1980s Featured Image

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

Playwriting Workshop

  • The Frank Silva Workshop

  • GRANT Intar Hispanic Playwrights-in-Residence Laboratory

Obie Grant

  • The Living Theater

  • Cucaracha Warehouse Theater

Sustained Achievement

  • Irene Worth

Design

  • Susan Young

    Sustained Excellence of Costume Design

  • Gabriel Berry

    Sustained Excellence of Costume Design

  • Donald Eastman

    Sustained Excellence of Set Design

Performance

  • William Converse-Roberts

    Love's Labor's Lost

  • Will Patton

    What Did He See?

  • Tim McDonnell

    Diary of a Madman

  • Rocco Sisto

    The Winter's Tale

  • Paul Hecht

    Enrico IV

  • Niall Buggy

    Aristocrats

  • Nancy Marchand

    The Cocktail Hour

  • Mark Blum

    Gus and Al

  • Lonny Price

    The Immigrant

  • Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney

    The Kathy and Mo Show

  • Gloria Foster

    The Forbidden City

  • Fyvush Finkel

    Cafe Crown

  • Everett Quinton

    A Tale of Two Cities

Direction

  • Rene Buch

    Sustained Excellence of Direction

  • Peter Stein

    Falstaff

  • Ingmar Bergman

    Hamlet

Special Citations

  • The Dramatists Guild

    for the Young Playwrights Festival

  • Tamamatsu Yoshida

    The Warrior Ant

  • Rachel Rosenthal

    Rachel's Brain

  • Paul Zaloom

    The House of Horror

  • Leo Bassi

    Nero's Last Folly

  • Janie Geiser

    Stories From Here

  • Dance Theater Workshop

Obie Committee

  • Ross Wetzsteon, Eileen Blumenthal, Michael Feingold, Robert Massa, Erika Munk, Julius Novick, Gordon Rogoff, Martha Coigney, Margo Jefferson