Winners

Best New American Play

• Ryan J. Haddad

  Dark Disabled Stories (The Bushwick Starr | The Public Theater)

  Stories about sex, desire, and eroticism are often limited to certain bodies that are readily accessible to the American imagination. This playwright not only reclaimed these themes for himself through risky autobiography, but invented an entire performance aesthetic and modality that housed the convergence of his lived experiences—which is being a powerful, reckless, and messy human living with cerebral palsy, and gripping the audience through writing that was at once vulnerable and laugh-out-loud funny. For his ingenuity in storytelling, and for telling big truths with such complexity, beauty, and wit, the judges have awarded the Obie for Best New American Play to RYAN J. HADDAD for DARK DISABLED STORIES. 

Playwriting

• Hansol Jung

  Wolf Play (MCC Theater | Soho Rep | Ma-Yi Theater Company)

  Truth can be slippery, but good plays give us complex truths—a way of looking deeper. In this play, a boy is a wolf taking form as a puppet, struggling with the experience and trauma of transnational, transracial adoption. Meanwhile, the potential caretakers orbit each other in their own dramas about chosen and unchosen family, all amid the vagaries of love and kinship as seen through a child’s eyes and how his fate is determined by a flawed legal system. For gripping us with multiple truths from start to finish and weaving a complex yet heart-rending story about the process and rupture of adoption, the judges have awarded an Obie for Playwriting to HANSOL JUNG for WOLF PLAY.

• Bruce Norris

  Downstate (Playwrights Horizons | Steppenwolf Theatre Company | National Theatre)

  Some playwrights are at their best when writing about society’s absolute worst, and it doesn’t get much worse than a house full of sex offenders. The season’s most button-pushing drama introduced us to a deeply-religious recluse who abused his daughter; an ex-performer who, at age 37, had a years-long “relationship” with a 14-year-old Lost Boy on a national tour of Peter Pan; a wheelchair-bound 70-something who used his role as a piano teacher to gain access to preteen boys; and a hot-headed statutory rapist with nothing but disdain for his “hardcore pederastic” roommates. And against all odds, we found ourselves listening, understanding, and, yes, even sympathizing. For finding humanity in places that other playwrights dare not go, the judges have awarded an Obie for Playwriting to BRUCE NORRIS for DOWNSTATE.

Direction

• Dustin Wills

  Montag (Soho Rep), Wet Brain (Playwrights Horizons and MCC Theater), and Wolf Play (MCC Theater | Soho Rep | Ma-Yi Theater Company)

  From a dark basement in Germany to a boxing ring set among the ruins of one family’s journey to adopt a child, to a home in the suburbs of Arizona that explodes into an alien spaceship, one director transported audiences across dimensions and genres to deliver some of the most evocative images and deeply moving performances of the season. With clear vision, a penchant for the wildly theatrical, and the ability to navigate chaos with precision, this artist proved that a director’s craft can bring forth a playwright’s most ambitious imaginations. For finding truth and beauty in the brutal and bizarre, the judges have awarded an Obie to DUSTIN WILLS for his Direction of WOLF PLAY, MONTAG, and WET BRAIN.

• Shayok Misha Chowdhury

  Public Obscenities (Soho Rep | National Asian American Theatre Company)

  In PUBLIC OBSCENITIES, a Bengali American artist returns to his family home in Kolkata, India, alongside his boyfriend, a Black American filmmaker, to interview queer people they meet on Grindr. What they discover and what develops over the course of this exquisitely moving, tender, and richly layered play requires the confidence of a director to trust the moments of stillness and silence to unlock the volume of our humanity. With photographic precision and a deeply personal cultural proficiency, this artist (who also wrote the play) brought to life a hyper-naturalistic, bilingual portrait of a family and community, finding the profound in the most intimate of moments. For his carefully balanced cinematic vision coupled with theatrical scale and heart, the judges have awarded an Obie for Directing to SHAYOK MISHA CHOWDHURY.

