FAT HAM, TITANIQUE & More Win 2023 Off Broadway Alliance Awards

The Off Broadway Alliance, an organization of Off-Broadway producers, theaters, general managers, press agents, and marketing professionals, today announced the winners of the 12th Annual Off-Broadway Alliance Awards, honoring commercial and not-for-profit productions that opened Off Broadway during the 2022-2023 season. In each of the six categories, the winners are: Titanique, Best New Musical; Fat Ham, Best New Play; Endgame, Best Play Revival; Merrily We Roll Along, Best Musical Revival; Asi Wind’s Inner Circle, Best Unique Theatrical Experience; and Walking With Bubbles, Best Solo Performance. The ceremony will be held on Tuesday, June 20th at 2:00PM at Sardi’s.
 
In addition to the competitive awards, Legend of Off Broadway Awards will be presented to Alison Fraser, David Rothenberg, and Nicholas Viselli for their extraordinary contributions over many years; Andrew Leynse, Robert Patrick, and Susan Schulman will posthumously be inducted into the Off Broadway Hall of Fame, and the Friend of Off-Broadway Award will be presented to Jeff Whiting, Director and Choreographer, owner of Open Jar Studios, and Founding Artistic Director of the Open Jar Institute.

2023 OFF BROADWAY ALLIANCE AWARDS
 
BEST NEW PLAY                 

Cowboy
Fat Ham
On that Day in Amsterdam
Peerless
Which Way to the Stage                                                                                                      

BEST PLAY REVIVAL                     

A Raisin in the Sun
Candida
Endgame
God of Carnage
The Rat Trap

 BEST NEW MUSICAL         

Only Gold
Stranger Sings
The Bedwetter
Titanique
Weightless

 BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL                     

A Man of No Importance
Merrily We Roll Along
Vanities                                                                                                                         

BEST UNIQUE THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE   

Asi Wind's Inner Circle
Hyprov

BEST SOLO PERFORMANCE

Colin Quinn: Small Talk
Mister Miss America
Sugar Daddy
The Near Disaster of Jasper & Casper
Walking With Bubbles

2023 Legend of Off Broadway Awards

Alison Fraser is one of Off-Broadway’s most versatile and dedicated actresses.  She made her Off-Broadway debut in 1979 at Playwrights Horizon in William Finn’s musical In Trousers.  In the intervening years, she has appeared Off Broadway dozens of times playing a series of diverse roles in such acclaimed productions as March of the Falsettos, Cat on A Hot Tin Roof, First Daughter Suite, The Divine Sister, The Green Heart, Beehive, Swingtime Canteen and Enter Laughing. She created the dual roles of Monica & Josefine in Romance/Romance off-Broadway, before taking the show to Broadway where she earned a Tony nomination. 
 
David Rothenberg is a theatrical publicist and producer whose career led him to become one of the country’s foremost prisoners' rights activists. While producing the play Fortune and Men's Eyes Off-Broadway, he was inspired to found The Fortune Society organization, which advocates for prisoner's rights and works with former inmates to aid them in adjusting to life after prison. The organization began as post-show discussions at the Actor's Playhouse. Soon Rothenberg began arranging for ex-cons coming to The Fortune Society to attend shows. One former convict joked that when somebody gets out of prison in New York, "you get $40, a baloney sandwich, and two tickets to Alvin Ailey."
 
Nicholas Viselli is the artistic director of Theater Breaking Through Barriers, New York City’s only Off-Broadway theatre company dedicated to advancing the work of performers, writers and directors with disabilities. As an actor, director, sound designer, administrator and core company member since 1997, Mr. Viselli has acted in more than 20 TBTB productions and has produced and coordinated several of TBTB’s international tours including their visits to Japan to attend both the Bird International Theatre Festival and Japan’s National Festival for People With Disabilities. He studied at the Royal National Theatre in London.

Off Broadway Hall of Fame Inductees

Andrew Leynse's 21-year tenure as the Artistic Director of Primary Stages was marked by his unwavering dedication to the growth and advancement of American theater. Through his visionary leadership and commitment to nurturing emerging talent and to producing established playwrights such David Ives, Charles Busch, Theresa Rebeck, Terrance McNally, Donald Margulies and Horton Foote, he has left an indelible mark on the Off-Broadway scene, creating a legacy of groundbreaking productions and empowering countless playwrights to share their stories with the world.
 
Robert Patrick was a celebrated Off-Broadway playwright whose contributions have left an indelible mark on the theater world. With a career spanning several decades, Patrick was a prolific and influential voice, known for his bold and innovative storytelling.  He found his artistic home in the emerging Off-Off-Broadway scene of Caffe Cino of the early 1960s. He quickly became a prominent Off-Broadway playwright known for his daring and groundbreaking works, most notably The Haunted Host (1964), a groundbreaking work which tackled themes of homosexuality in a time when such subjects were rarely explored openly on stage. The Haunted Host established Patrick as a fearless and provocative playwright. Throughout his career, Patrick continued to push boundaries and explore diversity with his plays including Kennedy's Children, T-Shirts, and The Trial of Socrates.
 
Susan L. Schulman was a theatrical press agent for more than 30 years, specializing in live entertainment including Broadway, Off-Broadway, dance, film, special events, TV, books, and personalities. She also represented several not-for-profit theaters, including Repertorio Español, Circle in the Square, and Manhattan Theatre Club, among others. In 2013, Ms.  Schulman  published a memoir, Backstage Pass to Broadway, recounting the ups and downs of a life creating Broadway buzz.

Friend of Off Broadway

Jeff Whiting is a director and choreographer with work on Broadway, Television, Special Events and Concerts around the world. BROADWAY (Associate): Bullets Over Broadway, The Scottsboro Boys, Hair, Young Frankenstein, Big Fish. NATIONAL TOUR: Bullets Over Broadway, Hairspray, The Producers, Young Frankenstein, The Rockin’ Road to Dublin. SPECIAL EVENTS/CONCERTS: James Taylor Live at Carnegie Hall. BUSINESS: Jeff is the owner of Open Jar Studios, creator and founder of Stage Write Software, the standard method for documenting choreography, the Founding Artistic Director of The Open Jar Institute, a premiere music theatre training program, co-creator of the job matching platform Gignition, The Broadway Relief Project, and was featured in a TED Talk sharing his philosophy of “Open Jar Thinking”. Jeffwhiting.com
 
For more information about the Off Broadway Alliance and its programs, visit www.OffBroadwayAlliance.com and www.20at20.com