Champlin, Epstein, Opel, Stuhlbarg, et al. Win Obie Awards

The 2006-2007 Village Voice Obie Awards, honoring the best of Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway, were held on Monday, May 21 at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. The ceremony was hosted by Cynthia Nixon and T.R. Knight, with Angela Lansbury, William Ivey Long, Camryn Manheim, Stephanie March, Terrence McNally, Anika Noni Rose, Michael Cerveris, and Liev Schreiber as presenters.

Among the evening’s winners for Sustained Excellence were actors Betsy Aidem, Andre de Shields, and Ron Cephas Jones, composer Michael Friedman, and designers Beowulf Boritt and Robert Kaplowitz. Alvin Epstein received the Obie for Lifetime Achievement.

This season’s committee of judges includes Voice critic Michael Feingold (chairperson); playwright-director Adam Rapp; writer-director Ain Gordon; New York magazine critic Jeremy McCarter; Anne Dennin, executive director of PS 122; playwright-composer Kirsten Childs; and Voice theater critic Alexis Soloski.

A complete list of winners follows:

Lifetime Achievement
Alvin Epstein

Emerging Playwright Award ($1000 prize)
Young Jean Lee

The Ross Wetzsteon Award ($2000)
Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre

Performance
Betsy Aidem, Sustained Excellence of Performance
Donna Lynne Champlin, The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs
Andre De Shields, Sustained Excellence of Performance
Ain Gordon, Stories Left To Tell
David Greenspan, Faust and Some Men
Nina Hellman, Trouble In Paradise
Ron Cephas Jones, Sustained Excellence of Performance
Nancy Opel, My Deah
Roslyn Ruff, Seven Guitars
James Saito, Durango
Michael Stuhlbarg, The Voysey Inheritance

Nilaja Sun, No Child
Harris Yulin, Frank’s Home
Ensemble, Tale of 2Cities

Playwriting
Adam Bock, The Thugs

Direction
Lou Bellamy, Two Trains Running
Anne Kauffman, The Thugs
Matthew Maguire, Abandon

Eirik Stubo, The Wild Duck
Chay Yew, Durango

Music and Choreography
Michael Friedman, Sustained Excellence in Music
Bill T. Jones, Spring Awakening
Lin-Manuel Miranda, In The Heights

Design
Beowulf Boritt, Sustained Excellence in Set Design
Robert Kaplowitz, Sustained Excellence in Sound Design
Rae Smith, Set and Costume Design, Oliver Twist

Special Citations
Daniel Beaty, Emergence-SEE
Edward Hall & Propeller, Taming of the Shrew
Tim Crouch, An Oak Tree
The Living Theatre, Ensemble and director Judith Malina, The Brig

Grants

Transport Group

Peculiar Works Project

Synapse Productions

The Play Company