Judges Named for 2007-2008 Obie Awards

A panel of judges has been named for the 53rd annual Village Voice Obie Awards, which honor the best of off-Broadway and off-off Broadway. The Obie ceremony will be held on May 19, 2008.

The Voice's chief theater critic Michael Feingold will again chair the Obie Awards committee for the 2007-2008 season. Joining him will be Voice critic Alexis Soloski, Variety critic Mark Blankenship, Bloomberg News editor and critic Jeremy Gerard, playwright-director Robert O'Hara 2007 Obie winner for his direction of In the Continuum, set designer Neil Patel twice an Obie winner for sustained excellence of design, and Time Out New York/New York Sun critic Helen Shaw.

The Obies do not publicize nominations or employ rigid categories in which a "Best" is selected. Instead, the judges select outstanding artists and productions in each category as winners, and may even invent new categories to reward artistic merit.