Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Announces Mentor and Host Theatre for 2022 Lloyd Richards New Futures Residency Program

SDCF announces the host theatre for its 2022 Lloyd Richards New Futures Residency program: Actors Theatre of Louisville in Louisville, KY. Applications are being accepted now for a Resident Artist, who will be mentored by Actors Theatre of Louisville's Executive Artistic Director Robert Barry Fleming for one year while also undertaking their own artistic projects at the host theatre.

The Lloyd Richards New Futures Residency is a yearlong residency for mid-career BIPOC directors and choreographers interested in artistic leadership. Named for a legendary leader of the American Theatre, the goal of the residency is to forge new alliances between artists pursuing institutional leadership and forward-thinking Artistic Directors (AD). The Resident Artist and AD will collaborate on discovering new solutions in pursuit of the theatre's values and overall mission in a rapidly changing field.

Each Resident Artist in the program, which is now in its second year, receives a $40,000 grant along with access to health insurance and some additional assistance with housing and travel. Also, the Resident Artist is guaranteed the opportunity to direct or choreograph a production at the host theatre within three years following the residency. SDCF is now accepting applications from mid-career BIPOC directors and choreographers interested in pursuing institutional leadership. The deadline is Wednesday July 6^th at 11:59pm ET. The residency will begin in the Fall 2022.

For a full program description, eligibility criteria for the Resident Artist, and to apply please visit https://sdcfoundation.org/sdcf-lloyd-richards-new-futures-residency-2/.

The host theatre selection committee included Anne Kauffman (committee chair), Justin Emeka, Kent Gash, and Chay Yew. Scott Richards served as an advisor.

The Resident Artist (RA) at Actors Theatre of Louisville will be a key collaborator, a part of the artistic leadership team, and have access to all aspects of the organization. The RA's specific projects will be matched with their strengths and interests based on the projects that are lined up for the upcoming year and new opportunities that arise in various stages of development. The theatre's goal is to provide programming that is responsive to the community and in pursuit of the organizational mission and values. Actors Theatre is looking for a director or choreographer who has a multi-disciplinary background and is interested in being at an organization in a moment of transition and transformation. The RA may also have an interest in transmedia, which Actors Theatre of Louisville defines as storytelling across multiple media creating a cohesive experience. Recent projects range from the world premiere of Still Ready to resiliency workshops for healthcare workers in partnership with The Clinic to Ali Summit in virtual reality to the award-winning animated short film, The Breasts of Tiresias.

Said Fleming, Actors Theatre's Executive Artistic Director, "The incredible synergy and alignment of being selected as the host theatre for the SDCF Lloyd Richards New Futures Residency at this seminal moment of evolution for Actors Theatre of Louisville is not lost on us. Our commitment to professional development for aspiring artists and leaders is unwavering and this foot-forward and visionary initiative is an important field-wide inflection point signaling a very bright future for our discipline, indeed. We couldn't be more honored."

Lloyd Richards' trailblazing career began as an actor in 1940s New York. In 1956, Sidney Poitier, a friend and former student, secured Richards an interview with producers to direct Lorraine Hansberry's new play A Raisin in the Sun. Richards' work on the production garnered his first of five Tony nominations for Best Direction of a Play; he won in 1987 for his work on August Wilson's Fences. Richards led the National Playwrights Conference (NPC) at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center for more than 30 years, developing work from hundreds of playwrights. From 1979-91, he was Artistic Director of Yale Repertory Theatre and Dean of the Yale School of Drama. A founding member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), he served as President from 1970 to 1980. He received the National Medal of Arts in 1993.

The 2022 Lloyd Richards New Futures Residency is made possible with support from the Miranda Family Fund, Judi & Douglas Krupp, Concord Theatricals, Allison Thomas, as well as support through the SDCF fellowship funds named for Shepard and Mildred Traube and Sir John Gielgud, and many generous individuals.

For a full program description, eligibility criteria for Resident Artists, and to apply please visit https://sdcfoundation.org/sdcf-lloyd-richards-new-futures-residency-2/.

Lloyd Richards (1919-2006) was born in Toronto and raised in Detroit. He entered Wayne University (now Wayne State) intending to become a lawyer, but due to a love of theatre, became a speech major. He joined the Army Air Corps in 1944 during World War II and earned his pilot wings at Tuskegee. After the war, he acted in two semiprofessional theatres in Detroit that he helped create, worked as a radio disc jockey, and was employed as a social worker for the Welfare Department. He moved to New York City in 1947, and worked as an actor in radio, Off-Broadway, and eventually Broadway. In 1956, his

friend and former student Sidney Poitier enlisted him to direct A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. It went on to artistic and commercial success on Broadway, and Richards became the first Black director nominated for the Tony Award for Best Direction.

He was a founding member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) in 1959, and its President from 1970 to 1980. From 1968 until 1999, he headed the National Playwrights Conference (NPC) at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, where he developed the work of John Guare, Derek Wolcott, Wole Soyinka, Israel Horovitz, Wendy Wasserstein, Christopher Durang, David Henry Hwang, John Patrick Shanley, Lee Blessing, Doug Wright, and Adam Rapp, among hundreds of others. In 1979, he was named Dean of the Yale School of Drama and the Artistic Director of Yale Repertory Theatre, where noted productions include three premieres by Athol Fugard. Richards went on to direct six new plays by Wilson while creating a vertically integrated developmental process that brought those plays from the O'Neill to Yale through a tour of regional theatres, culminating in premiere commercial productions on Broadway. This process proved so successful that during the 1987-1988 Broadway season, four plays he either directed or produced were running simultaneously. Richards won the Tony Award for Best Direction for August Wilson's Fences in 1987 and the National Medal of Arts in 1993. He died on June 29, 2006, his 87^th birthday.

Actors Theatre of Louisville unlocks human potential, builds community, and enriches quality of life by engaging people in theatre that reflects the wonder and complexity of our time. Actors Theatre of Louisville is an arts and culture organization as social enterprise utilizing a transmedia multiplatform approach. This strategically centers experiences that reflect a civic commitment to the social good and the health and wellness of the many constituents we serve. In pursuing a synthesis of art and service, our interdisciplinary laboratory intersects art, emergent technology, and social transformation for a storytelling (r)evolution.

Founded in 1965, Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) celebrates, develops, and supports professional stage directors and choreographers throughout every phase of their careers. We work to build a theatrical community that reflects the cultural, racial, and gender diversity of our nation by creating opportunities for artists of all backgrounds to bring their full, authentic selves to their work as creative leaders in the theatre.

SDCF is committed to fostering an environment that is inclusive and does not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression in its programs or activities. www.sdcfoundation.org.

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