Chinglish Director Leigh Silverman and More Among Judges for 58th Annual Obie Awards

Two-time Obie-winning director Leigh Silverman (Chinglish, In the Wake) will be among the guest judges on the 2012-13 panel for the Village Voice’s 58th annual Obie Awards. Each year the awards honor the best of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway. The date of the 2013 ceremony, along with the evening’s co-hosts, will be announced at a later time.

In addition to Silverman, the season's guest judges include Obie-winning playwright Erin Courtney (A Map of Virtue), Theater Magazine editor Tom Sellar and Mia Katigbak, artistic producing director and co-founder of the National Asian American Theatre Company. The guests will be joined by the Voice's chief theater critic Michael Feingold (who serves as the Obie’s Chairman Emeritus) and the paper's Arts and Culture editor Brian Parks (who will serve as the 2012-13 Obie Chairman). Voice critic Alexis Soloski will also participate on the committee.

Founded in 1955 by Voice cultural editor Jerry Tallmer, the Obie Awards do not publicize nominations or employ set categories annually. The judges select outstanding artists and productions and may even invent new categories to reward artistic merit.