Ruben Santiago-Hudson & Marlo Hunter Take Home Callaway Awards

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) proudly reveals this season's Joe A. Callaway Award winners for Direction and Choreography from more than 200 eligible productions in the 2012 - 2013 New York City theatre season. This year's awards will be presented to Ruben Santiago-Hudson for his direction of The Piano Lesson produced by Signature Theatre and Marlo Hunter for her choreography of Unlock'd produced by Prospect Theater Company. The winners join previous Joe A. Callaway Award Winners including Susan Stroman (1991), Harold Prince (1993), Julie Taymor (1996), Jack O'Brien (2001), Bartlett Sher (2002), Daniel Sullivan (2004), John Tiffany (2012) and Steven Hoggett (2012).

The Callaway Award Selection Committee, comprised of current longstanding SDC Members, also selected finalists from more than 200 productions considered this season. Finalists for the 2012 - 2013 Joe A. Callaway Award are:

Directors -

Davis McCallum, The Whale produced by Playwrights Horizons

Ciarán O'Reilly, The Weir produced by The Irish Repertory Theatre

Lisa Rothe, Hold These Truths produced by Epic Theatre Ensemble

*Ruben Santiago-Hudson, The Piano Lesson produced by Signature Theatre

Kimberly Senior, Disgraced produced by LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater

Choreographers -

Tracy Bersley, The Civil War produced by Theatreworks USA

Greg Graham, Finks produced by The Ensemble Studio Theatre

*Marlo Hunter, Unlock'd produced by Prospect Theater Company

*Signifies Award Winners

The 2012 - 2013 Joe A. Callaway Award recognizes excellence in the craft of direction and choreography during the New York City theatre season from September 1st, 2012, through August 31st, 2013, and is the only award given by professional directors and choreographers to their peers for work on a specific production. The production must take place within the five boroughs of New York City under an Actors' Equity Association contract other than the Showcase code and Broadway contract, and the artist must be a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Special thanks to our 2012-2013 Callaway Committee Members: Leslie (Hoban) Blake, Linda Burson (Chairperson), Jonathan Stuart Cerullo, Hope Clarke, Edie Cowan, John Going, Bruce Heath, Gus Kaikkonen, Sue Lawless, William G. Martin Jr., Barry McNabb, Michael Montel, and Tony Parise, who considered more than 200 eligible productions this season.

Joe A. Callaway dedicated more than 50 years to the theatre as an actor, director, lecturer and critic. He was a founding member and director of San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, the first recipient of a Master's degree from the Goodman School of Theatre, an associate professor at Michigan State University, a noted radio and television reviewer, and an actor off-Broadway and in regional theatre. Since his death in 1991, his legacy lives on in awards he endowed for direction and choreography (through SDCF), for acting (through Actors' Equity Association), for playwriting (through Young Playwrights Inc.) and for theatre scholarships (through NYU).

SDCF's Joe A. Callaway Award was first presented in 1989. Previous winners include Gabriel Barre, Andy Blankenbuehler, Carolyn Cantor, Martha Clarke, Graciela Daniele, Frank Galati, Christopher Gattelli, Gerald Gutierrez, Doug Hughes, Garry Hynes, Bill T. Jones, Thomas Kail, Moises Kaufman, Larry Keigwin, Joe Mantello, Trevor Nunn, Jack O'Brien, Ciarán O'Reilly, Harold Prince, Bartlett Sher, Susan Stroman, Daniel Sullivan and George C. Wolfe.

Founded in 1965 by Members of the Stage Directors and Choreographers, the SDCF is the nation's premier organization that exists to foster, train, support and promote the craft of theatre directors and choreographers. SDCF aims to provide opportunities to practice the crafts of direction and choreography; promote emerging talent; grant access to career paths for emerging artists and young professionals; gather and disseminate craft and career information; provide forums for exchange of knowledge; and increase the awareness of the value of Directors' and Choreographers' work.

For more information on SDCF's Callaway Award, visit SDCF online at SDCweb.org.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride