The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. The Obie Awards are considered off-Broadway's highest honor, similar to the Tony Awards for Broadway productions.[1][2] The awards were presented by The Village Voice from 1956 to 2020, and have been presented by the American Theatre Wing since 2014.
The Obie Awards were initiated by critic Jerry Tallmer and Edwin (Ed) Fancher, publisher of The Village Voice, who handled the financing and business side of the project. They were first given in 1956 under the direction of Tallmer. Initially, only off-Broadway productions were eligible; in 1964, off-off-Broadway productions were made eligible. The first Obie Awards ceremony was held at Helen Gee's cafe.[3]
With the exception of the Lifetime Achievement and Best New American Play awards, there are no fixed categories at the Obie Awards, and the winning actors and actresses are all in a single category titled "Performance." There are no announced nominations.[4][5] Awards in the past have included performance, direction, best production, design, special citations, and sustained achievement. Not every category is awarded every year. The Village Voice also awards annual Obie grants to selected companies; in 2011, these grants were $2,000 each to Metropolitan Playhouse and Wakka Wakka Productions.[6] There is also a Ross Wetzsteon Grant, named after its former theater editor, in the amount of $2,000 (in 2009; in 2011 the grant was $1,000), for a theatre that nurtures innovative new plays.[7]
The first awards in 1955-1956 for plays and musicals were given to Absalom (Lionel Abel) as Best New Play, Uncle Vanya, Best All-Around Production and The Threepenny Opera as Best Musical.[8]
In September 2014, the American Theatre Wing joined the Village Voice as co-presenters, with the Wing having "overall responsibility for running" the Awards.[9] In 2021, the Wing took over as sole presenter of the Obie Awards.[10]
due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the 66th Obie Awards were not held until 2023, collectively honouring productions of the 2020–21, 2021–22 and 2022–23 theater seasons[52]
Cynthia Hopkins (Performance - Another Telepathic Thing); Byron Jennings (Performance Award - Waste); Maria Irene Fornes (Special Citation - Letters From Cuba); Susan Hilferty (Sustained Excellence in Costume Design)
2001
Brian d'Arcy James (Performance Award - The Good Thief); Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Special Citation - Lackawanna Blues); Justin Vivian Bond (Special Citation - Kiki and Herb: Jesus Wept); Kirsten Childs (Music and Lyrics Award - The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin); Neil Patel (Design Award - War of the Worlds, Resident Alien, Race, I Will Bear Witness); José Rivera (Playwrighting Award - References To Salvador Dali Make Me Hot)
LaChanze (Performance Award - Dessa Rose); Cherry Jones (Performance Award - Doubt); Deirdre O'Connell (Sustained Excellence in Performance Award); Rui Rita (Design Award - Engaged); Caryl Churchill (Playwrighting Award - A Number); Lynn Nottage (Playwriting Award - Fabulation); Ivo van Hove (Directing Award - Hedda Gabler)
2006
Dana Ivey (Performance Award - Mrs. Warren's Profession); Christine Ebersole (Performance Award - Grey Gardens); Allen Moyer (Sustained Excellence of Set Design); Robert O'Hara (Special Citation - In the Continuum); Danai Gurira (Special Citation - In the Continuum); Adam Rapp (Special Citation - Red Light Winter)
Adrienne Kennedy (Lifetime Achievement Award); Annie Dorsen (Best New Theatre Piece - Passing Strange); Kate Mulgrew (Performance Award - Iphigenia 2.0); Jane Greenwood (Sustained Excellence of Costume Design Award); David Henry Hwang (Playwrighting Award - Yellow Face
Design: Yu-Hsuan Chen - set design (Our Dear Dead Drug Lord); Mikhail Fiksel - sound design (Dana H. and Cambodian Rock Band); Andrea Hood - costume design (Public Works); Arnulfo Maldonado for Sustained Excellence in Set Design; Jen Schriever for Sustained Excellence in Lighting Design
Choreography: Camille A. Brown for Sustained Excellence in Choreography
Institutional Recognition: National Black Theatre for sustained excellence in production and continued advocacy on behalf of Black artists; Page 73 for providing extraordinary support for early career playwrights; The Tank for providing extraordinary support for emerging artists
Special Citations: Entire creative team and ensemble of Heroes of the Fourth Turning; Entire creative team and ensemble of A Strange Loop; David Cale for the writing and performance of We're Only Alive For A Short Amount of Time; Dave Malloy, Or Matias and Hidenori Nakajo for their collaboration on the music and sound of Octet; David Neumann and Marcella Murray for creation and performance of Distances Smaller Than This Are Not Confirmed; Tina Satter for the conception and direction of Is This A Room; Alexandria Wailes for Sustained Excellence as an Artist and Advocate; Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC) for advocacy of equity, diversity and inclusion; Michael Feingold for Extraordinary Service to the Theater
In addition, Michael Feingold, theatre critic for The Village Voice and former chair of the Obie Awards, became the first recipient of the new Michael Feingold Award, to be awarded annually for excellence in criticism, dramaturgy, translation, scholarship, mentorship, or education.
