Dustin Hoffman, Rue McClanahan, Austin Pendleton -- It's Obies 1970!

29 'Obies' Awarded For 1969-1970 Season

The 15th annual Village Voice Off-Broadway awards were presented Monday night at the Village Gate. More than 500 guests gathered to applaud the 29 winners of the 1969-70 "Obies." Dustin Hoffman, who won an "Obie" as best actor in 1966 for his performance in "The Journey of the Fifth Horse," made the presentations -- the most in the history of the awards, the previous high being 25 in 1966.

After selections from "Elephant Steps" -- which later won an "Obie" for Richard Foreman and Stanley Silverman of the Hysterical-Ontological Theatre -- Voice associate editor Ross Wetzsteon introduced this year's judges, John Lahr of The Voice, Jack Kroll of Newsweek, and John Simon of New York Magazine.

After presentation of 11 "Obies" for distinguished performances, selections from "Sambo" were performed by Ron Stewart and members of the original Public Theatre cast. The ceremonies proceeded smoothly through the presentation of six special citations and four directorial awards...

VILLAGE VOICE OFF-BROADWAY AWARDS

Season 1969-1970

Best Play (tie): Paul Zindel ("The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds"), Megan Terry ("Approaching Simone")

Best Performance: Sada Thompson ("The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds")

Best Musical (tie): Gretchen Cryer, Nancy Ford ("The Last Sweet Days of Isaac"), Robert Livingston, Gary William Friedman, Will Holt ("The Me Nobody Knows")

Distinguished Playwriting: Murray Mednick ("The Deer Kill")

Best Foreign Play: Joe Orton ("What the Butler Saw")

Distinguished Playwriting: Vaclav Havel ("The Increased Difficulty Of Concentration")

Distinguished Performances: Beeson Carroll ("The Unseen Hand"), Vincent Gardenia ("Passing Through Exotic Places"), Harold Gould ("The Increased Difficulty of Concentration"), Anthony Holland ("The White House Murder Case"), Lee Kissman ("The Unseen Hand"), Ron Leibman ("Transfers"), Rue McClanahan ("Who's Happy Now?"), Roberta Maxwell ("Whistle in the Dark"), Austin Pendleton ("The Last Sweet Days of Isaac"), Frederick Weber ("The Last Sweet Days of Isaac"), Pamela Payton-Wright ("The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds")

Distinguished Direction: Alan Arkin ("The White House Murder Case"), Melvin Bernhardt ("The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds"), Maxine Klein ("Approaching Simone"), Gilbert Moses ("Slave Ship")

Special Citations: Charles Ludlam (The Ridiculous Theatrical Company), John Vaccaro (Theatre of the Ridiculous), Richard Foreman, Stanley Silverman ("Elephant Steps"), Gardner Compton, Emile Ardolino (projected media for "Oh! Calcutta!"), Chelsea Theatre Center (for distinguished production), Andre Gregory ("Alice in Wonderland")

Judges: Jack Kroll, John Lahr, John Simon

[Each weekday morning, we post an excerpt from another issue of the Voice, going in order from our oldest archives. Visit our Clip Job archive page to see excerpts back to 1956.]