53rd Annual Obie Awards Held May 19; Judges Announced

The Village Voice, the nation's first and largest alternative weekly newspaper, announced the judges for the 53rd Annual Village Voice Obie Awards. The Voice's chief theater critic Michael Feingold will again chair the Obie Awards committee for this season. 

Joining him will be Voice critic Alexis Soloski and the following guest judges: Variety critic Mark Blankenship; Bloomberg News editor and critic Jeremy Gerard; playwright-director Robert O'Hara (2007 Obie winner for In the Continuum); set designer Neil Patel (twice an Obie winner for sustained excellence of design); and Time Out New York/New York Sun critic Helen Shaw.  Clint Allen will serve as secretary to the committee. The awards ceremony will be held on May 19, 2008 in New York City.

For more than half a century, The Village Voice Obie Awards have honored the best of Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway. Unlike most theater awards, the Obies do not publicize nominations or employ rigid categories in which a "Best" is selected. In the conviction that creativity is not competitive, the judges select outstanding artists and productions in each category, and may even invent new categories to reward artistic merit.  Past winners include well-known stars such as Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, William Hurt, Morgan Freeman, Mos Def, Amy Irving, Kevin Kline, Nathan Lane, Olympia Dukakis, Robert Duvall, Kevin Bacon, Alec Baldwin, Kathy Bates, James Earl Jones, Felicity Huffman, and Harvey Fierstein to name a few.  

Producer Eileen Phelan and publicist Gail Parenteau joyously return to serve the Village Voice Obies for the 15th consecutive year. Ms. Phelan will produce and direct the Obie Awards Ceremony and will also stage the event and coordinate the presenters, hosts and entertainment for the ceremony.  Ms. Parenteau will handle publicity and media relations and will assist with promotion and event execution.  

For details visit www.villagevoice.com/obies

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