Expected to present honors at the annual event are Viola Davis, Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, Denis O'Hare, Amy Sedaris and Lili Taylor. Tonya Pinkins will perform a selection from Caroline, or Change. This year's judges are playwright Tony Kushner; set designer Loy Arcenas; composer Diedre Murray; actor James Urbaniak; theatre scholar David Savran; director Evan Yionoulis; and the Voice's own Alisa Solomon and Charles McNulty.
Kushner, Arcenas, Murray, Yionoulis and Urbaniak have all won Obie Awards, which honor Off-Broadway theatre.