Winners

Best New American Play

• Heidi Schreck

  What the Constitution Means to Me (New York Theatre Workshop)

  A girl stands alone, among many portraits of men. She has a thing or two to say, and it doesn’t involve a quilt. It involves a crucible, it involves witches. And the next thing you know, the spell is cast, the girl grows into a woman and we are drawn into a singular and profound engagement with our U.S. Constitution:  Its strengths…and its glaring weaknesses.

  Often, we say that plays are “ripped from the headlines” but seldom does one play, on a nightly basis, seem to offer an immediate and necessary cross-examination of the injustice being played out daily in our courts, our government and our lives.

  We live in painful, important times. It is the opinion of the judges that no play has engaged these times with more honesty and rigor than this one. And so it is with great admiration that we present the Obie for Best New American Play and a gift of $1000 to HEIDI SCHRECK for WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME.

Playwriting

• Marcus Gardley

  The House That Will Not Stand (New York Theatre Workshop)

  For the incredible, searing power of the story of a matriarchy in the Creole world, leaving us ripped by the truth of a divided family and a dark, ugly corner of American History. A house divided against itself indeed will not stand. And for that, the judges have awarded an Obie for his play THE HOUSE THAT WILL NOT STAND to MARCUS GARDLEY. 

• Madeleine George

  Hurricane Diane (New York Theatre Workshop)

  Every so often, amid the dreary bustle of the modern day, distracted by the technologies we’ve created to protect ourselves, a primal force erupts and throws our lives into chaos. A storm brews above and within, and reminds us of the potency of our own desires, and that we, all of us, possess the power to change.  In the spirit of this exhilarating experience, the judges have awarded an Obie to MADELEINE GEORGE, for her play HURRICANE DIANE. 

• Suzan-Lori Parks

  White Noise (The Public Theater)

  That she is a playwright with things to say comes as no surprise. That she draws one-of-a-kind characters and creates mesmerizing worlds is well established. That she will be provocative in her work is now our expectation. And yet no one could have predicted the shocking twist at the center of White Noise. For the masterpiece that is that new play, and for the probing questions she continues to ask of us, the judges have awarded an Obie Award to SUZAN LORI-PARKS for her play WHITE NOISE. 

Directing

• Jo Bonney

  Sustained Excellence in Directing

  She began by directing solos, then quickly moved to plays by Diana Son, Neil LaBute, and many others. More recently, she crafted Suzan-Lori Parks magisterial Civil War epic “Father Comes Home From the War Parts 1, 2, and 3” and Martyna Majok’s ground-breaking “Cost of Living.“ This past season, she brought to life, on the Public Theater stages, Lynn Nottage’s haunting and tragic African elephant in “Mlima’s Tale” and Patricia Ione Lloyd’s quotidian, questioning African-American family in “Eve’s Song.” For the dedication, versatility, and consistent excellence she has brought to Off-Broadway for over three decades, the judges have awarded an Obie for Sustained Excellence In Directing to JO BONNEY.

• Leigh Silverman

  Sustained Excellence in Directing

  Consider yourself lucky if this director is at the helm. She is brilliant, fierce, relentless, and without a doubt one of the hardest working directors alive. This trailblazing, history-making woman is a great storyteller and a champion question-asker. Over and over again she leads playwrights, actors, and designers directly towards the heart of the matter with her curiosity and intuition. For her more than 40 adventurous, political, ambitious Off-Broadway productions the judges have awarded an Obie for Sustained Excellence In Directing to LEIGH SILVERMAN.

• Stevie Walker Webb

  Ain’t No Mo’ (The Public Theater)

  For the exceptional muscle and boldness in direction, with its head spinning speed, controlled chaos, wild creativity and total confidence, that helps give this furious and fearless play such incredible emotional punch and impact, the judges have awarded an Obie for his direction of AIN’T NO MO’ to STEVIE WALKER WEBB.

Performance

• Mia Barron

  Hurricane Diane (New York Theatre Workshop)

  Who is strong enough to withstand the charms of Dionysus? This actress is. You should hear her mighty roar! This year she made us laugh and then curdled our blood. For embodying the most destructive aspects of human nature and somehow enabling us to recognize ourselves in a sad, prim suburban compliance officer in HURRICANE DIANE — the judges have awarded an Obie for her performance to MIA BARRON.

