Rip Torn, Stacy Keach, Frank Zappa -- It's Obies 1967!

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May 25, 1967, Vol. XII, No. 32

21 Win '67 'Obies'

The Village Gate was full to bursting at noon on Saturday for the 12th annual Village Voice Off-Broadway Awards. Barbara Harris, star of the Broadway musical "The Apple Tree," made the presentations. It was her third "Obie" appearance: in 1962 she won a Best Actress award for her performance in "Oh Dad, Poor Dad," and in 1964 she performed a skit with Alan Arkin at the "Obie" festivities.

The afternoon began with 20 minutes of musically sophisticated raunch-rock by the Mothers of Invention, who opened this week in their own musical, "Pigs and Repulsive" at the Garrick Theatre on Bleecker Street.

Then Edwin Fancher, publisher of The Village Voice, introduced Michael Smith, Voice theatre critic and "Obie" judge. They were joined on stage by Daniel Wolf, editor of the Voice; Jerry Tallmer, of the New York Post, who started the "Obies" and ran them from 1956 until 1962; the guest judges for the current season, Robert Pasolli and Ross Wetzteon; and Miss Harris. And the awards began...

VILLAGE VOICE OFF-BROADWAY AWARDS

Season 1966-67

Best Actor: Seth Allen ("Futz")

Best Director: Tom O'Horgan ("Futz")

Distinguished Plays: "Eh?" by Henry Livings, "Futz" by Rochelle Owens, "La Turista" by Sam Shepard

Distinguished Performances: Tom Aldredge ("Measure for Measure," "Stock Up on Pepper Cause Turkey's Going to War"), Robert Bonnard ("The Chairs"), Alvin Epstein ("Dynamite Tonite"), Neil Flanagan ("The Madness of Lady Bright"), Bette Henritze ("Measure for Measure," the Wilder plays, "The Displaced Person," "The Rimers of Eldritch"), Stacy Keach ("MacBird!"), Terry Kiser ("Fortune and Men's Eyes"), Eddie McCarty ("Kitchenette"), Robert Salvio ("Hamp"), Rip Torn ("The Deer Park")

Best Lighting: John Dodd ("The White Whore," "The Madness of Lady Bright," "Charles Dickens' 'Christmas Carol'")

Special Citation: La Mama Troupe, for presenting a repertory of distinguished Off Off-Broadway plays to European audiences

Special Citation: The Open Theatre, for maintaining a laboratory where a company of actors, directors, and playwrights confront the limits of contemporary theatre experience

Special Citation: Tom Sankey, for conceiving, writing, and performing "The Golden Screw" at Theatre Genesis

Special Citation: The Second Story Players, for consistent seriousness of purpose and superior standards of production

Special Citation (Joseph Cino Memorial Award): Jeff Weiss, for his plays "And That's How the Rent Gets Paid" and "A Funny Walk Home" and for his performances in both

Judges: Robert Pasolli, Michael Smith, Ross Wetzteon

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