• Faye Driscoll

  Weathering (New York Live Arts)

  In live performance, everything begins and ends with the body. And in this production, we acutely felt this through 10 individual bodies spitting, breathing, twisting, connecting, and hurtling at each other with infinite grace and deft choreography, eerily reminding us of our own impermanence in this fleshy substance. Slowly, a story emerges about strangers and found community, about liminal space and liminal time, about endurance, stamina, and the emergence of vulnerabilities after an unexplainably large and shared event. For an experiential production flirting with all of our senses, and for gifting us with ponderances on the sublimity of the human condition, the judges have awarded an Obie to FAYE DRISCOLL for her Direction of WEATHERING. 

Sustained Achievement in Directing

• Eric Ting

  The Far Country (Atlantic Theater Company) and The Comeuppance (Signature Theatre Company)

  THE FAR COUNTRY by Lloyd Suh and THE COMEUPPANCE by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins could not seem more different at first: the former a quietly meditative historical period piece about the Chinese American immigrant experience, the latter a brashly verbose, highly contemporary play about nothing less than the mysteries of humanity. But what links them is a sensitive yet bold vision guided by deep intelligence and playful curiosity. For a decades-long career that only continues to grow and find new depths, the judges have awarded an Obie for Sustained Achievement in Directing to ERIC TING. 

• Pam MacKinnon

  Downstate (Playwrights Horizons | Steppenwolf Theatre Company | National Theatre)

  Her productions are characterized by highly nuanced, perfectly cast acting, matched with writing beautifully illuminated to reveal every finely shaded layer and emotion. What others could call naturalism, she elevates to an art form that feels vitally relevant, breathtakingly dangerous, and undeniably theatrical. No other production this season encapsulates this better than Bruce Norris’ DOWNSTATE; and, therefore, the judges have awarded an Obie for Sustained Achievement in Directing to PAM MACKINNON. 

Performance

• William Jackson Harper

  Primary Trust (Roundabout Theatre Company)

  Perhaps the role was not written for him, but it sure feels like it was. The part of Kenneth in Eboni Booth’s PRIMARY TRUST demands subtlety, patience, charm, as well as an ability to break your heart in the most furtive of ways. For his ability to remind us that true listening—to the other actors, to himself, to the audience, and to the play’s rhythms, music, and silences—is the most thrilling thing to watch (and a rare occurrence to boot), we stand in speechless awe. For his capacity to express such an endless, complicated reservoir of emotions with such depth, and true care, we cherish the vulnerability on which his performance is built. For his ability to surprise us with stillness and stir us so deeply when we least expect it, the judges have awarded an Obie for Performance to WILLIAM JACKSON HARPER.

• Mara Mindelle

  Titanique (Eva Price)

  Her Celine Dion impersonation—the physicality, the mannerisms, and the octave-spanning voice—was simply unparalleled. Her ability to be improvisational and impromptu was extraordinary. Her banter and connection with the audience was magical. (All this while spoofing an 11-time Oscar-winning film that essentially everyone on the planet has seen.) It’s all coming back to us now! For uber-believably channeling the iconic Canadian chanteuse in the spell-bindingly creative musical TITANIQUE, the judges have awarded an Obie for Performance to MARLA MINDELLE.

• Zuleyma Guevara

  Sancocho (The Sol Project | Lantinx Playwrights Circle | WP Theater)

  From the very first moment of SANCOCHO, a hush falls over the audience as if we are afraid we’ll be discovered spying on Caridad in her kitchen as she waits for her sister. Caridad prepares a meal and, from the smell of it, a riquisimo sancocho. Family tensions simmer and come to a boil over the course of Christin Eve Cato’s play. For her ability to so completely, specifically, and subtly embody a deeply troubled soul, and reveal the complexity of an older sister’s love for a younger sister she has protected and betrayed, and with whom she is in competition—but who, above all else, she adores—the judges have awarded an Obie for Performance to ZULEYMA GUEVARA.  

• Maryann Plunkett

  Deep Blue Sound (Clubbed Thumb)

  Often, it’s the smallest shows that make the biggest impression, and the quietest performances that speak the loudest. In DEEP BLUE SOUND, among a cast of lovable misfit characters (a former cult member, a symbolic mayor…you get the kooky picture), a dying woman named Ella has decided to write her own ending. Cancer—it’s no fairy tale. As her neighbors natter on about missing whales—the cause that unites the Pacific Northwest island—Ella, scared, angry, and confused, envisions her own final moments: “I’m going somewhere, but I don’t know where.” For her transformative, fearless, empathetic turn as Ella in Abe Koogler’s devastatingly beautiful play, the judges have awarded an Obie for Performance to MARYANN PLUNKETT.  

