Obie Award for Best ActressAwarded for Best Performance by an Actress in a Off-Broadway or Off-Off Broadway production Location United States New York City Presented by The Village Voice Website http://www.obieawards.com/
The Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress was first presented in 1956. The award has no nominees and there is no set number of winners per year. Each performance listed by year below was given an award and they are listed in no particular order. The award can be for a lead or supporting performance and in a play or musical. On occasion, the Obie Awards committee will give an actress an award for sustained excellence of performance to recognize their contributions to Off-Broadway theatre. There is also a separate ensemble award given to recognize entire casts without singling out a particular performer, as they have below. On occasion, the committee gives an actress an award for sustained lifetime achievement , listings for which are also included below. The Obie Award is for performances Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway in New York City only, and is one of the most respected theatre awards given in the United States.[1] [2] In 2014, Sydney Lucas became the youngest winner in OBIE history, at age 10. [3]
‡ - indicates the performance was also nominated for the Tony Award after transferring to Broadway .
1950s [ ]
1960s [ ]
1970s [ ]
1980s [ ]
Year
Winners
Play / Musical
Character
1980
Lindsay Crouse
Reunion & Dark Pony & The Sanctity of Marriage
Carol Mindler / Daughter / Wife
Hattie Winston
Mother Courage and Her Children & The Michigan
Yvette Pottier / -
Elizabeth Franz
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains & The Actor's Nightmare
Sister Mary Ignatius / Sarah Siddons
Dianne Wiest
The Art of Dining
Elizabeth Barrow Colt
Madeleine le Roux
la Justice
-
1981
Meryl Streep
Alice in Concert
Alice
Michele Shay
Meetings
Jean
Mary Beth Hurt
Crimes of the Heart
Meg MaGrath ‡
Mary McDonnell
Still Life
Cheryl
1982
Carole Shelley
Twelve Dreams
Dorothy Trowbridge
Irene Worth
The Chalk Garden
Miss Madrigal
Christine Estabrook
Pastorale
Rachel
E. Katherine Kerr
Cloud Nine
Ellen / Mrs. Saunders
1983
Glenn Close
The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs
Albert Nobbs
Christine Baranski
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Helena
Ruth Maleczech
Hajj
The Woman
1984
Kathy Baker
Fool for Love
May
Ruth Maleczech
Through the Leaves
Annette
Pamela Reed
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Sheila Dabney
Sarita
Sarita
Dianne Wiest
Serenading Louie & Other Places
Gabby / Deborah
1985
Laurie Metcalf
Balm in Gilead
Darlene
Frances Foster
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Meredith Monk
for sustained excellence of performance
-
1986
Norma Aleandro
About Love and Other Stories About Love
Various Characters
Jill Eikenberry
Lemon Sky & Life Under Water
Ronnie / Jinkx
Elizabeth Wilson
Anteroom
Fay Leland
Kathryn Pogson
Aunt Dan and Lemon
Lemon
Helen Stenborg
Talley & Son
Netta Talley
Elisabeth Welch
Time to Start Living
Various Characters
Swoosie Kurtz
The House of Blue Leaves
Bananas Shaughnessy ‡
1987
Robin Bartlett
The Early Girl
Jean
Dana Ivey
Driving Miss Daisy
Daisy Werthan
Laura Hicks
On the Verge
Alexandra Cafuffle
Gcina Mhlope
Born in the RSA
Sindiswa
Clarice Taylor
Moms
Moms Mabley
1988
Kathy Bates
Frankie and Johnny
Frankie
Yvonne Bryceland
The Road to Mecca
Miss Helen
Tina Shepard
The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol
Lucie Cabrol
Gordana Rashovich
A Shayna Maidel
Lusia Weiss Pechenik
Lauren Tom
American Notes
Pauline
Peggy Shaw
Dress Suits to Hire
Deeluxe
Amy Irving
The Road to Mecca
Elsa Barlow
1989
Kathy Najimy
The Kathy and Mo Show: Parallel Lives
Various Characters
Irene Worth