• Quincy Tyler Bernstine

  Sustained Excellence in Performance

  It is the voice that stops you first. A warm growl, you might say, or a friendly nonsmoker’s smoker’s rasp, it is distinctive, intriguing, and, to an experienced theatergoer, an early sign of what’s sure to be an astonishing performance. Because her acting is as fiercely distinctive as that sound, and she has showcased both in a remarkable and consistent body of Off-Broadway work, the judges have awarded an Obie for Sustained Excellence In Performance to QUINCY TYLER BERNSTINE. 

• Cherise Boothe

  Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine (Signature Theatre Company)

  There are scene-stealing roles, and there are scene-stealing performers, and sometimes, wonderfully, the stars align to place the latter into the former. For the protagonist of Lynn Notage’s FABULATION, OR THE RE-EDUCATION OF UNDINE, life is a performance, and she’s playing it to the hilt. For her deep-seated, take-no-prisoners embodiment of that role, the judges have awarded an Obie for her performance as Undine to CHERISE BOOTHE. 

• Francis Jue

  Wild Goose Dreams (The Public Theater)

  The world of Hansol Jung’s Wild Goose Dreams is a chaotic, busy one — an Internet existence of flying bits and instant reactions. But it is also a lonely world, in which a South Korean father has sent his wife and child off to America for a better life while he stays at home hoping for even a moment of connection with them. The actor who plays that father must be stalwart but soulful, broken but hopeful. For pulling of that trick, for showing us the dreamer hidden inside a salaryman, the judges have awarded an Obie for his performance in WILD GOOSE DREAMS to FRANCIS JUE.

• Heather Alicia Simms

  Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine (Signature Theatre Company) and By The Way, Meet Vera Stark (Signature Theatre Company)

  This year we had the pleasure of witnessing an actress who exemplifies the expression “there are no small parts, only small actors.” Her performances as various characters were specific and stellar. She moved us to tears and side splitting laughter, and could turn on a ferocity that, in a moment, shook us to our core. For her achievement in her roles in two plays this season, FABULATION, OR THE RE-EDUCATION OF UNDINE and BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK, the judges have awarded an Obie to HEATHER ALICIA SIMMS.

Design

• Dede M. Ayite

  Sustained Excellence in Costume Design

  When we see her work one word comes to mind: fierce. In every piece on every body type, the fierce is real. Her wisdom is beyond her years. Her talent knows no bounds.  Even at her young age, she has already designed for a slew of very satisfied theatrical legends. Soon, she’ll be a legend in her own right. In the meantime, the judges have voted an Obie for Sustained Excellence of Costume Design to DEDE M. AYITE.

• Isabella Byrd

  Lighting Design, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (New York Theatre Workshop)

  As you enter the theater, the audience is taken into another time when spaces were illuminated with candle light. As the play begins, you mysteriously discern faces appearing out of total darkness, faint warm glows that bring to mind the chiaroscuro landscapes of Georges de LaTour and Caravaggio, a darkness that takes us deep into the tumultuous times of 17th century England. Blasts of furious white light bathe the space, illuminating the voices of resistance in an unrelenting way.  The judges have awarded an Obie for her LIGHTING DESIGN OF LIGHT SHINING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE to ISABELLA BYRD. 

• Palmer Hefferan

  Sustained Excellence in Sound Design

  She possesses an extraordinary ability to conjure tactile worlds and shape emotional landscapes with sound. Her agility, precision, wit, and versatility as a designer have, this season alone, brought us the musical world of searching and longing in Korea of Wild Goose Dreams; the whip smart journey of highs and lows and Social Services of Fabulation; the hilarity and satire of glam rock of Edie and Dave, the unsettling offices of Do You Feel Anger, and the wild, terrifying, uncharted territory of time travel of Marys Seacoles. The judges have voted an Obie for Sustained Excellence in Sound Design to PALMER HEFFERAN.

• Cookie Jordan

  Sustained Excellence in Hair, Wigs, and Makeup

  Her designs are able to evoke memories while creating completely new ones. Her work manages to shine without ever pulling focus.  She is relentlessly hands on — legendarily so – tailoring every single element of every single design to the individual.  An actor in her hands is one very lucky actor.  The judges have awarded the first ever Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Hair, Wigs, and Makeup Design to COOKIE JORDAN. 

• Clint Ramos

  Set Design, Wild Goose Dreams (The Public Theater)

  For wrapping the entire Martinson Theater in the streets of Seoul Korea, putting the audience on a journey between the worlds of the north and south, on and off the internet, bringing us from the bedrooms to the bridges to the dreamscapes in between, the judges have awarded an Obie Award for his SCENIC DESIGN OF WILD GOOSE DREAMS to CLINT RAMOS.

