Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2023 - 46

Robert E. Cohen Sound
Achievement Award
The Awards for Young Designers, Managers & Technicians in the Performing Arts, known throughout USITT as the YDMT
Awards, bring recognition and support to young designers, managers, and technicians at the beginning of their careers. They are
made possible by generous gifts to USITT from their sponsors.
2023 Winner: Huhao Yang
Huhao Yang, a sound design graduate student
in the Department of Theatre at Purdue
University, has done extensive work in the field
of sound production. During his undergraduate
period in China, he participated in professional
audio work with the China Central
Television and Zhejiang TV & Radio Group. He
also received the 5th Sound Academy Award
from the China Society of Motion Picture and
Television Engineers for his film sound works.
Since coming to the United States, Yang has
been actively involved in various theatre and
live productions while chasing his MFA degree
in Purdue Theatre. He has served as sound designer
and engineer for many theatre shows in
his university and also participated in off-campus
internships. He has participated in many
large corporate conference productions such
as products for Toyota and Wyndham. As a
young sound designer, his motto is to embrace
infinite possibilities. Yang has the enthusiasm
to devote himself to the sound field he loves
and looks forward to completing his degree at
Purdue and becoming an outstanding sound
artist and sound engineer in the future.
Distinguished Achievement Award,
Sound Design & Technology
The Distinguished Achievement Awards honor individuals who have established meritorious career records in specific fields
of expertise in any area of design or technology in the performing arts or entertainment industry.
2023 Award: David Budries
David Budries has been working with sound and
music since 1969 when he built his first sound
system for a high school concert by Peter, Paul,
and Mary. In 1973 he started his first professional
sound company, Mantra Sound, specializing
in sound reinforcement for acoustic ensembles.
In 1975, he began recording and producing and
then began building recording studios as Sound
Situation. In 1979, he became director of the
Hartt Recording Studio at the Hartt School of
Music, University of Hartford, and continued in
that role until 1999. In 1983, he was asked to
teach a sound class at the Yale School of Drama,
which resulted in his building Yale's first sound
design program, which he chaired until 2021.
He is now professor emeritus of design at the
David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.
46 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | SPRING 2023
As a professional sound designer with almost
50 years of experience, Budries' credits are
numerous, including Broadway credits: sound
design for the original Broadway production of
Our Country's Good, nominated for five Tony
Awards including Best Play; the Tony Awardnominated
production Souvenir; the Drama
Desk Award-nominated production Search and
Destroy; the 1988 Broadway production of Long
Day's Journey into Night, nominated for a Drama
Desk Award for Outstanding Revival; and the
1988 production of Ah, Wilderness! Tony Award
nominee for Best Revival. In " retirement, " he is
half of the music duo, Home Tonight, playing music
in California's Central Valley, as well as sound
engineer for The Grove House, a music and food
establishment in Mariposa, California.

Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2023

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