MEDIA ADVISORY FOR MONDAY, MAY 19, 2008
Media Contacts for the Village Voice Obie Awards:
OBIES - Gail Parenteau / Parenteau Guidance
(212) 532-3934 Gail@ParenteauGuidance.com
www.villagevoice.com/obies
some photos available on request
Village Voice - Julie Lichtenstein / Director of Public Relations
212-475-3300 Ext. 12252 juliel@villagevoice.com

Off-Broadway’s Highest Honor
The 53rd Annual Village Voice Obie Awards
The Obie Awards Ceremony Goes Global With First-Ever Live Webcast


Co-Hosted by:
Elizabeth Marvel & Bill Camp

Featuring:
A Performance From the Hit Rock Musical
PASSING STRANGE

Presenters:
Neil Patrick Harris
S. Epatha Merkerson
Julie White
Bradley Whitford

More Names To Be Confirmed

WHEN: Monday, May 19, 2008
Ceremony 8pm - (Finish approx. 10:30pm)

WHERE: Webster Hall – 125 East 11th Street

WHAT: The Obies are the freewheeling wild child of New York theater's awards world established in 1955 by then Village Voice theater editor Jerry Tallmer. The winners are chosen by a committee of critics and working theater artists, currently chaired by the Voice’s chief theater critic, Michael Feingold. Outside of annual awards for Lifetime Achievement and for Best New American Play, the Obies have no fixed categories and no listed nominations. Artists receive Obies on their own merit and not in competition with others. The Obie awards cover an astounding artistic range. Past recipients have included everyone from now-established superstars like Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, and Denzel Washington to incredibly talented people best known inside the special world of New York’s Off-Broadway theater.

Since the mid-1980s, The Village Voice has provided prize and grant money, which the judges award each year to deserving theater groups and individuals. These prizes and grants have enabled the winning recipients to continue producing groundbreaking theater. This year $10,000 in grant money will be awarded as well as $1,000 for a Best New American Play or emerging playwright, and $2,000 to the recipient of the Ross Wetzsteon Award which honors an institution that fosters the development of new theatrical voices.

PRINT: Don’t miss The Village Voice Obie issue – May 21st for complete winners list, photos, event coverage

WHO: Presenters include Neil Patrick Harris, Bradley Whitford, S. Epatha Merkerson, Bill Camp, Elizabeth Marvel, and Julie White. More names will be announced soon.

Entertainment PASSING STRANGE* www.passingstrangeonbroadway.com is the critically-acclaimed rock musical that moved from the Public Theater to Broadway. It follows a young musician’s journey from 70s Los Angeles through free-lovin’ Amsterdam, to the anarchy 80s Berlin in his search to find something real.

Judges The Obies were chaired by the Voice’s chief theater critic Michael Feingold and his committee of judges Voice critic Alexis Soloski; Variety critic Mark Blankenship; Bloomberg News editor and critic Jeremy Gerard; playwright-director Robert O’Hara (2007 Obie winner for In the Continuum); set designer Neil Patel (twice an Obie winner for sustained excellence of design); and Time Out New York / New York Sun critic Helen Shaw. Clint Allen serves as secretary to the committee.

WATCH: For the first time ever, the OBIES presentation ceremony* will be webcast online via iClips.net on www.villagevoice.com/obies

SPONSORS: Stella Artois, Crunch, Macy’s, iClips Network LLC, Chinatown Brasserie, Sea Grape Wine Shop

ABOUT THE VILLAGE VOICE:
Founded by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, and Norman Mailer in October 1955, The Village Voice introduced free-form, high-spirited and passionate journalism into the public discourse. As the nation's first and largest alternative newsweekly, the Voice maintains the same tradition of no-holds-barred reporting and criticism it first embraced when it began publishing over fifty years ago. The recipient of three Pulitzer prizes, the National Press Foundation Award, and the George Polk Award, among others, the Voice has earned a reputation for its groundbreaking investigations of New York City politics, and as the premier expert on New York's art and cultural scene.

The Village Voice is also the creator of such celebrated events as the Obie Awards, Siren Music Festival, Emerging Artist Series, Choice Eats, as well as the most anticipated issues and guides of the year including the annual Pazz and Jop music poll, Best of NYC, and its Spring, Summer, and Fall Preview guides, the Voice is New York's most influential must-read alternative newspaper in print and online at www.villagevoice.com where the site averages 2 million unique users each month.

Note: The Village Voice Obies are by invitation only. Press should call for credentials. This is an unreserved seating event. There are no tickets for sale.