SDC Foundation to Celebrate Off-Broadway Direction & Choreography with 1st Annual Awards

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, announces its first annual "SDC Foundation Awards: A Celebration of Excellence in Directing and Choreography."

The evening will bring together the presentations of SDCF's annual Zelda Fichandler Award, Joe A. Callaway Awards, and Breakout Award. The event will take place on Monday, October 30, 2017 at The Green Room 42.

The 2017 Fichandler Award, as previously announced, will be presented to winner Vivienne Benesch of Playmakers Rep (Chapel Hill, NC). Finalists Curt Columbus of Trinity Repertory Company (Providence, RI) and Wendy C. Goldberg of Eugene O'Neill Theater Center (Waterford, CT) will also be recognized for their contributions to the field. The Award recognizes directors and choreographers who are in the center of their creative lives, demonstrate great accomplishment to-date and promise for the future, and who have made prominent achievements in the field with singular creativity and artistry and deep investment in a particular community or region. The Award is given annually within rotating regions of the U.S. The Award was first presented in 2009, and past winners include Jonathan Moscone, Michael Halberstam, Blanka Zizka, Bill Rauch, Charles Newell, Joseph Haj, Tim Dang, and Lisa Portes.

The Callaway Awards are peer-given awards that recognize excellence in the arts of stage direction and choreography in a given New York City Off-Broadway season. The 2017 Callaway winners and finalists are scheduled to be announced on October 2. The Award was first presented in 1989, and past winners include Gloria Muzio, Susan Stroman, George C. Wolfe, Hope Clarke, Harold Prince, Gerald Gutierrez, Joe Mantello, Scott Elliott, Julie Taymor, Moisés Kaufman, Frank Galati, Graciela Daniele, Trevor Nunn, Gabriel Barre, Mark Dendy, Jack O'Brien, Bartlett Sher, Devanand Janki, Daniel Sullivan, Doug Hughes, Christopher Gattelli, Peter DuBois, Bill T. Jones, Thomas Kail, Andy Blankenbuehler, Giovanna Sardelli, Lynne Taylor Corbett, Garry Hynes, Martha Clarke, Ciarán O'Reilly, Byron Easley, Carolyn Cantor, Larry Keigwin, John Tiffany, Steven Hoggett, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Marlo Hunter, John Rando, Mike Donahue, Lainie Sakakura, Alex Sanchez, Sarah Benson, and James Walski.

The Breakout Award, now in its second year, is given by the SDCF Executive Board to an SDC Member for a production or selection of work that signals a shift in a career and the beginning of critical recognition - a "rising star" moment in the Off-Broadway arena. The 2017 winner will be announced in October. Last year's inaugural recipient was Ed Sylvanus Iskandar.

SDCF Committee Chair Sheldon Epps says, "This celebratory evening aims to highlight the important work of the Foundation, which is to serve directors and choreographers at every stage of career while celebrating the craft, artistry, and dedication of these outstanding winners and finalists. On behalf of the SDCF Board, I thank our colleagues on the Fichandler and Callaway Committees for their service. I join them in congratulating Vivienne, Curt, and Wendy on their Fichandler honors. I also look forward to celebrating the other Award honorees this October."

Founded in 1965, Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation exists to foster, promote, and develop the creativity and craft of stage directors and choreographers. SDC Foundation's mission is to create access to the field, to connect artists, and to honor the theatrical legacy of these artists. The centrality of the director's/choreographer's role in theatre and the impact that they have on other artists' careers-from playwrights to designers to actors-makes SDC Foundation's services essential to the theatre industry's health and continued vitality. Visit www.sdcfoundation.org for more.