Longtime OBIE Administration Committee chairman Michael Feingold will be joined by playwright Adam Bock, orchestrator Bruce Coughlin, director Lear deBessonet, scenic designer Mimi Lien, critic David Rooney, Village Voice critic Tom Sellar and director Liesl Tommy to form the OBIE Awards judging panel.

“We are very excited to embark on our first year as partners in presenting the OBIE Awards,” said Wing president Heather Hitchens and Village Voice publisher Josh Fromson in a statement. “Putting together a great judging panel is the single most important step in maintaining the integrity of the OBIE Awards. Michael Feingold’s constant dedication to this work is a tribute to the vision with which the late Jerry Tallmer founded the OBIE Awards to champion the downtown theater scene.”

“I am personally thrilled,” added Feingold, “to have such esteemed artists and critics – including five previous OBIE Award winners – as my colleagues on the OBIE panel this year.”

As previously reported, the American Theatre Wing has entered into a partnership with The Village Voice to co-present The OBIE Awards, Off-Broadway’s highest honor.

Productions that wish to invite consideration from the judges should send information to [email protected]. *

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."