Sustained Achievement in Performance

• Shannon Tyo

  The Comeuppance (Signature Theatre Company), The Far Country (Atlantic Theater Company), and Regretfully, So The Birds Are (Playwrights Horizons | WP Theater)

  You cannot stop watching her: whether in Lloyd Suh’s poignant Chinese immigrant drama THE FAR COUNTRY, where she plays a bride-to-be and is described as “always dynamic”; when she plays Mora, an Asian American adoptee in Julia Izumi’s hilarious surreal play REGRETFULLY, SO THE BIRDS ARE, where she’s described as “the ever brilliant”; or when she portrays Kristina, an anesthesiologist with challenges in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins haunting drama THE COMEUPPANCE (a reviewer notes that “she turns her wails of regret into a gorgeous aria”). With an agility in performance that left us all speechless and wanting more, the judges have awarded an Obie for Sustained Achievement in Performance to SHANNON TYO.

• John Douglas Thompson

  Endgame (Irish Repertory Theatre) and Hamlet (The Public Theater)

  One man is seated on a makeshift throne: He’s blind, his eyes sheathed by black glasses, and his garments are tattered and torn. Still, that doesn’t stop him from ruling cruelly, imperiously, the dystopian empire to which he’s appointed himself unofficial king. The other man sits on a real throne—one that he obtained via murder and treachery. His suits are pricey and perfectly tailored. Yet he’s virtually blind to the revenge plot percolating under his own roof and is ultimately thwarted by his blood-spattered conscience. Both roles—Hamm in ENDGAME and Claudius in HAMLET—were played with exceptional ease by the same actor. For his commitment to the classics, and for these superb interpretations of Beckett and Shakespeare, the judges have awarded an Obie for Sustained Achievement in Performance to JOHN DOUGLAS THOMPSON. 

• K. Todd Freeman

  Downstate (Playwrights Horizons)

  Even after a career of many excellent turns in many excellent roles, this chameleonic actor took it up a notch with a pugnacious performance as a sex offender in DOWNSTATE. Part den mother and part provocateur, both victim and survivor, his Dee proved the production’s beating, broken heart; surrounded by a household of tragically flawed individuals, he gave the play an unshakable foundation. For delivering a gut punch that we’ll never forget, the judges have awarded an Obie for Sustained Achievement in Performance to K. TODD FREEMAN.

Design

• Enver Chakartash (Costumes)

  Public Obscenities (Soho Rep | National Asian American Theatre Company), Toros (Second Stage Theater), The Trees (Playwrights Horizons | Page 73), Wolf Play (MCC Theater | Soho Rep | Ma-Yi Theater Company), Catch As Catch Can (Playwrights Horizons), and I’m Revolting (Atlantic Theater Company)

  From the colorful, maximalist absurdity of THE TREES to the gray, visceral rawness of WOLF PLAY, to the exactingly character-driven, globally conscious costumes for PUBLIC OBSCENITIES, I’M REVOLTING, TOROS, and CATCH AS CATCH CAN, this designer demonstrates the full spectrum of what contemporary costumes can convey and contribute to not just individual characters, but to the entire world of a story. For their abundant design work this season, the judges have awarded an Obie for Costume Design to ENVER CHAKARTASH.

• Barbara Samuels (Lights)

  Public Obscenities (Soho Rep | National Asian American Theatre Company), Wolf Play (MCC Theater | Soho Rep | Ma-Yi Theater Company), Becky Nurse of Salem (Lincoln Center Theater), and Toros (Second Stage Theater)

  The minimalism of a perfectly placed slash of light piercing the dark can be as memorable and dramatic as the best writing and acting. From the nightmarishly epic boxing ring of the mind in WOLF PLAY, to the theatrically rendered naturalism of TOROS, to the cinematic glow of PUBLIC OBSCENITIES, this designer’s lighting has demonstrated that finding the right angle, color, timing and balance of light is a true art form of storytelling. For her continuing excellence in design, as well as her advocacy for a more equitable and inclusive industry, the judges have awarded an Obie for Lighting Design to BARBARA SAMUELS.

