The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by The Village Voice newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after the 2014 ceremony, the American Theatre Wing became the joint presenter and administrative manager of the Obie Awards. The Obie Awards are considered off-Broadway's highest honor, similar to the Tony Awards for Broadway productions.[1][2]
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]
As of September 2014, the Obie Awards are jointly presented by the American Theatre Wing and the Village Voice, with the Wing having "overall responsibility for running" the Awards.[9]
In 2021, American Theatre Wing took over as sole presenter of the Obie Awards and continue to present the honors for off and off-off Broadway theatre.[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[56]
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
