The 55th annual Obie Awards, given by the Village Voice for outstanding work Off-Broadway, anointed 29-year-old playwright Annie Baker and her two most recent plays — Circle Mirror Transformation and The Aliens — as this season’s discovery. And they are not alone in recognizing her achievement.

2010 OBIE AWARDS:

The Sustained Achievement Award
David Greenspan

Best New American Play (including cash prize of $1,000)
Annie Baker, CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION and THE ALIENS

Performance
Ensemble, CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION (Playwrights Horizons)
(Reed Birney, Tracee Chimo, Peter Friedman, Deirdre O’Connell, Heidi Schreck)

Dane DeHaan, THE ALIENS (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater)

Jonathan Hammond, THE BOYS IN THE BAND (Transport Group)

Marc Damon Johnson, THE BROTHER/SISTER PLAYS (Public Theater)

Laurie Metcalf, A LIE OF THE MIND (The New Group)

Wendell Pierce, sustained excellence of performance

Juliet Rylance, AS YOU LIKE IT (Bridge Project/BAM)

Rocco Sisto, sustained excellence of performance

Playwriting
Enda Walsh, THE NEW ELECTRIC BALLROOM (Druid Theatre / St. Ann’s Warehouse)

Directing
Sam Gold, CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION (Playwrights Horizons) and THE ALIENS (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater)

Pam MacKinnon, CLYBOURNE PARK (Playwrights Horizons)

Design / Music

Steven Dufala and Billy Blaise Dufala (machine design), MACHINES MACHINES
MACHINES MACHINES MACHINES MACHINES MACHINES (rainpan 43 /
HERE Arts Center)

Stephin Merritt (music & lyrics), CORALINE (MCC Theater)

Tyler Micoleau, sustained excellence of lighting design

Neil Murray (sets and costumes), Malcolm Rippeth (lighting), Gemma Carrington and Jon Driscoll (projection design), BRIEF ENCOUNTER (Kneehigh Theatre / St. Ann’s Warehouse)

Special Citations
Ariane Mnouchkine & Théâtre du Soleil, LES ÉPHÉMÈRES (Lincoln Center Festival)

Taylor Mac, THE LILY’S REVENGE (HERE Arts Center)

The Ohio Theatre

Hoi Polloi and Rachel Chavkin, THREE PIANOS
(Hoi Polloi: Alec Duffy, Dave Malloy, and Rick Burkhardt) (Ontological)

Philippe Quesne and Gaëtan Vourc’h, L’EFFET DE SERGE (Vivarium Studio / Under the Radar)

Chris Wells, SECRET CITY

The Ross Wetzsteon Award (w/check for $1000)
Foundry Theatre

Obie Grants

Harlem School of the Arts

Ontological Incubator

Vampire Cowboys