Sustained Achievement in Design

• dots (Sets) Collective: Santiago Orjuela-Laverde, Andrew Moerdyk, and Kimie Nishikawa

  Public Obscenities (Soho Rep | National Asian American Theatre Company), Dark Disabled Stories (The Bushwick Starr | The Public Theater), “Events (The Hearth Theater Company), Infinite Life (Atlantic Theater Company), Deep Blue Sound (Clubbed Thumb), and Grief Hotel (Clubbed Thumb)

  From the playfully bold pink box of DARK DISABLED STORIES to the minimalist Californian limbo of INFINITE LIFE, and the exacting naturalism of a home in India in PUBLIC OBSCENITIES, this collective of designers creates worlds that are mysterious, boldly theatrical, completely imaginary, yet somehow utterly familiar and recognizable. Their designs are finely crafted to set the perfect tone for each production while still being highly versatile and usable playgrounds for staging. For their continuing and inspiring excellence in design, as well as their advocacy for better labor practices, the judges have awarded an Obie in Sustained Achievement in Scenic Design to DOTS (SANTIAGO ORJUELA-LAVERDE, ANDREW MOERDYK, and KIMIE NISHIKAWA).  

• Mikaal Sulaiman (Sound)

  The Half God of Rainfall (New York Theatre Workshop), Primary Trust (Roundabout Theatre), Des Moines (Theatre For A New Audience), Evanston Salt Costs Climbing (The New Group)

  Plato describes music as “the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue.” To sit in space and feel, not only hear chords, but feel notes and an arrangement of music and sound that touches your soul, that prompts your heart rate to slow down or speed it up is a gift. To feel lifted and propelled into a different realm via the carefully curated design choices is a gift to any production. For his esteemed work, the judges have awarded an Obie for Sustained Excellence in Sound Design to MIKAAL SULAIMAN for THE HALF-GOD OF RAINFALL, PRIMARY TRUST, DES MOINES, and EVANSTON SALT COSTS CLIMBING.

Special Citations

• Ensemble: Ryan J. Haddad, Dickie Hearts, and Alejandra Ospina

  Dark Disabled Stories (The Bushwick Starr | The Public Theater)

  The way we gauge excellence in acting is often tied up with how a single language is spoken on stage. But in reality, the ways an actor communicates with their audience are far more expansive, elusive even. With much ingenuity, this trio showed us what it means to perform multitudinous languages and shapeshift modalities of communication in one play, all the while inventing deeply moving characters who trust and care for each other, and who extend that work toward the audience as well. For their tremendous synchronicity and putting their hearts on the line in telling a powerful, vulnerable story, and for being an exemplary ensemble with charisma and presence, the judges have awarded a Special Citation Obie to RYAN J. HADDAD, DICKIE HEARTS, and ALEJANDRA OSPINA for DARK DISABLED STORIES.  

• Design Team: Kate Noll (Set), Cha See (Lights), Haydee Zelideth Antuñano (Costumes), Tei Blow (Co-Sound), John Gasper (Co-Sound), and Nick Hussong (Projections)

  Wet Brain (Playwrights Horizons | MCC Theater)

  Every so often a play comes along that dares designers to dream it into reality…a room literally turned on its head, actors—again—literally hanging, a possibly probable alien abduction, a family frozen and freed simultaneously in a no-gravity zone, hurtling through space, time, and trauma. These storytelling magicians created a world in which we experience life through the epic, demented, alcoholic imagination of a man who has one last time to make it right. For making John J. Caswell’s imaginative phantasmagoria concrete reality, the judges have awarded a Special Citation Obie to the design team of WET BRAIN: KATE NOLL (Sets), CHA SEE (Lights), TEI BLOW and JOHN GASPER (Sound), HAYDEE ZELIDETH ANTUÑANO (Costumes), and NICK HUSSONG (Projections).

