The Otto René Castillo Awards for Political Theatre were established in 1998 to recognize and support theatre companies and artists engaged in creating political theatre. Despite increasingly inhibiting social and economic circumstances, there are theatres and theatre artists the world over, in venues large and small, that use their stages and talents to make positive and humane social, political, moral, philosophical and aesthetic statements.

It is our belief that the survival and development of these theatres is vital to the maintenance of a democratic environment in which dissenting views and political options are included in the cultural/political discourse of a society. We also believe that theatre plays an important role in extending humanity’s social imagination by exploring new ways of seeing and performing new and untested possibilities.

Over the past thirteen years, the Ottos have helped to create connections and build a political theatre community of diverse theatres and theatre artists from around the world. We see this as a vital element in the creative process for all involved.

The fourteenth annual Otto Awards will be held on Sunday, May 20, 2012 at 2:00 p.m.
For more information, please contact Diane Stiles at 212 356-8412.

Otto Award sculptures: 1998-present from David Nackman on Vimeo.

Otto Awards News

July / August 2004
from American Theatre
Awards and Prizes
Announcement of the 2004 Otto Award Recipients

June 02, 2004
from The New York Sun
Broadway After Dark
“It is a great honor to join the list of past and present recipients of the Otto Award,” veteran awardwinning actress Kathleen Chalfant told the Sun...”

May 20, 2003
from The San Francisco Chronicle
Theatre Section, by Robert Hurwitt
“Honors among thespians: The San Francisco Mime Troupe will be one of five recipients — with actor-director Joseph Chaikin — of the fifth annual Otto Awards for Political Theatre...