due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the 66th Obie Awards were not held until 2023, collectively honouring productions of the 2020–21, 2021–22 and 2022–23 theater seasons
Creative Team and Ensemble of Fat Ham (The Public Theater) – including James Ijames (playwright), Saheem Ali (director), Maruti Evans (set design), Dominique Fawn Hill (costume design), Stacey Derosier (lighting cesigner), Mikaal Sulaiman (sound design), Darrell Grand Moultrie (choreographer), Earon Chew Nealey (hair and wig design), Skylar Fox (illusions design), and ensemble members Nikki Crawford, Chris Herbie Holland, Billy Eugene Jones, Adrianna Mitchell, Calvin Leon Smith, Marcel Spears, Benja Kay Thomas
Michael Breslin, Patrick Foley, Ariel Sibert, Cat Rodríguez, and Rory Pelsue (creators, writers, directors) in collaboration with David Bengali (video designer) for Circle Jerk
Mikaal Sulaiman for Sustained Achievement in Sound Design
Special Citations:
Ensemble: Ryan J. Haddad, Dickie Hearts, and Alejandra Ospina (Dark Disabled Stories)
Design Team of West Brain: Kate Noll (Set), Cha See (Lights), Haydee Zelideth Antuñano (Costumes), Tei Blow (Co-Sound), John Gasper (Co-Sound), Nick Hussong (Projections)
The Bengsons for Sustained Achievement in Performance
Greg Keller for Sustained Achievement in Performance
Design:
Greg Corbino - Production Design
Oana Botez - Costume Design
Stacey Derosier - Lighting Design
Adam Honoré for Sustained Achievement in Lighting Design
Jian Jung for Sustained Achievement in Set Design
Special Citations:
Ensemble: Jonathan Burke, Baby Byrne, Tara Lashan Clinkscales, Antwayn Hopper, André De Shields, Sydney James Harcourt, Dava Huesca, Dudney Joseph Jr., Capital Kaos, Junior LaBeija, Robert “Silk” Mason, Shireen Pimentel, “Tempress” Chasity Moore, Primo, Xavier Reyes, Nora Schell, Bebe Nicole Simpson, Emma Sofia, Frank Viveros, Kendall Grayson Stroud, Garnet Williams, Teddy Wilson Jr., Shelby Griswold, and Dominique Lee (Cats: The Jellicle Ball)
Raja Feather Kelly (Creator and Director) of The Fires and Ensemble: Beau Badu, Sheldon Best, Phillip James Brannon, Janelle McDermoth, Ronald Peet, Jon-Michael Reese, Jason Veasey, and Michelle Wilson
Milo Cramer (Book, Music, Lyrics, and Performance) and Morgan Green (Director) (School Pictures)
Normandy Sherwood (Production Design and Concept) (Psychic Self Defense)
The 1491s – Dallas Goldtooth (Mdewakanton Dakota-Diné), Sterlin Harjo (Seminole-Muscogee), Migizi Pensoneau (Ponca-Ojibwe), Ryan RedCorn (Osage Nation) and Bobby Wilson (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota) – (Creators) and Ensemble: Rachel Crowl, Derek Garza, Justin Gauthier, Irma-Estel Laguerre, Shyla Lefner, Wotko Long, Jessica Ranville, James Ryen, John Scott-Richardson, Kholan Studi, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Sheila Tousey, and Ryan Anthony Williams (Between Two Knees)
Becca Blackwell and Amanda Duarte (Creators) and Jess Barbagallo (Director) (Snatch Adams & Tainty Mccracken Present It's That Time of The Month)
Lifetime Achievement:
Charles Busch (writer) (Ibsen’s Ghost: An Irresponsible Biographical Fantasy)
Kristin Marting, Founding Artistic Director Emeritus of HERE Arts Center
Paul Zimet, Ellen Maddow, and Tina Shepard (The Following Evening, Shimmer and Herringbone )
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