On June 12, Theatre Development Fund will bestow lifetime achievement honors on three-time Tony winner Patricia Zipprodt, as part of the Fund's Irene Sharaff Award for excellence in costume design. Paul Tazewell will also be honored with The Young Master Award.

Zipprodt, who won Tonys for Fiddler On The Roof, Cabaret and Sweet Charity, also designed costumes for Zorba 1776, Mack & Mabel, the original Chicago and King Of Hearts.

Tazewell designed the wardrobe for Bring In `Da Noise/Bring In `Da Funk, as well as the Public Theatre's Blade To The Heat and Venus.

The Lifetime Achievement Award goes to a designer whose work embodies the excellence found in Sharaff's craft: "a keen sense of color, a feeling for material and texture, an eye for shape and form." Designers need not necessarily work only in the theatre; dance, opera and film creations are also considered. The Young Master Award rewards a designer early in his career. Previous Lifetime winners include Desmond Heeley and Miles Colt; previous Young Masters are Gregg Barnes and Toni-Leslie James.

TDF is known for its TKTS half-price tickets booth and discount tickets by-mail program, but the organization's interest in costume design doesn't stop with this annual award. Theatre Development Fund houses more than 75,000 costumes and accessories, which are rented at low cost to nearly 700 not-for-profit theatres and arts groups around the country. Last year the Fund even began the TDF Tutu Registry, which brings quality costumes to dance companies nationwide. The 1997 Irene Sharaff Awards will take place June 12, 5:30 PM, at the Republic National Bank, 2 West 4th St. in Manhattan.

--By David Lefkowitz