Annie Baker and More Among Judges For 57th Annual Obie Awards

Playwright Annie Baker (Circle Mirror Transformation, The Aliens) will be among the guest judges on the 2011-12 panel for the Village Voice's 57th annual Obie Awards, which honor the best of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway. The ceremony will take place on May 21, 2012.

Also set to join Baker as judges are director Anne Kauffman (The Thugs), playwright and screenwriter Jose Rivera (an Oscar nominee for The Motorcycle Diaries) and Time Out New York theater critic Helen Shaw. The guests will be joined by the Voice's chief theater critic Michael Feingold (who has been named the first ever Obies Chariman Emeritus) and the paper's Arts and Culture editor Brian Parks (who will serve as the 2011-12 Obie Chairman.) Voice critic Alexis Soloski will also participate on the committee.

Founded in 1955 by Voice cultural editor Jerry Tallmer, the Obie Awards do not publicize nominations or employ set categories annually. The judges select outstanding artists and productions and may even invent new categories to reward artistic merit.