Jones, Marvel, Ruehl, Shanley, et al. Win OBIE Awards

Woman Before a Glass, Hedda Gabler, Engaged, and Doubt were among the productions honored at the 50th Annual Village Voice OBIE Awards, presented on May 16 at Webster Hall. Brían F. O’Byrne and Stockard Channing hosted the event; Christopher Durang, Karen Finley, Holly Hunter, Sarah Jones, Craig Lucas, Rue McClanahan, Elaine Stritch, and James Urbaniak served as presenters.

In keeping with the anything-goes spirit of the awards, Daphne-Rubin Vega — best known for playing Mimi in Rent — opened the show by singing “The Rainbow Connection” from The Muppet Movie. Conversely, Doubt playwright John Patrick Shanley lovingly used a four-letter word (in its adjective form) to describe each member of his show’s four-person cast. Shanley was also on stage along with a slew of other playwrights including Lynn Nottage, John Guare, Mac Wellman, and Julia Cho as a member of New Dramatists, the 56-year-old organization that was honored with this year’s Ross Wetzsteon Memorial Award.

In addition to Rubin-Vega, the judges for this year’s OBIEs were Michael Feingold, Alexis Soloski, and Charles McNulty of The Village Voice, plus Kathleen Chalfant, André De Shields, David Greenspan, David Savran, and Paula Vogel. A complete list of this year’s winners follows:

PERFORMANCE
Jeremy Shamos, Engaged
Elizabeth Marvel, Hedda Gabler
Jason Butler Harner, Hedda Gabler
Rosemary Allen, Good Samaritans
Cherry Jones, Doubt
Larry Bryggman, Romance
Kieran Culkin, After Ashley
Mercedes Ruehl, Woman Before a Glass
LaChanze, Dessa Rose
Vivienne Benesch, Going to St. Ives
L. Scott Caldwell, Going to St. Ives
Deidre O’Connell, sustained excellence of performance

DIRECTION
Dan Wackerman, Counsellor-At-Law

Ivo van Hove, Hedda Gabler

Doug Hughes, sustained excellence of direction

PLAYWRITING
Christopher Shinn, Where Do We Live
John Patrick Shanley, Doubt
Caryl Churchill, A Number
Lynn Nottage, Fabulation

DESIGN
John Lee Beatty, set design; Rui Rita , lighting design; Guy Sherman, sound design, and Catherine Zuber, costume design, Engaged
Thomas Lynch, set design, Phil Monat, lighting design, David Van Tieghem, sound design, and Willa Kim, costume design, Woman Before a Glass
Jan Versweyveld, set design, Hedda Gabler

SPECIAL CITATIONS
The Imagine Festival of Arts, Issues & Ideas

Hell Meets Henry Halfway
Sin: A Cardinal Deposed

THE ROSS WETZSTEON MEMORIAL AWARD
New Dramatists

SUSTAINED ACHIEVEMENT

John Guare

GRANTS AND MONETARY AWARDS
13P ($3000)
Epic Theatre Company ($3000)
Little Theater at Tonic ($3000)
Gina Gionfriddo for Distinguished Emerging Playwright ($1000)
Margo Skinner Memorial Acting Scholarship ($1000)