Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Announces 2014-15 Committee for Joe A. Callaway Award

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) has announced the 2014-2015 Committee for the Joe A. Callaway Award, the only peer-given award for excellence in direction and choreography. The Committee, which will oversee the award for the theatre season, is Sue Lawless, William Martin, Barry McNabb, Leslie (Hoban) Blake, Linda Burson, Jonathan Cerullo, Edie Cowan, Clinton Turner Davis, John Going, Richard Hamburger, Bruce Heath, Michael Montel, DJ Salisbury, and Amy Saltz. Sue Lawless will serve as Committee Chair.

"Sue Lawless has contributed greatly to our Union as a Board Member and she has given great support to the Foundation for many years," says Sheldon Epps, SDC Board Member and SDCF Chair. "I know that she will provide splendid leadership to the Callaway Committee as they go through the exhaustive and thorough process which leads them to designating an awardee at the end of the season. Her knowledge of the craft, longtime experience, and passion for the work that directors and choreographers do make her an ideal choice for this position. I thank her in advance for what I know will be a mutually beneficial collaboration."

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 Gloria Muzio, Frank Galati, Susan Stroman, George C. Wolfe, Hope Clarke, Harold Prince, Gerald Gutierrez, Joe Mantello, Scott Elliott, Julie Taymor, Moises 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, Ciaran O'Reilly, Byron Easley, Carolyn Cantor, Larry Keigwin, John Tiffany, Steven Hoggett, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and Marlo Hunter.

"As evidenced by the roster of impressive past winners, the Callaway Award honors excellence in direction and choreography and is an indicator of future success in the field," says Megan E. Carter, SDCF Director. "For many years, outgoing chair Linda Burson has driven this award with great skill and dedication, steadily raising its profile, and I am thrilled to work with new chair, Sue Lawless, as she builds on Linda's successes."

Recipients and finalists are chosen from more than 200 productions considered each season by the Callaway Award Selection Committee, comprised of current longstanding SDC Members.

Founded in 1965, Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation exists to foster, promote and develop the creativity and craft of stage directors and choreographers. 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.