At an event on February 5 in the Helen Hayes Gallery of the National Theatre in Washington, DC, theatreWashington announced the nominees for the 2018 Helen Hayes Awards, which recognize excellence in professional theater throughout the Washington metropolitan area.

The nominations, drawn from 74 productions at 35 theaters, encompass 47 categories, divided into two halves: "Hayes" productions, with a majority of cast members covered by an Equity contract, and "Helen" productions, with less than 51 percent of the cast covered by an Equity contract.

Theaters with the largest number of nominations are Round House Theatre (Hayes), 22 nominations for three productions, one of them (In the Heights) co-produced with Olney Theatre Center; Signature Theatre (Hayes), 20 nominations for four productions; Constellation Theatre Company (Helen), 19 nominations for three productions; and GALA Hispanic Theatre (Helen), 19 nominations for two productions.

Productions with the most nominations are GALA Hispanic Theatre's Spanish-language production of In the Heights, with 18; The Wild Party, Constellation Theatre Company, 11; In the Heights, Olney Theatre Center and Round House Theatre, 10; Signature Theatre's A Little Night Music and Shakespeare Theatre Company's Twelfth Night (Hayes), nine each; Still Life with Rocket, Theater Alliance (Helen), eight; and Round House Theatre's Or, Keegan Theatre's Parade (Helen), and Ford's Theatre's Ragtime (Hayes), seven each.

This year's Helen Hayes Award gala celebration is May 14, 2018, at a location to be announced. The complete list of nominees can be found at www.theatreWashington.org.