OBIE Awards 2009

The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards
bestowed by The Village Voice newspaper to theater artists and groups
in New York City. As the Tony Awards cover Broadway productions, the
Obies cover off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions. (There is
an unrelated OBIE Award presented annually by the Outdoor Advertising
Association of America for creative excellence in the world of
advertising.)

The Obie Awards were initiated by Edwin (Ed) Fancher, publisher of the
The Village Voice, who handled the financing and business side of the
project. They were first given in 1956 under the direction of theater
critic Jerry Tallmer. Initially, only off-Broadway productions were
eligible; in 1964, off-off-Broadway productions were made eligible.

With the exception of the Lifetime Achievement and Best New American
Play awards, there are no fixed categories and the winning actors and
actresses are in a single category titled performance. There are no
announced nominations.[1][2] Awards in the past have included
performance, direction, best production, design, special citations,
and sustained achievement. Not every category is awarded every year.
The Village Voice also awards annual Obie grants to selected
companies, totaling $10,000. There is also a Ross Wetzsteon Grant,
named after its former theater editor, in the amount of $2,000, for a
theatre that nurtures innovative new plays.[3]

Other awards for off-Broadway theater are the Lucille Lortel Awards,
the Drama Desk Awards, the Drama League Award, and the Outer Critics
Circle Awards.