Broadway costume designer William Ivey Long, currently represented in no less than seven shows, has been handed the Person of the Year Award by the National Theatre Conference, a meeting of 120 nonprofit theatre leaders.

The group is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. They meet annually at the Players Club in Manhattan to discuss the state of nonprofit theatre.

The Person of the Year Award was presented to Long Dec. 2 at the Players Club. Long's work is currently seen in Broadway's The Music Man, Cabaret, Contact, Annie Get Your Gun, Chicago, Swing! and Seussical.

As Person of the Year, Long selected the recipient of the Paul Green Foundation Award. He tapped actress-singer-dancer Kate Levering, who plays Zaneeta Shinn in The Music Man.

Funded by the Paul Green Foundation, the award grants an annual gift of $1,000 to a promising new talent in the professional theatre. — By Kenneth Jones