The 61st Obie Awards ceremony took place last night at Webster Hall, and all of Off-Broadway’s biggest and brightest were in attendance. Host Lea DeLaria kicked off the show with an Orange is the New Black themed musical number that featured the scores from various musicals, including Hamilton. Leslie Odom Jr. gave an emotional performance of “Without You” to mark the 20
Leslie Odom Jr. gave an emotional performance of “Without You” to mark the 20th anniversary of Rent and in memoriam of those that we lost this year from the theater community. The last performance was from Ben Platt accompanied by Pasek and Paul, who brought the entire audience to its feet with “Waving Through a Window” from their hit musical Dear Evan Hansen.
The full list of Obie Awards winners is listed below.
Playwriting
Lucas Hnath, The Christians and Red Speedo
Stephen Karam, The Humans
Musical Theater
Steven Levenson (book), Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (music & lyrics), Dear Evan Hansen
Direction
Rachel Chavkin, The Royale
Michael Leibenluft, I’ll Never Love Again
Performance
Khris Davis, The Royale
Emily Donahoe, The Christians
Georgia Engel, John
Ensemble, Eclipsed: Pascale Armand, Akosua Busia, Zainab Jah, Lupita Nyong’o, Saycon Sengbloh
Jayne Houdyshell, The Humans
Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed, Guards at the Taj
Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen
Lucas Caleb Rooney, Red Speedo
Tamara Tunie, Familiar
Design
Rachel Hauck, Sustained Excellence of Set Design
Jason Lyons, Sustained Excellence of Lighting Design
James Ortiz, Puppet Design, The Woodsman
Bray Poor, Sustained Excellence of Sound Design
Kaye Voyce, Sustained Excellence of Costume Design
Special Citations: Collaboration
Annie Baker (playwright), Sam Gold (director) and the design team of John
Mark Barton (lighting), Ásta Bennie Hostetter (costumes), Mimi Lien (set), Noah Mease (props), Bray Poor (sound) Dominique Morisseau (playwright) and Ruben Santiago-Hudson (director), Skeleton Crew
Obie Grants ($4,000 prize to each theater)
Bedlam Theatre
Noor Theatre
Prospect Theatre Company
The Ross Wetzsteon Award ($3,000 prize)
NAATCO/National Asian American Theatre Company
Best New American Play ($1,000 prize)
Guards at the Taj by Rajiv Joseph (Atlantic Theatre Company
Lifetime Achievement Award
Carmen de Lavallade
A.R. Gurney
Check out our Instagram for our Red Carpet Coverage and stay tuned for a gallery of all of the red carpet arrivals.