• Ensemble: Brittany Bradford, Caleb Eberhardt, Susannah Flood, Bobby Moreno, and Shannon Tyo

  The Comeuppance (Signature Theatre Company)

  A playwright is lucky to have actors embody their words, freeing them from the page to the stage and, in the process, adding new meaning to the work. When it’s not just one actor but a group of actors moving in sync and making things click, it’s like witnessing a jazz fugue. There are solos and duets and trios, but in this instance a band of actors came together in concert to give the audience a beautiful theatrical experience. For their work as an exceptional ensemble in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ THE COMEUPPANCE, the judges have awarded a Special Citation Obie to BRITTANY BRADFORD, CALEB EBERHARDT, SUSANNAH FLOOD, BOBBY MORENO and SHANNON TYO. 

• Liza Birkenmeier (Writer) and Tara Ahmadinejad (Director)

  Grief Hotel (Clubbed Thumb)

  Once in a while a collaboration emerges that is so artistically in sync that when you experience the production, you viscerally feel that the story and the direction buoy each other and encourage the other to soar to new heights. In this intimate and gentle ensemble play, we delighted in the rhythm and cadence of every delicious word spoken by the performers, and the highly stylized direction that created an irresistible mood. For a brilliant partnership that brought us this tender, sad, and very funny play about all the ways we embody and understand grief, the judges have awarded a Special Citation Obie to playwright LIZA BIRKENMEIER and director TARA AHMADINEJAD for their collaboration on GRIEF HOTEL. 

• Lead Actors: Ariana Venturi and Nadine Malouf

  Montag (Soho Rep)

  In this two-hander, there was no hiding or make-believe. Portraying two women trapped in the basement of their own paranoia and ever-growing spiritual and existential psychosis, these two actors gave us a thrilling, muscular performance that at once showed us an entanglement of female friendship, as well as the monstrosity and voraciousness of feminine power. They bravely conveyed their authentic connection, vulnerability, and trust in each other, and we couldn’t get enough. For their colossal art in listening, and illuminating the stage with their distinct and awesome performances, the judges have awarded a Special Citation Obie to ARIANA VENTURI and NADINE MALOUF for their performances in MONTAG. 

• Ann C. James

  Founder and Mentor of Intimacy Coordinators of Color

  The work of the intimacy coordinator is often overlooked, yet it provides foundational tools to sync the heartbeats of all artists in the room. Intimacy coordinators ground us through invitations and prompts and provide space for the artists to be witnessed in their wholeness; they carefully shepherd us all towards a common goal. As the founding member of Intimacy Coordinators of Color and the first Black intimacy coordinator and cultural sensitivity consultant on Broadway, their founder continues to nurture and steward the future of intimacy coordination while continuing to guide productions with her tireless work. For the crucial work that intimacy coordinators provide to all artists coming together in the theater, and for the bar of excellence that this crucial organization has set in our field, the judges have awarded a Special Citation Obie to INTIMACY COORDINATORS OF COLOR and its founder, ANN C. JAMES.

Lifetime Achievement

• Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver

  Writing and Performing Duo of Split Britches

  These two performance artists’ radical vision of what theater can be has shaped generations of artists since their debut in the 1980s at the WOW Café Theater. For decades, in plays such as Split Britches and the more recent Last Gasp, their seismic influence cannot be overstated in works that celebrate the everyday, valuing the mundane, elevating the personal, and performing yearning lesbian fantasies with inventive humor. For their creative influence on the world of theater, the judges have awarded an Obie for Lifetime Achievement to PEGGY SHAW and LOIS WEAVER, the current duo of SPLIT BRITCHES.

• Carole Rothman

  Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Second Stage Theater

  In her 45 years as the artistic director and co-founder of Second Stage Theater, this trailblazing leader has been a driving force in guiding, uplifting, and championing generations of new American playwrights, directors, designers, and actors. She has given their start to countless new voices. Second Stage Theater defines itself by producing exclusively new American writing, and second productions of new works. As its co-founder and artistic director, she has created an unparalleled legacy for the off-Broadway and Broadway theater that will continue to thrive and grow. For her leadership and commitment to fostering new works and artists, the judges have awarded an Obie for Lifetime Achievement to CAROLE ROTHMAN.