• Louisa Thompson

  Sustained Excellence in Scenic Design

  She created a wonderfully nightmarish space for Sarah Kane’s Blasted and an existential towering garbage chute for Suzan Lori Parks’ In The Blood. As Sara Holdren noted in her review: “There’s no reaching the top of the wall. The world that Hester’s family lives in is rigged, purposefully built to force them back to the bottom over and over again.” Throughout her career her imagery has always been bold and poetic, has left us all in awe and transfixed. Her achievements include GATZ, Samara, Washeteria, Days of Rage, and If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka. The judges have awarded an Obie for Sustained Excellence in Scenic Design to LOUISA THOMPSON. 

Special Citations

• Clare Barron (Playwright) and Lee Sunday Evans (Director)

  Dance Nation (Playwrights Horizons)

  Adolescence isn’t easy. Adolescence among a group of hormonal, rivalrous, so-called good friends on a girls’ competitive dance squad is even more challenging. Putting those girls on stage, and casting them with older women, playing teenagers without comment— that’s a stroke of genius. For this fearless look at girls figuring out how to grow up, and for its wonderfully tender and moving staging, the judges have awarded a Special Obie Citation to the playwright and director of DANCE NATION:  CLARE BARRON and LEE SUNDAY EVANS.

• Jordan E. Cooper for Playwrighting & Performance,

  Ain’t No Mo’ (The Public Theater)

  The fearlessness with which he writes is matched by only one thing: the fearlessness with which he performs. His writing articulates, educates and innovates in a way that belies his young age. And his performance of depth, camp and humanity manages to, when our mouths are open wide in wonder or laughter, slip in soul wrenching truth. For excellence in both Playwriting and Performance for his play AIN’T NO MO’ the judges have awarded a Special Obie Citation to JORDAN E. COOPER.

• Jackie Sibblies Drury (Playwright) and Lileana Blain Cruz (Director)

  Marys Seacole (LCT3)

  It’s one thing to retell the life story of a pioneering, Jamaican-born, mixed-race, ocean-crossing, Victorian caregiver and self-mythologizer. It’s quite another to do so while using that story to examine and reconsider traditions of caregiving, traditions of storytelling, traditional identities and gender roles. For this wonderfully probing play and its vigorous, kaleidoscopic staging, the judges have awarded a Special Obie Citation to the playwright and director of MARYS SEACOLE, JACKIE SIBBLIES DRURY and LILEANA BLAIN-CRUZ. 

• The Cast and Creative Team, Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson (Playwrights), Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin (Directors), Miriam Buether (Set Design), Catherine Kodicek (Costume Design), Jon Clark (Lighting Design), Paul Arditti (Sound Design), John Pfumojena (Composition), Tristan Shepherd and Duncan McLean (Video Design); Mohammad Amiri, Alexander Devrient, Elham Ehsas, Trevor Fox, Milan Ghobsheh, Ammar Haj Ahmad, Alex Lawther, Jo McInnes, Yasin Moradi, Jonathan Nyati, John Pfumojena, Rachel Redford, Dominic Rowan, Rachid Sabitri, Mohamed Sarrar, Ben Turner, Nahel Tzegai, Vera Gurpinar, Annika Mehta (Ensemble)

  The Jungle (St. Ann’s Warehouse)

  The Brooklyn waterfront can be a refugee zone. Just ask the enraptured audiences at St. Ann’s Warehouse, who came there to make a thrilling and evocative visit to northern France and the semi-permanent encampment where migrants waited and hoped to get to Britain. For the powerful story told there, for the rich performances telling it, for the wildly detailed and immersive setting in which it is told, and for the remarkable journey to be able to tell it, the judges have awarded a Special Obie Citation to the entire cast and creative team of THE JUNGLE.

• The Director and Creative Team, Daniel Fish (Director), John Heginbotham (Choreographer), Daniel Kluger (Music Arrangements/Orchestrations), Laura Jellinek (Set Design), Terese Wadden, (Costume Design), Scott Zielinski (Lighting Design), Drew Levy (Sound Design), Joshua Thorson (Production Design)

  Oklahoma! (St. Ann’s Warehouse)

  When we talk about the American Dream, there’s always a “bright golden haze on the meadow…”  But when certain artists subvert that idea, and present us with an unsettling and surreal depiction of our own violent land and the cost of its expansion, what can we do but watch on with horror, amazement and – finally – gratitude for their vision.  From the guns on the wall, to the chili cooked on stage, Americana never seemed so urgently American.  In honor of this achievement, the judges wish to present a Special Obie Citation to the director and creative team of OKLAHOMA!

