We are thrilled that the 68th Obie Award committee has honored Talking Band founders, Ellen Maddow, Tina Shepard and Paul Zimet with Life Time Achievement Awards. And we are grateful for its beautiful tribute to our work. Here is what the award said:
OBIE AWARDS LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT, The Following Evening and Shimmer and Herringbone
“If theater is where body, ritual, and phenomena exist in temporal relationship, then perhaps theater legacy exists within individual bodies who carry the dreams, the memories, the praxis over time. These three artists, all former member of Joseph Chaikin’s Open Theater, started their own theater company in 1974, and have since contributed vibrantly to off-Broadway’s avant-garde landscape, committed to a rigorous but zany, playful but serious, profoundly theatrical aesthetic. For those who have had the pleasure of working with them, each opportunity to do so has been nothing short of a privilege. It is rare for a company to be putting up work for fifty years! Just this season they produced three original plays (you read that right…three!) that fully engaged audiences intellectually and emotionally – both on their own and in collaboration with 600 Highwaymen and with Mabou Mines. For their remarkable achievements over five decades and for being a source of inspiration to theater makers who aspire towards longevity, sustainability, and continuing their work a full throttle, the judges are thrilled to have awarded an Obie for Life Achievement to The Talking Band’s Paul Zimet, Ellen Maddow, and Tina Shepard.”
You can see Paul, Ellen’s, and Tina’s acceptance speeches with these links:
68th Obie Awards: Paul Zimet Acceptance Speech
68th Obie Awards: Ellen Maddow Acceptance Speech
68th Obie Awards: Tina Shepard Acceptance Speech