Michael Chekhov Association Awards Inaugural Zelda Fichandler Scholarship To Actress/Educator Michele Shay

The Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA), the not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving the artistic vision and technique of Michael Chekhov, today announced that Tony-nominated actress and educator Michele Shay will receive the first-ever Zelda Fichandler Scholarship. Established in Fall 2017 to benefit the next generation of Chekhov teachers and practitioners, the Scholarship provides full tuition for two weeks to MICHA's International Michael Chekhov Workshop, which takes place every summer at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut.

"MICHA is grateful to the late Zelda Fichandler for endowing MICHA with a scholarship fund to support actor training," says Chekhov's former student Joanna Merlin, founder and president of the organization. "We are thrilled to present the inaugural award to Michele Shay, whose commitment to the work and legacy of Michael Chekhov embodies the qualities Zelda hoped to reward with her generous gift. Michele's career in teaching, acting, and directing will contribute to the enrichment and deepening of our work in the Michael Chekhov technique."

Perhaps best known for her Tony Award-nominated performance as Louise in August Wilson's Seven Guitars, Shay has worked off-Broadway, in regional theater, and on television. In addition, she has taught at the American Conservatory Theater, the Actors Theater of Louisville, Cal Arts, and, currently, at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and Columbia University. Shay was honored with a Fox Foundation grant to study the connection between acting and the healing arts. She is a contributor to the development of new plays for the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Playwright's Conference. This past fall, she directed John Henry Redwood's The Old Settler at the Billie Holiday Theater.

Learn more about the Scholarship, the upcoming conference or MICHA as a whole at www.michaelchekhov.org.

MICHA is a not-for-profit association that celebrates and preserves Michael Chekhov's artistic vision and legacy. We provide a community for performers, teachers, scholars and directors in the form of workshops and events. We research approaches to teaching that utilize Michael Chekhov's technique. We publish primary and secondary source materials, have a growing archive, and support individuals engaged in practice as research as it relates to Chekhov's psycho-physical approach and its many forms of application. The organization is committed to providing opportunities to artists interested in comprehensive teacher training in the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique.