Winners Announced for the 62nd Annual Obie Awards
New York, NY (May 22, 2017) – The American Theatre Wing (Heather Hitchens, President) and The Village Voice (Peter Barbey, Owner) are thrilled to announce the winners of the 62nd Annual Obie Awards. Jennifer Kidwell & Scott R. Sheppard’s Underground Railroad Game, produced by Ars Nova, and J.T. Roger’s Oslo, produced by Lincoln Center Theater, shared the Obie Awards for Best New American Theatre Work, which is accompanied by a $500 prize each. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel received a special Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement. Obie and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning actress Lea DeLaria returned as host of this year’s ceremony, which was held at Webster Hall (125 East 11th Street). A complete list of the awards is given below.
This year’s presenters included Peter Barbey, Rose Byrne, Academy Award winner Chris Cooper, Mike Faist, Edie Falco, Lena Hall, two-time Obie Award winner Jayne Houdyshell, three-time Obie Award winner David Henry Hwang, Obie Award winner LaChanze, Obie Award winner William Ivey Long, Obie Award winner Taylor Mac, two-time Obie Award winner Jefferson Mays, two-time Obie Award winner Derek McLane, Academy Award and Obie Award winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Emilio Sosa, and several of this year’s Obie judges including Obie Award winner Darius de Haas, Obie Award winner Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Obie Award winner J. Smith-Cameron.
The evening’s festivities, which were live-streamed on the official Obie Awards Facebook page www.facebook.com/ObieAwards, also included an opening number featuring Obies host Lea DeLaria. In addition, special performances were given by Katrina Lenk who performed “Omar Sharif” from The Band’s Visit; Kecia Lewis, Austin Reed Alleman, Jessie Shelton, Storm Thomas, and William Youmans who performed “There’s Only What I Know” from The Skin of Our Teeth; The Fantasticks’ Daniel Bellomy who performed “Try to Remember” as part of the In Memoriam; and a rousing finale “Let the Sunshine In” honoring the 50th Anniversary of Hair performed by Lea DeLaria, Obie Award winner Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Lena Hall.
Best New American Theatre Work ($500 prize each)
Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard, Underground Railroad Game (Ars Nova)
J.T. Rogers, Oslo (Lincoln Center Theater)
Playwriting
Christopher Chen, Caught (The Play Company at La MaMa)
Lynn Nottage, Sweat (The Public Theater)
Musical Theater
Itamar Moses (book) and David Yazbek (music & lyrics), The Band’s Visit (Atlantic Theater Company)
Directing
Arin Arbus, The Skin of Our Teeth (Theatre for a New Audience)
Lileana Blain-Cruz, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (Signature Theatre Company)
David Cromer, The Band’s Visit (Atlantic Theater Company)
Jack Cummings III, Picnic (Transport Group)
Rebecca Taichman, Indecent (Vineyard Theatre)
Ensemble
Bartlett Sher (director) and the cast of Oslo (Lincoln Center Theater)
Michael Aronov, Anthony Azizi, Adam Dannheisser, Jennifer Ehle, Daniel Jenkins, Dariush Kashani, Jeb Kreager, Jefferson Mays, Christopher McHale, Daniel Oreskes, Angela Pierce, Henny Russell, Joseph Siravo, T. Ryder Smith
Lila Neugebauer (director) and the cast of The Wolves (The Playwrights Realm)
Kate Arrington, Mia Barron, Brenna Coates, Jenna Dioguardi, Samia Finnerty, Midori Francis, Lizzy Jutila, Sarah Mezzanotte, Tedra Millan, Lauren Patten, Susannah Perkins
Performance
Matthew Broderick, Evening at the Talk House (The New Group) and Shining City (Irish Repertory Theatre)
Bobby Cannavale, The Hairy Ape (Park Avenue Armory)
Kevin Geer, Sustained Excellence [in memoriam]
Kecia Lewis, Marie and Rosetta (Atlantic Theater Company) and The Skin of Our Teeth (Theatre for a New Audience)
Heather MacRae, Come Back, Little Sheba (Transport Group)
Amy Ryan, Love, Love, Love (Roundabout Theatre Company)
Pete Simpson, Sustained Excellence
Michael Urie, Homos, or Everyone in America (Labyrinth Theater Company)
Design
Riccardo Hernandez, Sustained Excellence of Set Design
Dane Laffrey, Sustained Excellence of Set and Costume Design
Jared Mezzocchi, Projection Design, Vietgone (Manhattan Theatre Club)
Ryan Rumery, Sustained Excellence of Sound Design
Scott Zielinski, Sustained Excellence of Lighting Design
Special Citations
Anna Deavere Smith, Notes from the Field (Second Stage Theater)
Taylor Mac, A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (St. Ann’s Warehouse)
Obie Grants ($4,000 prize each)
Irish Repertory Theatre
Pearl Theatre Company
The Playwrights Realm
The Ross Wetzsteon Award ($3,000 prize)
Theatre for a New Audience
Lifetime Achievement Award
Paula Vogel
The Obie Award judges panel for this season include Village Voice columnist and longtime Chair of the Obie Judges Michael Feingold, Obie and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar, Entertainment Weekly theater critic Melissa Rose Bernardo, Obie-winning actor-singer Darius de Haas, Village Voice theater critic Miriam Felton-Dansky, Obie-winning actress Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Obie-winning actress J. Smith Cameron,
For more information, visit www.ObieAwards.com.