Obie Grants

• The Movement Theatre Company

  Since 2007, this company has been dedicated to developing and producing new works by artists of color that are groundbreaking, uplifting, and intellectually stimulating. Their work is challenging and innovative in approach; aiming not just to entertain, but also to empower. Through their most recent production, the critically acclaimed What to Send Up When it Goes Down, and their programs TMTC Harlem Nights, Ladder Series, and Go Green, they continue to create spaces to showcase and build-up communities of color through the arts. The judges have voted an Obie grant of $4000 to the THE MOVEMENT THEATRE COMPANY.

• Target Margin Theater

  Embracing difference is the cornerstone of this theatre company’s work. They strive to expand the concept of what theater can be, seeking to get to the deeper truths found in classic and contemporary texts in unexpected and unconventional ways “by their divergence from a strict illustration of reality.” The roster of artists whose career has started and been nurtured at this theater is both staggering and ever growing, as is the list of productions and creative partnerships that continue to bolster their ongoing contribution to the theatrical landscape. The judges have voted an Obie grant of $4000 to the TARGET MARGIN THEATER.

• WP Theater

  For its ceaseless dedication to developing, producing and promoting the work of women and gender non-conforming artists, from their developmental Lab, which creates space and opportunity for young artists to train and build relationships together, to their inspired productions, the WP has been fighting the good fight for 40 years. In celebration of their mission, their history, and their commitment to the cause, the judges have voted an Obie Grant of $4000 to WP THEATER.

The Ross Wetzsteon Award

• LCT3

  Every year since 1998, the Obie judges have honored the memory of Ross Wetzsteon [WET- stone], beloved Voice editor and long-time Obie Awards chairman, by giving an award in his name to a theatre that has demonstrated exceptional enterprise in its approach to classics or in creating innovative new work. 

  First they built a new black-box theater atop their landmark building — and created a terrace with one of the greatest views in New York City. Then, for the past seven seasons, they’ve filled that theater with an astonishing array of provocative, compelling, and original new works.

  This season alone, they’ve brought us plays that consider the modern immigrant experience, relationships in sexually fluid times, the tradition of black caregivers across generations, and life after an environmental apocalypse (to name just a few).                                                     

  For successfully bringing downtown uptown and for enthusiastically, as their tagline suggests, bringing new artists to new audiences, the judges have awarded the Ross Wetzsteon Award to LCT3. 

Lifetime Achievement Award

• James C. Nicola

  For three decades he has nurtured and produced some of the most daring and exciting theater in New York City. The vast spectrum of groundbreaking adventurous work ranges from Rent to Once, from Lazarus to Hadestown, from Caryl Churchill to Tony Kushner. These past two years alone, under his leadership, New York Theater Workshop has brought to life Mary Jane, The House That Will Not Stand, What the Constitution Means To Me, Slave Play, and Hurricane Diane. He provides the fertile soil, plants the seeds and carefully tends the delicate shoots of new work and in so doing has created one of the most vibrant gardens we’ve ever seen.  He is an adventurer, guide and master gardener in this beautifully diverse metropolis of the New York theater world. This year the judges present an Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement to JAMES C. NICOLA. 

• Jeffrey Horowitz

  40 years ago, a young, ambitious and frustrated American actor was hungry to tackle juicy Shakespearean roles, but the opportunities were few and far between. The prevailing wisdom amongst critics and theatergoers, even American theatre artists, at the time was that Shakespeare was best left to the Brits. This young man founded a theatre company to challenge that idea.

  In the ensuing 40 years he has produced adventurous and urgent productions of Shakespeare alongside other great writers such as Edward Bond, Adrienne Kennedy, Richard Maxwell, Ibsen, Strindberg, Wilder, Beckett, Ionesco, Branden Jacobs Jenkins, Christopher Marlowe, Wallace Shawn and Jackie Sibblies Drury —all experimenters, telling stories that are central to our culture. In 2013 he opened the first theater built for classic drama in New York City since the Beaumont at Lincoln Center in the 1960s. 

  For founding, building and running one of the city’s most vital institutions, for offering an artistic home to countless theatre artists at all levels of their career, for introducing Shakespeare to over 120,000 New York City public school children, the judges have awarded this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award to Jeffrey Horowitz.