Tony-Nommed Plays Oslo, Indecent & Sweat Win 2017 Obie Awards; The Band's Visit Also Honored

Three 2017 Best Play Tony Award nominees whose Broadway runs were preceded by off-Broadway productions—Oslo, Indecent and Sweat—each won Obie Awards on May 22 in a ceremony held at Webster Hall. The Obies are non-competitive awards that recognize achievement in theater produced off-Broadway.

Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer winner Sweat was one of two plays to receive playwrighting accolades. Rebecca Taichman was honored for her directing work on Indecent by Paula Vogel, who was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. And Oslo was one of two plays named as Best New American Theater Work. Director Bartlett Sher and the play's full company were also honored with an ensemble award.

The new musical The Band's Visit by Itamar Moses and David Yazbek took home the Obie for Musical Theater, with David Cromer recognized for his direction. Special citations were given to Anna Deavere Smith for her solo play Notes from the Field and Taylor Mac for his work A 24-Decade History of Popular Music.

Obie winner Lea DeLaria hosted the awards ceremony with presenters and performers that included Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Daphne Rubin-Vega and LaChanze. The full list of winners can be found below.

Best New American Theater Work ($500 prize each)
J.T. Rogers, Oslo 
Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard, Underground Railroad Game 

Playwriting
Christopher Chen, Caught 
Lynn Nottage, Sweat 

Musical Theater
Itamar Moses (book) and David Yazbek (music and lyrics), The Band’s Visit 

Directing
Arin Arbus, The Skin of Our Teeth 
Lileana Blain-Cruz, Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World 
David Cromer, The Band’s Visit 
Jack Cummings III, Picnic 
Rebecca Taichman, Indecent 

Ensemble
Bartlett Sher (director) and the cast of Oslo: Michael Aronov, Anthony Azizi, Adam Dannheisser, Jennifer Ehle, Daniel Jenkins, Dariush Kashani, Jeb Kreager, Jefferson Mays, Christopher McHale, Daniel Oreskes, Angela Pierce, Henny Russell, Joseph Siravo and T. Ryder Smith.

Lila Neugebauer (director) and the cast of The Wolves: Kate Arrington, Mia Barron, Brenna Coates, Jenna Dioguardi, Samia Finnerty, Midori Francis, Lizzy Jutila, Sarah Mezzanotte, Tedra Millan, Lauren Patten and Susannah Perkins.

Performance
Matthew Broderick, Evening at the Talk House and Shining City 
Bobby Cannavale, The Hairy Ape 
Kevin Geer, Sustained Excellence [in memoriam]
Kecia Lewis, Marie and Rosetta and The Skin of Our Teeth 
Heather MacRae, Come Back, Little Sheba 
Amy Ryan, Love, Love, Love 
Pete Simpson, Sustained Excellence
Michael Urie, Homos, or Everyone in America 

Design
Riccardo Hernandez, Sustained Excellence of Set Design
Dane Laffrey, Sustained Excellence of Set and Costume Design
Jared Mezzocchi, Projection Design, Vietgone 
Ryan Rumery, Sustained Excellence of Sound Design
Scott Zielinski, Sustained Excellence of Lighting Design

Special Citations
Anna Deavere Smith, Notes from the Field 
Taylor Mac, A 24-Decade History of Popular Music 

Obie Grants ($4,000 prize each)
Irish Repertory Theatre
Pearl Theatre Company
The Playwrights Realm

The Ross Wetzsteon Award ($3,000 prize)
Theatre for a New Audience

Lifetime Achievement Award
Paula Vogel

The Obie Award judges panel for this season included Village Voice columnist and longtime chair of the Obie judges Michael Feingold, Obie- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar, Entertainment Weekly theater critic Melissa Rose Bernardo, Obie-winning actor-singer Darius de Haas, Village Voice theater critic Miriam Felton-Dansky, Obie-winning actress Daphne Rubin-Vega and Obie-winning actress J. Smith-Cameron.