62nd Annual OBIE Awards: And the Winners are...
The 62nd Annual OBIE Awards took place on May 22, 2017 at Webster Hall in the East Village, hosted once again by "Orange is the New Black" actress Lea DeLaria. Other presenters last night included Rose Byrne, Chris Cooper, Mike Faist, Lena Hall, Jayne Houdyshell, David Henry Hwang, LaChanze, William Ivey Long, Taylor Mac, Jefferson Mays, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, among others.
During the ceremony's finale, host Lea DeLaria, along with Daphne Rubin-Vega and Lena Hall, performed "Let the Sunshine In" to mark the 50th Anniversary of Hair.
Here is a complete list of the winners:
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
- Paula Vogel
BEST NEW AMERICAN THEATRE WORK (inc. $500 prize each)
- Underground Railroad Game: written by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard (Ars Nova)
- Oslo: written by J.T. Rogers (Lincoln Center Theater)
THE ROSS WETZSTEON AWARD (inc. $3,000 prize)
- Theatre for a New Audience
OBIE GRANTS ($4,000 prize each)
- Irish Repertory Theatre
- Pearl Theatre Company
- The Playwrights Realm
PLAYWRITING AWARDS
- Christopher Chen: Caught (The Play Company at La MaMa)
- Lynn Nottage: Sweat (The Public Theater)
MUSICAL THEATER AWARD
- The Band's Visit: Itamar Moses (Book) and David Yazbek (Music & Lyrics) - (Atlantic Theater Company)
PERFORMANCE AWARDS
- 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)
DIRECTION AWARDS
- 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)
DESIGN AWARDS
- 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 Theatre)
- Taylor Mac: A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (St. Ann's Warehouse)
For the past 62 years the OBIE Awards have honored the best of Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway. Structured with informal categories that change annually, The OBIE Awards recognize persons and productions of excellence. Unlike most theatre awards, the OBIE Awards have no nominations.
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