Henry Street’s Abrons Arts Center Wins an Obie Award
By Chelsea Jupin
For the first time in its 99-year history, Henry Street Settlement’s Abrons Arts Center won a prestigious Obie Award at the 59th Annual Obie Awards Ceremony held last night at Webster Hall. The Obie Awards, given annually by the Village Voice, recognize excellence in Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway theater.
The Abrons received the Ross Wetzsteon Award, presented to a theater that nurtures innovative new plays and artists. A $1,000 grant accompanies the award, which is named for the former theater editor of the Village Voice.
Presenters Betsy Aidem (who make her NYC stage at the Abrons 30 years ago) and Lily Rabe said, “in a venerable 100-year-old community center on the Lower East Side, there’s an arts program with an exciting new feeling – revitalized, innovative, and vibrant, with new student courses, new artist residencies, and a teeming new calendar of events that involve some of the best-known, some of the newest, and some of the bravest downtown artists. To celebrate its newly reinvigorated life, the judges have voted to present the Ross Wetzsteon Award and a check for $1000 to the Abrons Arts Center of the Henry Street Settlement.”
Accepting the award, Jay Wegman, Artistic Director of the Abrons, in a blissfully brief speech (the award was the last given during the evening) thanked the Obie committee and gratefully acknowledged Richard Abrons (himself a noted playwright) and his wife Iris who were in the house. (The generosity of the Abrons’ family has been instrumental in the success of the Arts Center.)
David Garza, Executive Director of Henry Street, “Winning an Obie Award on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Arts Center is a wonderful endorsement of our commitment to the arts. Since our founding, Henry Street has made critical investments to create accessibility to the arts, which we believe are as necessary to the human spirit as food, shelter and clothing.”
