The 2012 Obie Award Winners

The 57th Annual Obie Awards were given out at a ceremony tonight, May 21st, at Webster Hall in the East Village. The awards were presented by acclaimed stage actors Eric McCormack, Grace Gummer, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, Justin Bartha, Leslie Odom Jr., Lily Rabe, Michael McKean, Tonya Pinkins, Topher Grace, and Tracee Chimo.

Best New American Play (with $1,000 prize)
Amy Herzog
4000 Miles

Performance:
Cherise Boothe
Milk Like Sugar (Playwrights Horizons and the Women's Project)

Steven Boyer
Hand to God (Ensemble Studio Theatre/Youngblood)

Sweet and Sad Ensemble:
Jon DeVries, Shuler Hensley, Maryann Plunkett, Laila Robins, Jay O. Sanders, & J. Smith-Cameron (The Public Theater)

Gabriel Ebert and Mary Louise Wilson
4000 Miles (Lincoln Center Theater)

Jim Fletcher
Sustained Excellence

Santino Fontana
Sons of the Prophet (The Roundabout Theatre Company)

Linda Lavin
The Lyons (The Vineyard Theatre)

Susan Pourfar
Tribes (Barrow Street Theatre)

Playwriting:
Kirsten Greenidge
Milk Like Sugar (Playwrights Horizons and the Women's Project)

Direction:
Richard Maxwell
Early Plays (The Wooster Group and St. Ann's Warehouse)

Jay Scheib
World of Wires (The Kitchen)

Design:
Mark Barton, sustained excellence of lighting design

Mimi Lien, sustained excellence of set design

Matt Tierney and Ben Williams, sound design
The Select (The Sun Also Rises) (New York Theatre Workshop)

Special Citations:
Mark Bennett, Denis O'Hare, Lisa Peterson, & Stephen Spinella
An Iliad (New York Theatre Workshop)

Erin Courtney & Ken Rus Schmoll
A Map of Virtue (13P)

Elevator Repair Service
Sustained Excellence

Ethan Lipton and His Orchestra No Place to Go (The Public Theater/Joe's Pub)

Steven Hoggett, Martin Lowe, & John Tiffany Once (New York Theatre Workshop)

Daniel Kitson
It's Always Right Now, Until It's Later (St. Ann's Warehouse)

Ross Wetzsteon Grant:($1,000)
Youngblood (Ensemble Studio Theatre)

Grants:
The Bushwick Starr ($2,500)
The Debate Society ($2,500)

Lifetime Achievement:
Caridad Svich

The numbers "Summertime,” performed by Joshua Henry and Sumayya Ali from the cast of Porgy & Bess, and “Raglan Road” performed by David Patrick Kelly from the cast of Once, were entertainment for the evening. The ceremony kicked off with two numbers from newly minted Obie winner Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra from their show No Place to Go.

The Obies were judged by a committee of seven: Brian Parks, Obie Awards Chairman and Arts & Culture editor of The Village Voice; Michael Feingold, chief theater critic for the Voice, two-time Pulitzer finalist, dramaturg, and Obie Chairman Emeritus; Alexis Soloski, a Voice theater critic as well as contributor to The New York Times, the U.K. Guardian, and BBC Radio, plus theater professor at Columbia University; 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.

Village Voice publisher Josh Fromson, editor-in-chief Tony Ortega, Arts & Culture editor Brian Parks, the judges, the entire marketing and promotion staff of The Village Voice, and the outside staff and volunteers for the 57th Annual Obie Awards all joyously congratulate this year's winners.