for sustained lifetime achievement
-
Nancy Marchand
The Cocktail Hour
Ann
Gloria Foster
The Forbidden City
Molly Hoffenburg
Mo Gaffney
The Kathy and Mo Show: Parallel Lives
Various Characters
1990s [ ]
Year
Winners
Play / Musical
Character
1990
Lillias White
Romance in Hard Times
Hennie
Mary Shultz
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Isabell Monk
Lear
Gloucester
Jean Stapleton
The Birthday Party & Mountain Language
Meg Bowles / Elderly Woman
Ruth Maleczech
Lear
Lear
Danitra Vance
Spunk
Various Characters
Pamala Tyson
Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom
Veronica / Us-seer / Aretha / Mrs. Smith
Karen Evans-Kandel
Lear
Edna
Marcia Jean Kurtz
The Loman Family Picnic & When She Danced
Doris Loman / Miss Belzer
Elżbieta Czyżewska
Crowbar
-
1991
Kathleen Widdoes
Tower of Evil
Margaret of Burgundy
Joan Copeland
The American Plan
Eva Adler
Jan Leslie Harding
Sincerity Forever
Furball #2
Anne Pitoniak
Pygmalion
Mrs. Higgins
Jodie Markell
Machinal
The Young Woman
Stockard Channing
Six Degrees of Separation
Ouisa Kittredge ‡
Angela Goethals
The Good Times are Killing Me
Edna Arkins
Eileen Atkins
A Room of One's Own
Virginia Woolf
1992
Lynne Thigpen
Boesman and Lena
Lena
Cherry Jones
The Baltimore Waltz
Anna
S. Epatha Merkerson
I'm Not Stupid
Mother
Deborah Hedwall
Sight Unseen
Patricia
Laura Esterman
Marvin's Room
Bessie
Ofelia Gonzales
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Randy Danson
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Anna Deavere Smith
Fires in the Mirror
Various Characters
1993
Jane Alexander
The Sisters Rosensweig
Sara Goode ‡
Míriam Colón
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Frances Conroy
The Last Yankee
Patricia Hamilton
Hallie Foote
Nightingale & Spring Dance
Annie Gayle Long
Ellen Parker
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Linda Stephens
Wings
Emily Stilson
1994
Myra Carter
Three Tall Women
A
Judith Ivey
The Moonshot Tape
Diane
Holly Hughes
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Alice Playten
First Lady Suite
Mamie Eisenhower / Lady Bird Johnson
Carolee Carmello
Hello Again
The Young Wife
Anna Deavere Smith
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Various Characters ‡
Gail Grate
The America Play
Lucy
Claudia Shear
Blown Sideways Through Life
Various Characters
1995
Mary Beth Peil
The Naked Truth & A Cheever Evening & Missing Persons
Nan Bemiss / Various Characters / Addie Pencke
Linda Lavin
Hotline & Central Park West
Dorothy / Carol
Kristine Nielsen
Dog Opera
Madeline Newell
Eileen Atkins
Vita and Virginia
Virginia Woolf
Barbara Eda-Young
Slavs!
Mrs. Domik / First Babushka
Felicity Huffman
The Cryptogram
Donny
Joanna Adler
The Boys in the Basement
-
Camryn Manheim
Missing Persons
Gemma Calabrese
Vanessa Redgrave
Vita and Virginia
Vita Sackville-West
1996
Mary Louise Wilson
Full Gallop
Diana Vreeland
Uta Hagen
for sustained lifetime achievement
-
Terri Klausner
Bed and Sofa
Ludmilla
Adina Porter
Venus
Mrs. Sartje Baartman / The Venus Hottentot
Lisa Gay Hamilton
Valley Song
Veronica Jonkers
Virginia Rambal
The Elf Lady & Troy of America
Angela / -
Kathleen Chalfant
for sustained excellence in performance
-
Marty Pottenger
City Water Tunnel #3
Various Characters
1997
Karen Evans-Kandel
Peter and Wendy
The Narrator
Mary-Louise Parker
How I Learned to Drive
Li'l Bit
Tsai Chin
Golden Child
Eng Siu-Yong
Jennifer Dundas
Good as New
Maggie
Sharon Scruggs
The Trojan Women
Cassandra
Ching Valdes-Aran
Flipzoids
Aying
Joanne Camp
for sustained excellence of performance
-
1998
Adriane Lenox
Dinah Was
Mama Jones
Marie Mullen
The Beauty Queen of Leenane
Maureen Folan ‡
J. Smith-Cameron
As Bees In Honey Drown
Alexa Vere de Vere
Lea DeLaria
On the Town
Hildy Esterhazy
Yvette Freeman
Dinah Was
Dinah Washington
Elizabeth Marvel
