics Circle Awards, Six Wins; See the Complete List of Winners". Playbill. Playbill. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
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