The 1980s saw the beginnings of new playwrights like Christopher Durang, Harvey Fierstein, and David Henry Hwang, all receiving Obie Awards.
Meryl Streep and Morgan Freeman joined the Obies family winnings Obies in performance.
Winners
Best Musical
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Lee Breuer and Bob Telson
Gospel at Colonus
Best New American Play
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Sam Shepard
Fool For Love
Design
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Adrianne Lobel
The Vampires and All Night Long
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Bill Stabile
Spookhouse and Damnee Hanon, Sacree Sandra
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Douglas Stein
Through the Leaves
Sustained Excellence of Lighting Design
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Anne Militello
Direction
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JoAnne Akalaitis
Through the Leaves
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Maria Irene Fornes
The Danube, Sarita, Mud
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Lawrence Sacharow
Five of Us
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Sam Shepard
Fool for Love
Performance
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F. Murray Abraham
Uncle Vanya
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Kathy Baker
Fool for Love
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Sheila Dabney
Sarita
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Morgan Freeman
Gospel at Colonus
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George Guidall
Cinders
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Ed Harris
Fool for Love
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Richard Jordan
A Private View
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Ruth Maleczech
Through the Leaves
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Stephen McHattie
Mensch Meier
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Frederick Neuman
Through the Leaves
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Will Patton
Fool for Love
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Dianne Wiest
Serendaring Louie and Other Places
Sustained Excellence of Performance
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Pamela Reed
Playwriting
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Samuel Beckett
Ohio Impromptu, What Where, Catastrophe, Pocket
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Maria Irene Fornes
The Danube, Sarita, Mud
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Vaclav Havel
A Private view
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Len Jenkin
Five of Us
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Franz Xaver Kroetz
Through the Leaves, Mensch Meier
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Ted Tally
Terra Nova
Special Citations
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Percy Mtwa, Mbongeni Ngema and Barney Simon
For their production of Woza Albert
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International Theatre Institute of the U.S., Inc
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Ann and Jules Weiss
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Richard Peaslee
For his musical score for The Garden of Earthly Delights
Sustained Achievement
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Music-Theatre Group/Lenox Arts Center
Obie Committee
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Eileen Blumenthal
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Michael Feingold
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Erika Munk
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Julius Novick
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Ross Wetzsteon
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Lanford Wilson