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