The Obie Awards, presented by The Village Voice, are annual awards given out for the best of Off-Broadway and Off-off-Broadway theatre. On May 23, the 61st annual ceremony was held at Webster Hall in New York City. It was hosted by “Orange is the New Black’s” Lea DeLaria. Watch the entire show below.
There was a ton of Broadway Black talent in the room; including presenters Savion Glover, Norm Lewis and Danai Gurira.Hamilton’sLeslie Odom Jr. gave a performance of “Without Out” to honor theatre artists who were lost this year.
The very first award of the night went to Dominique Morisseau and Ruben Santiago-Hudsonfor their brilliant collaboration on Skeleton Crew! Other Winners included Tamara Tunie for her work in Danai Gurira’s Familiar, Khris Davisfor his incredible performance in The Royale and Carmen de Lavallade received the Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in the arts.
Here is a full list of the night’s honorees!
Best Collaboration: Dominique Morisseau and Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Skeleton Crew)
Honored for puppet design: James Ortiz (The Woodsman)
Honored Performers: Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen), Tamara Tunie (Familiar), Lucas Caleb Rooney (Red Speedo), Jayne Houdyshell (The Humans), Khris Davis (The Royale), Emily Donahoe (The Christians), Georgia Engel (John), Omar Metwally (Guards at the Taj), Arian Moayed (Guards at the Taj),
Honored Playwrights: Lucas Hnath (The Christians and Red Speedo), Stephen Karam ( The Humans),
Honored for Lifetime Achievement: A.R. Gurney
Sustained Excellence of Set Design: Rachel Hauck
Sustained Excellence of LightingDesign: Jason Lyons
Sustained Excellence of Sound Design: Bray Poor
Sustained Excellence of Costume Design: Kaye Voyce
Design Team: Annie Baker, Sam Gold, Mark Barton (John)
Honored for Directing: Rachel Chaikin (The Royale), Michael Leibenluft (I’ll Never Love Again)
Musical Theatre: Steven Levenson and Benj Hasek, Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen)