New York: The Nominating Committee of the Off Broadway Alliance has announced important dates for the 10th Annual Off Broadway Alliance Awards:
Nominations Announcement: Tuesday, April 28
Winners Announcement: Tuesday, May 19, 2019 via Facebook Live
Official Reception to be Held this Fall (Date TBD)
The Off Broadway Alliance is a non-profit corporation organized by theater professionals dedicated to supporting, promoting and encouraging the production of Off Broadway theater and to making live theater increasingly accessible to new and diverse audiences. The Alliance holds monthly meetings (currently via Zoom), and membership is open to everyone in the Off Broadway theater community. The organization includes Off Broadway producers, theaters, general managers, press agents, and marketing professionals, and the OBA Awards honor commercial and not-for-profit productions that opened Off Broadway during the 2019-2020 season (due to the theatrical shutdown, the last eligible date for consideration was March 11, 2020).
Nominations will be announced on Tuesday, April 28. Winners will be announced via FaceBook at 11am on Tuesday, May 19 at OBA’s homepage: https://www.facebook.com/offbroadwayalliance.
Awards will be presented in seven competitive categories: Best New Musical, Best New Play, Best Play Revival, Best Musical Revival, Best Unique Theatrical Experience, Best Solo Performance, and Best Family Show. Winners in all categories will be selected by the members of the awards committee of the Off Broadway Alliance.
In addition to the competitive awards, four Legend of Off Broadway Awards will be presented for sustained achievement in the world of Off Broadway and three new honorees will be posthumously inducted into the Off Broadway Hall of Fame. The Off Broadway Alliance will also continue its tradition of presenting the Friend of Off Broadway award, honoring a person or organization for steadfast support of the Off Broadway community.
Over the past ten years, the Off Broadway Alliance has recognized the extraordinary contributions to the theatre of the Legends of Off Broadway, including Edward Albee, Gerard Alessandrini, Avenue Q, Blue Man Group, Jo Bonnie, Charles Busch, André De Shields, Merle Debuskey, Christopher Durang, Harvey Fierstein, Athol Fugard, Rita Gardner, Edmund Gaynes, Andre Gregory, A.R. Gurney, Julie Halston, Tom Jones, Robert Kalfin, Linda Lavin, Terrence McNally, Charlotte Moore, Robert Moss, Kristine Nielson, Estelle Parsons, Austin Pendleton, Albert Poland, Everett Quinton, David Rabe, Daryl Roth, Catherine Russell, Harvey Schmidt, Wallace Shawn, Lois Smith, STOMP, Mary Testa, Paula Vogel, Sigourney Weaver, and Mary Louise Wilson.
And the OBA has posthumously honored these extraordinary men and women of the theatre with induction into the Off Broadway Hall of Fame: Alvin Epstein, Donald Farber, María Irene Fornés, Arthur Gelb, Philip Seymour Hoffman, James Houghton, Anne Jackson, Howard Kissel, Romulus Linney, Ruth Maleczech, Judith Malina, Theodore Mann, Nicholas Martin, Anne Meara, Marian Seldes, Ntozake Shange, Sam Shepard, Ellen Stewart, Elizabeth Swados, Eli Wallach, and Lanford Wilson.
The Off Broadway Alliance has recognized these extraordinary productions as the Best Off Broadway Plays and Musicals of the last decade::
2011:
NEWSical the Musical: Full Spin Ahead
Freud's Last Session
2012:
SILENCE! The Musical
Tribes
2013:
Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
2014:
Fun Home
Hand to God
2015:
Hamilton
Between Riverside & Crazy
2016:
Futurity
Exit Strategy
2017:
Ernest Shackleton Loves Me
Indecent
2018:
Desperate Measures
Transfers
2019:
Renascence
What the Constitution Means to Me
Among its initiatives, The Off-Broadway Alliance sponsors 20at20, the event that runs twice a year for 20 days and lets theatergoers purchase $20 tickets to dozens of Off Broadway shows 20 minutes before curtain. It also produces a free Seminar Series focusing on the culture, business, and history of Off Broadway featuring major players from the Off Broadway scene. The Alliance operates the OBA Mentorship Program, which provides new producers with guidance and direction from Off Broadway veterans. And the Alliance created the Off Broadway Economic Impact Report, which outlines Off Broadway's over $500 million annual impact on the economy of the City of New York.
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