Misalliance & Thérèse Raquin
Lina Szczepanowska / Thérèse Raquin
Mary Testa
On the Town & From Above
Madame Maude P. Dilly ‡ / Roz
Kate Valk
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Joan MacIntosh
More Stately Mansions
Deborah Harford
Heather Gillespie
Mamba's Daughters
Hagar
Karen Finley
The American Chestnut
Various Characters
1999
Kristine Nielsen
Betty's Summer Vacation
Mrs. Siezmagraff
Swoosie Kurtz
The Mineola Twins
Myra / Myrna
Kathleen Chalfant
W;t
Vivian Bearing
Viola Davis
Everybody's Ruby
Ruby McCollum
Mina Bern
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Peggy Shaw
Menopausal Gentleman
Various Characters
Carmelita Tropicana
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Lisa Kron
2.5 Minute Ride
Lisa
2000s [ ]
Year
Winners
Play / Musical
Character
2000
Eileen Heckart
The Waverly Gallery
Gladys Green
Debra Monk
The Time of the Cuckoo
Leona Samish
Cynthia Hopkins
Another Telepathic Thing
The Narrator
Elizabeth Marvel
A Streetcar Named Desire
Blanche Dubois
Lynne Thigpen
Jar the Floor
Lola
Charlayne Woodard
In the Blood
Hester
Lola Pashalinski
Gertrude and Alice
Gertrude Stein
Deb Margolin
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Dominique Dibbell
Jet Lag
Lincoln
2001
Mary-Louise Parker
Proof
Catherine ‡
Pamela Isaacs
Newyorkers
Various Characters
Jackie Hoffman
The Book of Liz
Various Characters
Janie Dee
Comic Potential
Jacie Triplethree
Stephanie Berry
The Shaneequa Chronicles
Shaneequa
Marian Seldes
for sustained lifetime achievement
-
2002
Elaine Stritch
Elaine Stritch At Liberty
Elaine ‡
Martha Plimpton
Hobson's Choice
Maggie Hobson
Yvette Ganier
Breath, Boom
Prix
Linda Emond
Homebody/Kabul
The Homebody
Juliana Francis
Maria del Bosco
Maria
2003
Rosemary Harris
All Over
The Wife
Fiona Shaw
Medea
Medea ‡
2004
Jayne Houdyshell
Well
Ann Kron ‡
Viola Davis
Intimate Apparel
Esther
Lili Taylor
Aunt Dan and Lemon
Lemon
Zilah Mendoza
Living Out
Ana Hernandez
Tonya Pinkins
Caroline, or Change
Caroline Thibodeaux ‡
Sarah Jones
Bridge and Tunnel
Various Characters ‡
Lisa Emery
Iron
Fay
Maude Mitchell
Maybou Mines DollHouse
Nora Helmer
2005
Elizabeth Marvel
Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler
Rosemary Allen
Good Samaritans
Rosemary
Mercedes Ruehl
Woman Before a Glass
Peggy Guggenheim
Cherry Jones
Doubt
Sister Aloysius Beauvier ‡
Deirdre O'Connell
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Vivienne Benesch
Going to St. Ives
Cora Gage
LaChanze
Dessa Rose
Dessa Rose
L. Scott Caldwell
Going to St. Ives
Mary N'Kame
2006
Lois Smith
The Trip to Bountiful
Carrie Watts
Sherie Rene Scott
Landscape of the Body
Rosalie
Julie White
The Little Dog Laughed
Diane ‡
Dana Ivey
Mrs. Warren's Profession
Kitty Warren
Christine Ebersole
Grey Gardens
Edith Bouvier Beale ‡
Meg MacCary
What Then
Diane
S. Epatha Merkerson
Birdie Blue
Birdie Blue
Marin Ireland
Cyclone
Erin
2007
Roslyn Ruff
Seven Guitars
Vera
Nina Hellman
Trouble in Paradise
Lily
Betsy Aidem
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Nancy Opel
My Deah
My Deah Hedgepeth / Lillie V
Donna Lynne Champlin
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
Cora Flood
Nilaja Sun
No Child
Various Characters
2008
Veanne Cox
for sustained excellence of performance
-
Rebecca Wisocky
Amazons and Their Men
The Frau
Lisa Gay Hamilton
Ohio State Murders
Suzanne Alexander
Kate Mulgrew
Iphigenia 2.o
Clytemnestra
Heidi Schreck
Drum of the Waves of Horikawa
Various Characters
2009
Birgit Huppuch
Telephone
Miss St
Saidah Arrika Ekulona
Ruined
Mama Nadi
2010s [ ]
Winners of more than one award [ ]
3 Wins
Gloria Foster
Marian Seldes
Ruth Maleczech
Swoosie Kurtz
Elizabeth Wilson
Laurie Metcalf
Lola Pashalinski
Elizabeth Marvel
Rosemary Harris
Frances Sternhagen
2 Wins
References [ ]
External links [ ]
Official website