Obie Judges for 2008-09 Include Eisa Davis, Moises Kaufman and More

The Village Voice has announced the panel of judges for its 54th annual Obie Awards, honoring the best in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway for the 2008-09 seson. Voice chief theater critic Michael Feingold, will again chair the Obie Awards committee.

In addition to Feingold, the panel will include Voice critic Alexis Soloski and six guest judges: Eisa Davis, actress-playwright and Obie Award winner for her performance last year in Passing Strange; Eric Grode, theater critic at the New York Sun; Ty Jones, actor-playwright and 2003 Obie Award winner for his performance in The Blacks; Moises Kaufman, playwright-director Gross Indecency, The Laramie Project and 2004 Obie Award winner for his direction of I Am My Own Wife; Andy Probst, a Voice contributor and editor of AmericanTheaterWeb.com; and Chay Yew, playwright-director and 2007 Obie Award winner for his direction of Durango.

Unlike most theater awards, 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 major category as winners, and may even invent new categories to reward artistic merit.