Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton Wins Big at 2015 OBIE Awards; Complete List of Honorees Announced

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway-bound Hamilton continued its off-Broadway awards sweep at the 60th Annual OBIE Awards on May 18, picking up the night’s big prize, Best New American Theatre Work. The awards feature informal categories that change annually, recognizing excellence in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theater. As previously reported, Signature Theatre’s Founding Artistic Director James Houghton received the OBIE Award for Sustained Achievement. The ceremony at Webster Hall was hosted by OITNB’s OBIE Award-winning actress Lea DeLaria and presenters included Sting, Jesse Eisenberg, Stockard Channing, Billy Crudup, Tommy Tune, T.R. Knight, Tony Kushner and LaChanze.

A complete list of awards follows:

Best New American Theatre Work (includes $1,000 check)
Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, direction by Thomas Kail, arrangements/orchestrations/music direction by Alex Lacamoire

Performance
Usman Ally, The Invisible Hand
Firdous Bamji, Indian Ink
Brooke Bloom, You Got Older
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Between Riverside and Crazy
April Matthis, Sustained Excellence of Performance
John Douglas Thompson, Tamburlaine & The Iceman Cometh

Playwriting
Ayad Akhtar, The Invisible Hand
Clare Barron, You Got Older
Suzan-Lori Parks, Father Comes Home From the Wars Parts I, II, & III

Direction
Trip Cullman, Punk Rock
Anne Kauffman, Sustained Excellence of Direction
Darko Tresnjak, The Killer

Design
Abigail DeVille, Prophetika: An Oratorio
Christine Jones, Sustained Excellence of Set Design
Ben Stanton, Sustained Excellence of Lighting Design
Japhy Weideman, Sustained Excellence of Lighting Design

Special Citations
Kate Benson (writer) and Lee Sunday Evans (director), A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes
Bootycandy, writer/director Robert O’Hara, actors Philip James Brannon, Jessica Frances Dukes, Jesse Pennington, Benja Kay Thomas, Lance Coadie Williams
Catch (performance series), Andrew Dinwiddie, Caleb Hammons, Jeff Larson
Bridget Everett, Rock Bottom
Bush Moukarzel and Dead Centre, Lippy
Andrew Schneider, Youarenowhere

OBIE Grants ($2,500 to each theater)
Horse Trade Theater Group / The Fire This Time Festival
JACK (Arts Center)

The Ross Wetzsteon Award (includes $1,000 check)
Ars Nova

Sustained Achievement Award
James Houghton