At a February 3 event in the Helen Hayes Gallery of the National Theatre in Washington, DC, theatreWashington announced 255 nominees in 47 categories for the 2020 Helen Hayes Awards, which recognize excellence in professional theater throughout the Washington metropolitan area. The 36th annual award ceremony will be held Monday, May 18, 2020, at the Anthem on the District Wharf in Washington.

The awards honor work from 185 eligible productions presented during the 2019 calendar year, grouped in "Helen" (majority non-Equity) or "Hayes" (majority Equity) cohorts. Two theater companies, We Happy Few Productions and Anacostia Playhouse, received nominations for the first time.

Olney Theatre Center (Hayes) and 1st Stage (Helen and Hayes, depending on production) received the largest total number of nominations, with 27 and 18 respectively. The most nominated productions include Constellation Theatre Company's Little Shop of Horrors (Helen), 11; Theater Alliance's Blood at the Root (Helen), 10; and with nine nominations each, Signature Theatre's A Chorus Line (Hayes), Olney's Cabaret (Hayes), Synetic Theater's wordless Cyrano de Bergerac (Helen), and Ford's Theatre's Into the Woods (Hayes).

The complete lists of nominations, by production and theater, can be found at www.theatreWashington.org.