The winners of the 10th Annual Off Broadway Alliance Awards were announced today by Charles Bush and Julie Halston, with OBA President Peter Breger. The awards are presented in seven competitive categories: Best New Musical, Best New Play, Best Musical Revival, Best Play Revival, Best Unique Theatrical Experience, Best Solo Performance, and Best Family Show. The Off Broadway Alliance plans on celebrating this year’s winners with a reception this Fall.
In addition to the competitive awards, the Off Broadway Alliance has named Gretchen Cryer, Woodie King, Jr., Eric Krebs and Barbara Zinn Krieger as Legends of Off Broadway for their extraordinary contributions to the theater over many years. Mark Blum, Wynn Handman and Julia Miles have been inducted into the Off Broadway Hall of Fame posthumously in recognition of their long and influential careers, and The Drama Bookshop has been named this year’s Friend of Off Broadway for its continued dedication to and support of the Off Broadway community.
This year’s 2019-20 Off Broadway Alliance Award nominees and winners are:
Best New Play
Ain’t No Mo
By Jordan E. Cooper
Produced by the Public Theater
Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
By Stephen Adly Guirgus
Co-production of Atlantic Theater Company and LAByrinth Theater Compan
Life Sucks – WINNER
By Aaron Posner
Produced by Wheelhouse Theater
Make Believe
By Bess Wohl
Produced by Second Stage Theater
The Confession of Lily Dare
By Charles Busch
Produced by Primary Stages in Association with Jamie deRoy and Ted Snowden
Best Play Revival
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf
By Ntozake Shange
Produced by The Public Theater
Much Ado About Nothing
By William Shakespeare
Produced by The Public Theater
The Woman in Black –  WINNER
Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt
From the novel by Susan Hill
Presented by the McKittrick Hotel
Timon of Athens
By William Shakespeare
Produced by Theatre for a New Audience and Shakespeare Theater Company
Best New Musical
A Strange Loop –  WINNER
Book, Music & Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson
Produced by Playwrights Horizons and Page 73
Cambodian Rock Band
By Lauren Yee
Songs by Dengue Fever
Produced by Signature Theatre Company
Emojiland
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Keith Harrison and Laura Schein
Produced by Arborhouse Productions and Visceral Entertainment
Romeo & Bernadette: A Musical Tale of Verona and Brooklyn
Book & Lyrics by Mark Saltzman
Produced by Amas Musical Theatre and Eric Krebs
Sing Street
Book by Enda Walsh, Music & Lyrics by John Carney and Gary Clark
Produced by New York Theatre Workshop
The Secret Life of Bees
Book by Lynn Nottage
Music by Duncan Sheik
Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead
Produced by the Atlantic Theater Company
Best Musical Revival
Baby
Book by Sybille Pearson, Music by David Shire, Lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr.
Produced by Out of the Box Theatrics
Enter Laughing
Book by Joseph Stein, Music & Lyrics by Stan Daniels
Produced by The York Theater Company
Little Shop of Horrors
Book & Lyrics by Howard Ashman, Music by Alan Menken
Produced by Robert Ahrens, Hunter Arnold, Mickey Liddell, Curt Cronin, John Joseph, and Tom Kirdahy
Rock of Ages
Book by Chris D’Arienzo
Produced by S2BN Entertainment
The Unsinkable Molly Brown –  WINNER
Music and lyrics by Meredith Willson; book and new lyrics by Dick Scanlan, based on the original book by Richard Morris; music adaptation by Michael Rafter
Produced by Transport Group
Best Unique Theatrical Experience
Dana H. –  WINNER
By Lucas Hnath
Produced by Vineyard Theatre, Goodman Theatre, and Center Theatre Group
Midsummer: A Banquet
By William Shakespeare; adapted by Zach Morris and Victoria Rae Sook
Produced by Food of Love Productions and Third Rail Projects
Novenas for a Lost Hospital
By Cusi Cram
Produced by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo
Created and Performed by Katsura Sunshine
Produced by Joe Trentacosta, Yoshitaka Tanaka, Yumi Shinozaki, and Marie Fukuda
Best Solo Performance
Kathleen Chalfant in A Woman of the World
By Rebecca Gilman
Produced by The Acting Company and 59E59 Theaters
Keith Hamilton Cobb in American Moor
By Keith Hamilton Cobb
Produced by Evangeline Morphos, Frederick M. Zollo, Red Bull Theater, Elizabeth I. McCann, and Tom Shea
Harvey Fierstein in Bella Bella
By Harvey Fierstein
Produced by Manhattan Theatre Club
Ken Jennings in Gospel of John
Conceived by Ken Jennings
Produced by The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture
Bill Posley in The Day I Became Black –  WINNER
Created and written by Bill Posley
Produced by Kristen Boulé
AedÃn Moloney in Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom
Adaptation by AedÃn Moloney and Colum McCann
Produced by Irish Repertory Theatre
Best Family ShowÂ
Dog Man: The Musical
Music by Brad Alexander
Books and Lyrics by Kevin DelAguila
Based on the series by Dav Pilkey
Produced by TheatreWorks USA
Paddington Gets in a Jam
Created by Jonathan Rockefeller
Written by Doug Kmiotek
Based on the series by Michael Bond
Produced by Rockefeller Productions
She Persisted, The Musical  –  WINNER
Script & Lyrics by Adam Tobin
Music by Deborah Wicks La Puma
Adapted from the Book by Chelsea Clinton
Produced by Atlantic Theater Company
Taste the Clouds
Created by Hit the Lights! Theater Co.
Based on the book “Taste the Clouds†by Rita Marshall
Produced by New York Children’s Theatre
The Big One-Oh!
Music by Doug Besterman
Lyrics by Dean Pitchford
Book by Timothy Allen McDonald
Based on the Novel by Dean Pitchford
Produced by Atlantic Theater Company
SPECIAL HONOREES:Â
Legends of Off Broadway
Honoring sustained achievement Off Broadway
Gretchen Cryer, Off-Broadway Playwright, lyricist and actress, co-author of I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road
Woodie King, Jr., founding director of the New Federal Theatre in New York City and Off Broadway producer and director
Eric Krebs, Off Broadway producer and founder and director of Off-Broadway’s John Houseman Theater Center and Douglas Fairbanks Theater.
Barbara Zinn Krieger, founder of New York City Children’s Theater and Executive Director and founder of Vineyard Theatre.
Off Broadway Hall of Fame InducteesÂ
A posthumous award that honors a lifetime of extraordinary contributions to Off Broadway
Mark Blum, an actor whose Off Broadway career spanned over five decades and 26 productions, including The Waverly Gallery, The Model Apartment, and Rancho Viejo.
Wynn Handman, Off Broadway director and teacher, co-founder and Artistic Director of The American Place Theatre.
Julia Miles, trailblazing founder of the Women’s Project Theater (now known as the WP Theater).
Friend of Off Broadway
Award honoring persons or organizations for their steadfast support of the Off Broadway community over many years.
The Drama Bookshop, a bookstore serving the New York theater community by supporting and inspiring generations of theater artists for over 100 years.
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