SDCF Hires Megan E. Carter as New Director

Laura Penn, Executive Director of Stage Directors and Choreographers Workshop Foundation (SDCF), announced today that Megan E. Carter will be its new Director as of June 30.

Founded in 1965, SDCF is the nation's only organization dedicated to training, nurturing, and supporting theatre directors and choreographers and advancing the crafts of stage direction and choreography. Based in New York City, SDCF provides national programs offering opportunities, conversations and community, and recognition and advocacy to directors and choreographers at all levels of career, as well as programs to benefit a broader range of theatre artists and the general public.

Ms. Carter will oversee Foundation programming and management while partnering with individual artists and organizations throughout the field.

"Megan brings a deep understanding of artists and their process as well as extensive experience in supporting the development of directors, choreographers, and their collaborators. As the Foundation prepares for its 50th year we look forward to furthering the Foundation's mission under Megan's dynamic leadership," said Ms. Penn.

SDCF Board Member Sheldon Epps said, "I am very happy that a careful and comprehensive search process has led us to this excellent choice. Megan has great intelligence, eloquence, the desire to collaborate, and a healthy and positive sense of ambition and growth. All of those qualities will serve the Foundation well at our current state of strength, stability, and equally positive ambition for growth and expansion. Along with the Board and staff, I very much look forward to our partnership and know that this relationship will be mutually beneficial."

Megan E. Carter is an experienced Off?Broadway producer and dramaturg. From 2006?2013, she served as the Associate Artistic Director of Women's Project Theater where she had the dual role of production dramaturg and line producer for more than 30 world premieres, developmental productions, workshops, and readings. In addition to managing new play development and playwright commissions, Ms. Carter also led the WP Lab for Playwrights, Directors, and Producers, a celebrated professional development and mentoring program for a diverse group of early to mid?career theatre artists. Ms. Carter has collaborated with directors Tea Alagic, Anne Bogart, Lear deBessonet, Daniella Topol, and Gaye Taylor Upchurch, to name a few, and with such companies as SITI Company, TerraNova Collective, Classic Stage Company, Intiman Theatre, and ACT Theatre, among others. She is currently on faculty at the SITI Conservatory and the Einhorn School for Performing Arts.

"It's an honor to be able to continue and build on the exceptional work of the Foundation and I am eager to focus my energy on elevating the visibility of the craft of directors and choreographers and increasing the resources available nationally for these artists at all stage of their careers," said Ms. Carter.

Ellen Rusconi, current SDCF Producing Director, is leaving the SDCF and relocating with her family to Miami.

SDCF's goals are to provide opportunities to practice the crafts of directing and choreography; to gather and disseminate craft and career information; to promote the profession to emerging talent; to provide opportunities for exchange of knowledge among directors and choreographers; and to increase the awareness of the value of directors' and choreographers' work, and to convene around issues affecting theatre artists.