“Oslo,” “Sweat,” and Paula Vogel Win Big at the 62nd Obie Awards

The 62nd edition of the Obie awards just wrapped up at Webster Hall, putting a stamp on a politically charged year of production from Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway. Among the big winners were Oslo, J.T. Rogers’s engrossing behind-the-scenes account of the Oslo Accords of 1993; Sweat, Lynn Nottage’s Reading, Pennsylvania–set study of rust belt anomie, which already netted the playwright the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama; and the indefatigable Paula Vogel, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award just as her Indecent, which premiered at the Vineyard Theater in 2016, embarks on her first-ever Broadway transfer.

The complete list of winners can be found below, along with links to related coverage. The Voice will be publishing more Obies recap stories throughout the week. And on Wednesday, the Voice’s special Obies issue, which includes profiles of and interviews with many of the winners, will be available on the streets.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Paula Vogel

BEST NEW AMERICAN THEATRE WORK (tie)

Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard

Underground Railroad Game (Ars Nova) [Miriam Felton-Dansky’s interview]

J.T. Rogers

Oslo (Lincoln Center Theater) [Miriam Felton-Dansky’s review; Michael Feingold’s review]

PLAYWRITING

Christopher Chen

Caught (The Play Company at La MaMa) [Miriam Felton-Dansky’s review]

Lynn Nottage

Sweat (Public Theater) [Alexis Soloski’s cover story; Michael Feingold’s review]

MUSICAL THEATER

Itamar Moses (book) and David Yazbek (music & lyrics)

The Band’s Visit (Atlantic Theater)

DIRECTING

Arin Arbus

The Skin of Our Teeth (Theater for a New Audience) [Michael Feingold’s review]

Lileana Blain-Cruz

Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (Signature Theatre) [Miriam Felton-Dansky’s review]

David Cromer

The Band’s Visit (Atlantic Theater)

Jack Cummings III

Picnic (Transport Group)

Rebecca Taichman

Indecent (Vineyard Theatre)

ENSEMBLE AWARDS

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 (Playwrights Realm) [Miriam Felton-Dansky’s interview; Miriam Felton-Dansky’s review]

Kate Arrington, Mia Barron, Brenna Coates, Jenna Dioguardi, Samia Finnerty, Midori Francis, Lizzy Jutila, Sarah Mezzanotte, Tedra Millan, Lauren Patten, Suzannah Perkins

PERFORMANCE

Matthew Broderick

Evening at the Talk House (New Group) and Shining City (Irish Rep)

Bobby Cannavale

The Hairy Ape (New York Armory) [Zac Thompson’s review]

Kevin Geer (in memoriam)

sustained excellence

Kecia Lewis

Marie and Rosetta (Atlantic Theater) [Jason Fitzgerald’s review] and The Skin of Our Teeth (Theater for a New Audience)

Heather MacRae

Come Back, Little Sheba (Transport Group)

Amy Ryan

Love, Love, Love (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

Pete Simpson

sustained excellence

Michael Urie

Homos, or Everyone in America (Labyrinth Theater) [Zac Thompson’s review]

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) [Helen Shaw’s review]

Taylor Mac

A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (St. Ann’s Warehouse) [Miriam Felton-Dansky’s review]

OBIE GRANTS

Irish Repertory Theatre

Pearl Theatre Company

The Playwrights Realm

THE ROSS WETZSTEON AWARD

Theatre for a New Audience

JUDGES

Michael Feingold, Chairman; Ayad Akhtar, Melissa Rose Bernardo, Darius de Haas, Miriam Felton-Dansky, Daphne Rubin-Vega, J. Smith-Cameron