Photo Coverage: 2010 Village Voice Obie Awards

The 55th Annual Village Voice OBIE Awards were presented on Monday, May 17, 2010, at a ceremony held at Webster Hall in Manhattan. Co-hosted by Michael Cerveris and former OBIE winner Anika Noni Rose, the awards were presented by J. Smith Cameron, Marin Ireland, Linda Lavin, Hamish Linklater, Michael Shannon, and Jennifer Westfeldt. BroadwayWorld was on hand to celebrate and brings you complete photo coverage below.

Entertainment for the ceremony was provided by the cast and band of the Broadway musical Fela!, including Tony nominee Sahr Ngaujah, a 2009 Obie Award winner for his performance in the show's title role during its previous Off-Broadway engagement. The performance was introduced by former OBIE winner Lillias White, currently playing "Mama Kuti" on Broadway. Antibalas, the nationally acclaimed, Brooklyn-based Afrobeat music collective to which Fela!'s band members belong, performed at the after-party that followed the ceremony.

Informally structured, with no strict categories, The Village Voice OBIE Awards honor excellence in every aspect of theater. Unlike most other entertainment awards, The Village Voice OBIE Awards publish no nominations. In the conviction that creativity is not competitive, the judges may give multiple OBIEs in any category, or even invent new categories, to reward exceptional artistic merit.

The Voice's chief theater critic, Michael Feingold, who chaired the OBIE Awards committee again this year, was recently honored as a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Criticism. The Pulitzer jury recognized Feingold "for his engaging, authoritative drama reviews that fuse passion and knowledge as he helps readers understand what makes a play or a performance successful."

His fellow judges this year included Voice critic Alexis Soloski and four guest judges: Andy Propst of AmericanTheaterWeb.com and TheaterMania, who also served as secretary to the committee; Kristin Marting, co-founder and current Artistic Director of HERE Arts Center, productions at which have received a total of 14 Obie Awards; Ralph B. Pena, a founding member and current Artistic Director of Ma-Yi Theater, a 2003 Obie Award winner for his work on Ma-Yi's The Romance of Magno Rubio; and three-time Tony Award nominee Martha Plimpton, winner of a 2001 Obie for her performance in Hobson's Choice, and currently filming a recurring role (Atlantic Theater Company).

OBIE WINNERS 2010

The Sustained Achievement Award
David Greenspan

Best New American Play (w/check for $1000)
Annie Baker, CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION and THE ALIENS

Performance
Ensemble, CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION (Playwrights Horizons)
(Reed Birney, Tracee Chimo, Peter Friedman, Deirdre O'Connell, Heidi Schreck)

Dane DeHaan, THE ALIENS (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater)

Jonathan Hammond, THE BOYS IN THE BAND (Transport Group)

Marc Damon Johnson, THE BROTHER/SISTER PLAYS (Public Theater)

Laurie Metcalf, A LIE OF THE MIND (The New Group)

Wendell Pierce, sustained excellence of performance

Juliet Rylance, AS YOU LIKE IT (Bridge Project/BAM)

Rocco Sisto, sustained excellence of performance

Playwriting
Enda Walsh, THE NEW ELECTRIC BALLROOM (Druid Theatre / St. Ann's Warehouse)

Directing
Sam Gold, CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION (Playwrights Horizons) and THE ALIENS (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater)

Pam MacKinnon, CLYBOURNE PARK (Playwrights Horizons)

Design / Music
Steven Dufala and Billy Blaise Dufala (machine design), MACHINES MACHINES
MACHINES MACHINES MACHINES MACHINES MACHINES (rainpan 43 /
HERE Arts Center)

Stephin Merritt (music & lyrics), CORALINE (MCC Theater)

Tyler Micoleau, sustained excellence of lighting design

Neil Murray (sets and costumes), Malcolm Rippeth (lighting), Gemma Carrington and Jon Driscoll (projection design), BRIEF ENCOUNTER (Kneehigh Theatre / St. Ann's Warehouse)

Special Citations
Ariane Mnouchkine & Théâtre du Soleil, LES ÉPHÉMÈRES (Lincoln Center Festival)

Taylor Mac, THE LILY'S REVENGE (HERE Arts Center)

The Ohio Theatre

Hoi Polloi and Rachel Chavkin, THREE PIANOS
(Hoi Polloi: Alec Duffy, Dave Malloy, and Rick Burkhardt) (Ontological)

Philippe Quesne and Gaëtan Vourc'h, L'EFFET DE SERGE (Vivarium Studio / Under the Radar)

Chris Wells, SECRET CITY

The Ross Wetzsteon Award (w/check for $1000)
Foundry Theatre

Obie Grants
Harlem School of the Arts

Ontological Incubator

Vampire Cowboys

For more information about the Obie Awards, and a complete winners list, please visit: Obies.villagevoice.com

Photo Credit: Linda Lenzi