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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

PRESENTERS ANNOUNCED FOR THE
6 3 ^{R D}   A N N U A L   O B I E   A W A R D S

CEREMONY TO BE HELD
MONDAY, MAY 21
AT TERMINAL 5

New York, NY (May 14, 2018) —The American Theatre Wing (Heather Hitchens, President and CEO) and The Village Voice (Peter Barbey, President and CEO) are thrilled to announce the star-studded line-up of presenters at the 63^rd Annual Obie Awards, being held on Monday, May 21, 2018 at Terminal 5 (610 West 56^th Street).

Presenters will include Academy Award^® and two-time Tony Award^® nominee Andrew Garfield, Emmy Award nominee Lucy Liu, two-time Tony Award and Obie Award winner Matthew Broderick, Tony Award nominee Oliver Platt, Tony Award winner Laura Benanti, Tony Award nominee Laura Osnes, Tony Award nominee Beth Malone, Tony Award nominee and Obie Award winner David Morse, Tony Award nominee and Obie Award winner Itamar Moses, Tony Award nominee and Obie Award winner Arian Moayed, six-time Tony Award winner William Ivey Long, six-time Tony Award winner Natasha Katz, Tony Award and three-time Obie Award winner David Henry Hwang, Tony Award winner David Zinn, Tony Award nominee Emilio Sosa, Lilli Cooper, New York City nightlife celeb Pixie Aventura, American Theatre Wing President and CEO Heather Hitchens, The Village Voice President and CEO Peter Barbey, and Chair of the Obie Judges Michael Feingold.

This year’s Obie Awards will be live streamed on the official Obie Awards Twitter account – www.twitter.com/@ObieAwards

Tickets to the 2018 Obie Awards are now available via www.ObieAwards.com.

As was previously announced, Emmy and Obie-winning actor John Leguizamo will host this year’s Obie Awards, and legendary Tony Award-nominated and three-time Obie Award-winning actress Kathleen Chalfant will receive a special Obie Award^® for Lifetime Achievement.

The Obie Award judges panel for this season is chaired by longtime Village Voice critic Michael Feingold, and includes Entertainment Weekly theater critic Melissa Rose Bernardo, Obie-winning projection designer Wendall K. Harrington, Broadway News theater critic Charles Isherwood, Tony Award-nominated and Obie-winning costume designer Toni-Leslie James, dancer-actress-director Sondra Lee, Tony Award-nominated and Obie-winning actor Arian Moayed, and Obie-winning actress Ching Valdes-Aran.

The production team for the 2018 Obie Awards includes J. Jason Daunter (Artistic Supervisor), Eric Cornell (Line Producer), P. Jason Yarcho (Musical Supervisor), Natasha Katz (Lighting Designer), Kai Harada (Sound Designer), Antje Ellermann (Scenic Designer), and Adam J. Thompson (Video Designer).

The Obie Awards Band is led by P. Jason Yarcho featuring the vocals of Brie Cassil, Lisa Ramey, and Yvette Rovira.

Sponsors of the 2018 Obie Awards are Nickelodeon, PRG, Athletics, and Serino Coyne.

For more information, visit www.ObieAwards.com.

ABOUT THE OBIE AWARDS

The Village Voice created the Obie Awards, at the suggestion of then editor Jerry Tallmer, soon after the publication’s own inception in 1955, to encourage the newly burgeoning Off Broadway theater movement and to acknowledge its achievements. The Obies are structured with informal categories, to recognize artists and productions worthy of distinction in each theatrical year. Over the decades, the Obie Awards have played a major role in the Voice’s long history of championing work of innovative and exceptional quality Off and Off-Off Broadway. The Village Voice put the new downtown theater movement on the map with its in-depth coverage, becoming a forum for conflicting viewpoints which helped generate excitement over new works and new approaches to theater-making. The Obies have become a theatrical tradition, a meaningful way to acknowledge the best artistic achievements of downtown theater.  The list of actors, writers, directors, and designers who have received Obies at pivotal moments in their careers is a virtual who’s who of contemporary theater. While the categories of the awards have continued to change almost annually, the creative spirit remains the same. The Obie Awards salute a theatrical movement that’s as important, and as vibrant, today as it was in 1955.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN THEATRE WING

One hundred years ago, on the eve of America’s entry into World War I, seven suffragettes—all women of the theatre—came together to form The Stage Women’s War Relief. A century later, the spirit and vision behind the founding of American Theatre Wing remains a touchstone for all we do. The Wing continues to champion bravery, with a focus on developing the next generation of brave artists. We envision an American Theatre that is as vital, multi-faceted, and diverse as the American people.

The Wing’s programs span the nation to invest in the growth and evolution of American Theatre. We provide theatre education opportunities for underserved students through the Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative, develop the next generation of theatre professionals through the SpringboardNYC, Theatre Intern Network, and SwingSeats programs, incubate innovative theatre across the country through the National Theatre Company Grants, support emerging musical theatre songwriters through the Musical Theatre Songwriting Challenge (co-presented with the NEA) and the Jonathan Larson^® Grants, and illuminate the creative process through the Emmy-nominated “Working in the Theatre” documentary series. In addition to founding the Tony Awards^® which are co-presented with The Broadway League, the American Theatre Wing co-presents the Obie Awards^®, Off Broadway’s Highest Honor, with The Village Voice.

Visitors to AmericanTheatreWing.org can gain inspiration and insight into the artistic process through the Wing’s extensive media collection, and learn more about its programming for students, aspiring and working professionals, and audiences. Follow the Wing on Twitter and Instagram @TheWing, and on Facebook.com/TheAmericanTheatreWing.

ABOUT THE VILLAGE VOICE

Founded in 1955 by a small group led by Norman Mailer, The Village Voice is the nation’s first alternative newsweekly. The winner of three Pulitzers, it built a reputation for itself as an aggressive interrogator of ‘the powers that be’ as well as a reliable resource for finding and promoting cutting edge arts and culture. Over the years it has been a home to a wide range of writers and artists, including e.e. Cummings, Katherine Anne Porter, Ezra Pound and James Baldwin plus photographer Fred McDarrah, Sylvia Plachy, cartoonist Lynda Barry, investigative journalists Wayne Barrett and Tom Robbins, music writer Robert Christgau and film writer J. Hoberman among many others.

Today, The Voice maintains its iconic progressive brand with its digital platform, a true showcase of content ranging from cultural journalism, political commentary to high-impact imagery.

For more information, visit www.villagevoice.com

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