Theatre Grants

• Breaking the Binary Theatre Company

  Trans, non-binary, Two-Spirit+, and gender-nonconforming/genderfluid theater artists fight day in and day out for visibility and recognition in our theaters. This goes beyond just getting pronouns right; it’s about cultivating a culture that values and respects people who exist outside of the gender binary. This particular theater company has emerged as an oasis; they champion these tenets by dreaming of a theater landscape that embraces gender diversity and encourages TNB2S+ artists to reclaim their artistic license and liberty, develop new works, and build community, with an ongoing commitment to equitable compensation for all artists. For showing us how to embody and strive for gender equity and for bridging the present with the future we all want for the theater, the judges have awarded an Obie Award Theatre Grant to BREAKING THE BINARY THEATRE.  

• Dominican Artists Collective (DAC)

  Since its founding in 2019, this collective of passionate storytellers and culture-expanders have banded together to dismantle systemic oppression and empower artists through the telling of their stories. Through their advocacy and artistry, they honor both their Blackness and their Latinidad, celebrating the diversity of their culture and paving the way for more complex representations that center the Afro-Latine experience. A testament to the power of community organizing, this off-Broadway season featured the work of many of their collective members with three plays written by Dominican writers running concurrently on major stages. For their tireless efforts inspiring present and future Dominican artists, the judges have awarded an Obie Award Theatre Grant to DOMINICAN ARTISTS COLLECTIVE.

• The Brick

  Every artist needs a multidisciplinary nest for innovation and creating new work to fly to the moon and back, advancing their career and concentric circles of making an inclusive community. Located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, this company’s bold new vision set out to amplify the power of art by becoming a hub of incubation, pioneering, and experimentation for emerging artists. Currently presenting 25 to 300 live performances per year at two different spaces with ticket prices at low cost and on a sliding scale, making the work accessible to everyone, this theater is a place for adventurous audiences and that inner misfit artist that is searching to be seen, heard, and welcomed. Not only is it a nest for boundary-pushers making quality and evocative work, but it encourages and dares artists to retain their creative autonomy, and for that alone the judges have awarded an Obie Award Theatre Grant to THE BRICK. 

Ross Wetzsteon Award

• Under the Radar Festival

  Since 2005, one festival has brought together uncountable international and national artists to share their dreams, their visions, and their work with us while being in sacred dialogue. This festival has committed to bringing exceptional experimental work to audiences while providing a space for artists to share ideations about the present and future of this field, and has painstakingly built a channel where artists and presenters can foster a real relationship. Above all, this festival continues to celebrate the vibrancy and singularity of new works in New York,  withstanding the tides of change and remaining an iconic and legendary festival that is essential to the artistic ecology of New York arts and culture. The Obie judges have awarded the Ross Wetzsteon award to UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL and its founder, MARK RUSSELL.

Michael Feingold Award

• Andrew Morrill (Director of Artistic Sign Language)

  Dark Disabled Stories (The Bushwick Starr | The Public Theater)

  When an artist i

  nnovates and creates a new performance modality through their work, the beauty of theater is that they must call upon other artists to help construct the architecture that can help hold and contextualize their artistic process and the work itself. In a groundbreaking production such as DARK DISABLED STORIES, this called for both a director of artistic sign language and an access dramaturg. Both of these roles are a beacon and an example of what we must keep at the forefront of our minds as we keep practicing a truly liberated, accessible theater for all. For their pivotal roles in helping to architect a wildly influential work of theater grounded in disability cultural values, the Obie judges have awarded the Michael Feingold Award to ANDREW MORRILL and ALISON KOPIT for their work on DARK DISABLED STORIES.

• Alison Kopit (Access Dramaturgy)

  Dark Disabled Stories (The Bushwick Starr | The Public Theater)

  When an artist innovates and creates a new performance modality through their work, the beauty of theater is that they must call upon other artists to help construct the architecture that can help hold and contextualize their artistic process and the work itself. In a groundbreaking production such as DARK DISABLED STORIES, this called for both a director of artistic sign language and an access dramaturg. Both of these roles are a beacon and an example of what we must keep at the forefront of our minds as we keep practicing a truly liberated, accessible theater for all. For their pivotal roles in helping to architect a wildly influential work of theater grounded in disability cultural values, the Obie judges have awarded the Michael Feingold Award to ANDREW MORRILL and ALISON KOPIT for their work on DARK DISABLED STORIES.