Village Voice Announces Judges for the 51st Annual Obie Awards

The Village Voice, the nation's largest alternative weekly newspaper, has announced the judges for the 2005-2006 Obie Awards. 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.

The award ceremony will be held in May 2006 in New York City.