Lea DeLaria Hosts 60th Annual Obie Awards

The American Theatre Wing and the Village Voice are thrilled to announce that Screen Actors Guild Award-winning "Orange is the New Black" star and OBIE Award-winning actress Lea DeLaria will host the 60th Annual OBIE Awards, which will be held on Monday, May 18, 2015 at Webster Hall.

"When I was a teenager, I used to read about actors receiving Obies," said DeLaria. "I thought to myself how cool it would be to have an Obie, then some 20 years later, I was given one. At that time I thought to myself what could be cooler than winning an Obie? Now some 18 years later I know, it's hosting The Obies. I could not be more excited."

DeLaria seems to have achieved overnight stardom with her stand-out role as 'Carrie 'Big Boo' Black' in the Netflix hit series "Orange is the New Black." However, DeLaria's multi-faceted career as a comedian, actress and jazz musician, has in fact, spanned decades. She holds the distinction of being the first openly gay comic on television in America, which led to countless Television and Film roles portraying police lieutenants, PE teachers and the lesbian who inappropriately hits on straight women.

Selected TV credits include "Awkward," "Clarence," "Californication," "One Live to Live," "Law and Order: SVU," "Will and Grace," "The Oblongs," "Friends" & "Matlock." Selected film credits include "First Wives Club," "Dear Dumb Diary" and "Edge of Seventeen." She's received Obie & Theater World Awards, and a Drama Desk nomination for her portrayal as 'Hildy' in the Public Theatre's revival of "On The Town," an Ovation nomination for "The Boys From Syracuse," and has played both Eddie & Dr. Scott in the gender-bending Broadway musical "The Rocky Horror Show."

DeLaria was the featured vocalist at the 50th Anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival, and has performed in some of the most prestigious houses in the world including Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony, Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, The Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House. She has five records on the Warner Jazz and Classics label and her book "Lea's Book of Rules for the World" is in its third printing at Bantam Doubleday and Dell. Her sixth record, "House Of David delaria+bowie=jazz," will be released mid-summer.

As was previously announced, the American Theatre Wing has entered into a partnership with the Village Voice to co-present The OBIE Awards, Off Broadway's Highest Honor. The OBIE Awards judging panel was led by longtime OBIE Committee Chairman Michael Feingold and included playwright Adam Bock, orchestrator Bruce Coughlin, director Lear deBessonet, scenic designer Mimi Lien, critic David Rooney, Village Voice critic Tom Sellar, and director Liesl Tommy.

The Village Voice and the American Theatre Wing are grateful to the following sponsors and partners for their support of The OBIE Awards: Athletics, Barefoot Wine & Bubbly, Casa Nonna, Clear Channel Spectacolor, The Howard Gilman Foundation, The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Stella Artois, and The Trine Group.

The Village Voice created The OBIE Awards, at the suggestion of then editor Jerry Tallmer, soon after the publication's own inception in 1955, to encourage the newly burgeoning Off-Broadway theater movement and to acknowledge its achievements. The OBIES are structured with informal categories, to recognize artists and productions worthy of distinction in each theatrical year. Over the decades, the OBIE Awards have played a major role in the Voice's long history of championing work of innovative and exceptional quality Off and Off-Off Broadway. The Village Voice put the new downtown theater movement on the map with its in-depth coverage, becoming a forum for conflicting viewpoints which helped generate excitement over new works and new approaches to theater-making.

The OBIES have become a theatrical tradition, a meaningful way to acknowledge the best artistic achievements of downtown theater. The list of actors, writers, directors, and designers who have received OBIES at pivotal moments in their careers is a virtual who's who of contemporary theater. While the categories of the awards have continued to change almost annually, the creative spirit remains the same. The OBIE Awards continue to salute a theatrical movement that's as important, and as vibrant, today as it was in 1955.