2007 Obie Award Winners Announced

At a ceremony hosted by Cynthia Nixon and T.R. Knight on May 21, the winners of the 52nd Annual Village Voice Obie Awards were revealed. The Obie Award recipients are chosen by Village Voice critic Michael Feingold and a panel of judges including Kirsten Childs, Ain Gordon, Adam Rapp, Anne Dennin, Jeremy McCarter and Alexis Soloski.

A complete list of winners follows:

Performance
— Betsy Aidem, Sustained Excellence of Performance
— Donna Lynne Champlin for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
— Andre De Shields, Sustained Excellence of Performance
— Ain Gordon for Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell
— David Greenspan for Faust and Some Men
— Nina Hellman for Trouble in Paradise
— Ron Cephas Jones, Sustained Excellence of Performance
— Nancy Opel for My Deah
— Roslyn Ruff for Seven Guitars
— James Saito for Durango
— Michael Stuhlbarg for The Voysey Inheritance
— Nilaja Sun for No Child...
— Harris Yulin for Frank's Home
— The ensemble of Tale of 2Cities Winsome Brown, Michael Ray Escamilla, Tracey A. Leigh, Leo Marks Diane Rodriguez, Ed Vassallo, Heather Woodbury

Playwriting
— Adam Bock for The Thugs

Direction
— Lou Bellamy for Two Trains Running
— Anne Kauffman for The Thugs
— Matthew Maguire for Abandon
— Eirik Stubo for The Wild Duck
— Chay Yew for Durango

Music and Choreography
— Michael Friedman, Sustained Excellence in Music
— Bill T. Jones for his choreography of Spring Awakening
— Lin-Manuel Miranda for his music and lyrics for In the Heights

Design
— Beowulf Boritt, Sustained Excellence in Set Design
— Robert Kaplowitz, Sustained Excellence in Sound Design
— Rae Smith for the set and costume design of Oliver Twist

Lifetime Achievement Award
— Alvin Epstein

Emerging Playwright Award $1,000 prize
— Young Jean Lee

The Ross Wetzsteon Award $2,000 given to a theater that nurtures innovative plays
— Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre

Special Citations
— Daniel Beaty, writing and performance for Emergence-SEE
— Edward Hall & Propeller for Taming of the Shrew
— Tim Crouch for An Oak Tree
— The Living Theatre, Ensemble and director Judith Malina, The Brig Ensemble: Gene Ardor, Johnson Anthony, Kesh Baggan, Steven Scot Bono, Gary Brackett, Brent Bradley, Brad Burgess, John Kohan, Albert Lamont, Peter Lester, Jeff Nash, Josh Roberts, Bradford Rosenbloom, Jade Rothman, Isaac Scranton, Morteza Tavakoli, Evan True, Antwan Ward, Louis Williams; Steve Ben Israel, ensemble director

Grants totalling $10,000
— Transport Group
— Peculiar Works Project
— Synapse Productions
— The Play Company