Winners Announced for the 60th Annual Obie Awards

The American Theatre Wing and the Village Voice announce the winners of the 60th Annual OBIE Awards. The Public Theater's Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda (including special citations for Andy Blankenbuehler, Thomas Kail, and Alex Lacamoire) received the OBIE Award for Best New American Theatre Work, which is accompanied by a $1,000 check. The Signature Theatre's founding artistic director James Houghton received the OBIE Award for Sustained Achievement. The Awards were hosted by OBIE Award-winning actress Lea DeLaria (Orange is the New Black). A complete list of awards is given below:

Performance
Usman Ally, The Invisible Hand (New York Theatre Workshop)
Firdous Bamji, Indian Ink (Roundabout Theatre Company)
Brooke Bloom, You Got Older (Page 73 & HERE Arts Center)
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Between Riverside and Crazy (Atlantic Theater Company & Second Stage Theatre)
April Matthis, Sustained Excellence of Performance
John Douglas Thompson, Tamburlaine (Theatre for a New Audience) and The Iceman Cometh (BAM)

Playwriting
Ayad Akhtar, The Invisible Hand (New York Theatre Workshop)
Clare Barron, You Got Older (Page 73 & HERE Arts Center)
Suzan-Lori Parks, Father Comes Home From the Wars Parts I, II, and III (The Public Theater)

Direction
Trip Cullman, Punk Rock (MCC Theater)
Anne Kauffman, Sustained Excellence of Direction
Darko Tresnjak, The Killer (Theatre for a New Audience)

Design
Abigail DeVille, Prophetika: An Oratorio (La MaMa)
Christine Jones, Sustained Excellence of Set Design
Ben Stanton, Sustained Excellence of Lighting Design
Japhy Weideman, Sustained Excellence of Lighting Design

Special Citations
Kate Benson (writer) and Lee Sunday Evans (director), A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes (New Georges)
Bootycandy, writer/director Robert O'Hara, actors Philip James Brannon, Jessica Frances Dukes, Jesse Pennington, Benja Kay Thomas, Lance Coadie Williams (Playwrights Horizons)
Catch (performance series), Andrew Dinwiddie, Caleb Hammons, Jeff Larson, Bridget Everett, Rock Bottom (Public Theater)
Bush Moukarzel and Dead Centre, Lippy (Abrons Arts Center)
Andrew Schneider, Youarenowhere (PS 122 / COIL Festival)

OBIE Grants ($2,500 to each theater)
Horse Trade Theater Group / The Fire This Time Festival
JACK (Arts Center)

The Ross Wetzsteon Award (includes $1,000 check)
Ars Nova

Best New American Theatre Work (includes $1,000 check)
Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, direction by Thomas Kail, arrangements/orchestrations/music direction by Alex Lacamoire (The Public Theater)

Sustained Achievement Award
James Houghton

This year's presenters included Sting, Jesse Eisenberg, OBIE Award winner Stockard Channing, Billy Crudup, two-time OBIE Award winner Tommy Tune, T.R. Knight, three-time OBIE Award winner Tony Kushner, OBIE Award winner LaChanze, two-time OBIE Award winner Lisa Kron, artist Bradley Theodore, OBIE Award winner William Ivey Long, and Village Voice editor-in-chief Tom Finkel. The evening also included special performances by 2015 Tony Award nominee Michael Cerveris who celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first musical to win an OBIE Award, The Threepenny Opera, by performing "The Ballad of Mack the Knife," and Natalie Cortez who honored the 40th anniversary of A Chorus Line by performing "What I Did For Love."

The American Theatre Wing has entered into a partnership with the Village Voice to co-present The OBIE Awards, Off Broadway's Highest Honor. The 60th Annual OBIE Awards judging panel was led by longtime OBIE committee chairman Michael Feingold and included playwright Adam Bock, orchestrator Bruce Coughlin, director Lear deBessonet, scenic designer Mimi Lien, critic David Rooney, Village Voice critic Tom Sellar, and director Liesl Tommy.