We are very pleased to announce the nominees and special honorees for the 10th Annual Off Broadway Alliance Awards!

Awards will be 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 winners will be announced live at 11AM on Tuesday, May 19th on the OBA’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/offbroadwayalliance. Due to the shutdown, the awards ceremony will take place this fall (date and location TBD).

In addition to the competitive awards, Legend of Off Broadway Awards will be presented to Gretchen Cryer, Woodie King, Jr., Eric Krebs and Barbara Zinn Krieger for their extraordinary contributions over many years. Mark Blum, Wynn Handman and Julia Miles will be posthumously honored with induction into the Off Broadway Hall of Fame. Last but not least, the Friend of Off Broadway Award will be presented to The Drama Bookshop for their continued dedication to Off Broadway.

Please read on for a complete list of nominations and honorees! Congratulations to all on a beautiful season of Off Broadway theatre.

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 / Produced by Atlantic Theater Company and LAByrinth Theater 

 Life Sucks / 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 and Jamie DeRoy

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 / 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 / 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 / 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. / 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 / Created and written by Bill Posley / Produced by Kristen Boulé 

 Aedín Moloney in Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom / Adaptation by Aedín Moloney and Colum McCann / Produced by Irish Repertory Theatre

Best Family Show

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 / 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 

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 the 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 

A posthumous award honoring a lifetime of extraordinary contributions to Off Broadway

Mark Blum: An actor whose Off Broadway career spanned over five decades and 26 productions

Wynn Handman: Off Broadway Director and teacher and Co-Founder and Artistic Director of The American Place Theatre 

 Julia Miles: Trailblazing Founder of the Women’s Project 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

 

In light of current efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Off Broadway Alliance has decided to move our meetings online until it is once again safe to hold in-person events. The April meeting of the Alliance will be held on Tuesday, April 14th (the second Tuesday of the month), beginning at 5PM and running until 6PM.

We will be holding the meeting via the popular videoconference app Zoom – please read on for detailed instructions on how to join us!

There are a couple of ways to join a meeting on Zoom:

The first and easiest way is to click this link a few minutes before the meeting starts: OBA April Meeting. If you do not already have Zoom installed you will be prompted to download it; if you do, the link will open the app. If you’re unsure of how to use the app, we suggest trying to log in 5-10 minutes early.

Next, click “Join With Computer Audio.”

The second way is to join directly from the Zoom homepage.

Go to Zoom.us and click “Join Meeting” (you should see it in the upper right hand section of the page).

Enter the Meeting ID 877 799 676.

Again, if you do not already have Zoom installed, it will prompt you to download the app; if this happens, enter the meeting ID after the download is complete.

Whichever method you use, please be sure to mute yourself when you are not speaking by clicking the microphone icon in the bottom lefthand corner of the screen.

If you have any questions, please send them to peterb@offbroadwayalliance.com.

We look forward to seeing you at the April 14th OBA meeting!