Ebersole and Rashad to be Among Obie Presenters, May 15

Actors Christine Ebersole, Edward Hibbert, Christine Lahti and Phylicia Rashad; playwright Douglas Carter Beane and Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public Theater, have been announced as some of the presenters of this year's Obie Awards, which will be presented at NYU's Skirball Center (Washington Square at LaGuardia Place) on May 15th.

More presenters will be announced shortly.  The ceremony will last from 8 PM to 10:15 PM.  It will also feature a live performance by The Seven.  The show is a "hip-hop adaptation of Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes, which follows the struggles of Eteocles and Polynices, the two sons of the cursed King Oedipus, as they fight for the throne of Thebes. Will Power wrote and composed the tale — entirely in rhyming verse — which interweaves such musical styles as calypso, doo-wop, R&B, funk and blues," state press notes.

Cash Grants for artistic excellence and playwriting will be awarded. Also included will be a photo exhibit celebrating a half-century of Off-Broadway theater.

"For 50 years the The Village Voice Obie Awards have honored the best of Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway. Structured with informal categories that change annually, The Village Voice Obie Awards recognize persons and productions of excellence. Unlike most theater awards, The Village Voice Obie Awards do not have nominations. In the conviction that creativity is not competitive, the judges may give several Obies in each category, and may even invent new categories to reward artistic merit."

This year, the Obie committee includes: Obie-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, Obie-winning actor for sustained excellence Didi O'Connell, Obie-winning director David Herskovits, playwright and head of Columbia University graduate playwriting program Eduardo Machado, critic and Yale School of Drama professor Marc Robinson, Village Voice Chief Theater Critic Michael Feingold, Village Voice theater critic Alexis Soloski, and Village Voice theater editor and Chairman of the 2005-06 Obie Awards Committee Jorge Morales.