The people who began Off-Off Broadway were free spirits and bohemians, who rejected the restrictions of commercial theater.
I believe that the New York Innovative Theatre Awards is an attempt to do the exact opposite - turn Off-Off Broadway into another version of commercial theatre, complete with group-think, control by the in-crowd, and bullshit awards.
I'm sure if the gang at NYIT had met up with the early Off-Off Broadway pioneers and heard them going on about things like a playwright's right to produce their own play without a director "licensing" it to them - as Edward Einhorn tried to do to me - they would consider that "shitting on the floor" too - because if there's one thing NYIT can't stand it's people who are non-compliant and unmutual. People who express themselves with just a little too much passion make the corporate conformists at NYIT uncomfortable.
I knew NYIT was all about control and PR bullshit since the time, many years ago I wrote a review for them. More about that soon.