Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Now Accepting Nominations for the Zelda Fichandler Award

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, the not-for-profit foundation of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, announced today that nominations for the Zelda Fichandler Award are now being accepted through July 10, 2020. Named for a giant of the regional theatre movement, the Zelda Fichandler Award recognizes directors and choreographers who are in the heart of their creative lives; who demonstrate great accomplishment to-date and promise for the future; and who have made prominent achievements in the field with singular creativity and artistry, with deep investment in a particular place outside of the New York arena. The goal of the Fichandler Award is to encourage those artists who have made a commitment to creating regional theatre. The Award is not to honor lifetime achievement.

Established in 2009, the Zelda Fichandler Award is SDCF's first award devoted to regional theatre in the United States. With this award, SDCF acknowledges the profound impact the founders of regional theatre had on our field, honoring their legacies by recognizing extraordinary individuals who are transforming the national arts landscape with their unique, creative, and necessary work. The Fichandler Award is given to an SDC Member in an annually rotating region in the United States. In 2020, it will be given to a director or choreographer in the Eastern region, comprised of Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, Washington D.C., and West Virginia.

Nominations will be accepted through 6 PM EST on Friday, July 10, 2020. Nominators need not be SDC Members, but nominees must be SDC Members, in good standing, who are not previous recipients of the Award. Late nominations and self-nominations will not be accepted. A short nomination form and detailed guidelines are available on the SDCF website. The Award will be presented at a virtual awards ceremony in the fall of 2020.

The Fichandler Award recipient receives an unrestricted award of $5,000 from SDCF. Past Zelda Fichandler Award recipients include Jonathan Moscone, then of California Shakespeare Theater in Orinda, CA (2009); Michael Halberstam of Writer's Theatre in Glencoe, IL (2010); Blanka Zizka of The Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, PA (2011); Bill Rauch, then of Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR (2012); Charles Newell of Court Theatre in Chicago, IL (2013); Joseph Haj, then of PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, NC (2014); Tim Dang, then of East West Players in Los Angeles, CA (2015); Lisa Portes of Chicago, IL (2016); Vivienne Benesch of PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, NC (2017); Loretta Greco of Magic Theater in San Francisco, CA (2018); and Marcela Lorca of Ten Thousand Things Theater in St. Paul, MN (2019).