The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation will Present the Third Annual SDCF Awards

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation affiliated with Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, presents the third annual SDCF Awards including the Gordon Davidson Award, Zelda Fichandler Award, Joe A. Callaway Awards, and Breakout Award.

The event will take place on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at the Laurie Beechman Theatre at 7:30 p.m. with arrivals and red carpet at 6:30 p.m.

Hosting this year's ceremony will be Anne Bogart, two-time Obie Award winning director and Co-Artistic Director of Siti Company, which she founded with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki in 1992. She is a Professor at Columbia University, where she runs the Graduate Directing Program.

The 2019 Gordon Davidson Award will be presented to Lisa Peterson by Mara Isaacs.

The Davidson Award is bestowed by SDCF to recognize a director or choreographer for lifetime achievement and distinguished service in regional theatre. The award is named for Gordon Davidson, the founding artistic director of the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

The 2019 Zelda Fichandler Award will be presented to Marcela Lorca, Artistic Director of Ten Thousand Things Theater Company in St. Paul, Minnesota by director/playwright Emily Mann. The Fichandler Award recognizes directors and choreographers who have demonstrated great accomplishment to-date and potential for the future with singular creativity and deep investment in a particular community or region.

The 2019 Joe A. Callaway Awards will be awarded to Kenny Leon for excellence in directing for Much Ado About Nothing (The Public Theater) and Rick and Jeff Kuperman for excellence in choreography for Alice By Heart (MCC). Jamil Jude, Artistic Director of Kenny Leon's True Color Theatre will present to Kenny Leon, and director Erica Schmidt will present to Rick and Jeff Kuperman. The Callaway Awards are peer-given awards recognizing excellence in the arts of stage direction and choreography in a given New York City Off-Broadway season.

The 2019 Breakout Award winner is director Taibi Magar with director Saheem Ali presenting. The Breakout Award, now in its fourth year, is given by the SDCF Board of Trustees 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 community.

The evening will include a performance from Kenny Leon's production of Much Ado About Nothing featuring cast members Denzel Fields and Taylor Harris.

Others in attendance include: Kamilah Forbes, Producing Artistic Director of the Apollo Theater; Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director of Theatre for a New Audience; choreographer Camille A. Brown; designer Rachel Hauck; director Lisa Portes; MCC Artistic Directors Bernie Telsey, Robert LuPone, and Will Cantler; designer Beowulf Borrit; director Leah C. Gardiner; director Wendy C. Goldberg; Blake Robison, Artistic Director of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Rick Dildine, Artistic Director of Alabama Shakespeare Festival; and choreographer Raja Feather Kelly.

Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Anne del Castillo, will also be in attendance.

The event is directed by Daniel Gorman and produced by Sarah Bierstock.

Founded in 1965, Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) is the independent, not-for-profit foundation affiliated with Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC). SDCF exists to foster, promote, and develop the creativity and craft of stage directors and choreographers at every level of career through its dynamic programming. SDCF creates access to the field, connects artists, and honors the theatrical legacy of artists in our field. The centrality of directors' and choreographers' roles in theatre and the impact they have on other artists' careers-from playwrights to designers to actors-makes SDCF's services essential to the theatre industry's health and continued vitality. www.sdcfoundation.org

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