57th Obie Awards will take place on 21 May 2012

The Village Voice, the nation's largest alternative weekly newspaper, has announced the 57th Annual OBIE awards will take place on 21 May 2012 at Webster Hall in the East Village. The co-hosts for the event are still to be announced.

The Awards will be presented by Eric McCormack, Grace Gummer, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, Juliet Rylance, Justin Bartha, Lily Rabe, Michael McKean, Topher Grace and Tracee Chimo.

The Voice's arts and cultural editor, Brian Parks, chairs the Obie panel of judges this year. His fellow Voice judges are the paper's critic Alexis Soloski and Obies Chairman Emeritus Michael Feingold—chief Voice theater critic, past Obies chairman, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, and theater dramaturge. The four guest judges are: Annie Baker, Best New American Play Obie winner in 2010 for her plays 'Circle Mirror Transformation' and 'The Aliens,' Anne Kauffman, accomplished director, instructor, and 2007 Obie winner for her direction of 'The Thugs,' José Rivera, two-time Obie Award winner for his plays 'Marisol' and 'References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot,' and Helen Shaw, a theater critic for Time Out New York and a past Obie judge. Her writing has also appeared in The Village Voice.

Many of the most celebrated names in theater, film and television say their Obie Award was the first major recognition of their professional career. Past winner include such well-known stars such as Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Felicity Huffman, Viola Davis, Kevin Kline, Nathan Lane, Tony Kushner, Kathy Bates, James Earl Jones, Edward Norton, and Sigourney Weaver, to name a few.

Once again the 2012 OBIES will honor the Off-Broadway theater community by presenting its annual theater grants, announced live at the ceremony.

For the past half-century The Village Voice Obie Awards have honored the best of Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway. Structured with informal categories that change annually, The Village Voice Obie Awards recognize persons and productions of excellence. Unlike most theater awards, The Village Voice Obie Awards have no nominations.