Established by Mary Orr Denham in 2006 with a bequest to the SDC Foundation in honor of her late husband, Reginald H. F. Denham, the Denham Fellowship is an annual award to early and mid-career women directors to further develop their directing skills. The Denham Fellowship recipient will be selected by the Denham Committee, which is made up of theatre professionals. The Fellowship provides the recipient with a $2500 grant to support work on a specific production.
Past recipients include May Adrales, Tea Alagic, Rachel Alderman, Kathleen Amshoff, Jessi Hill, Joanie Schultz, Pirronne Yousefzadeh, Bridget Leak, Hannah Ryan, and Diane Rodriguez.
Application to the Denham Fellowship is open to SDC Members and Associates only. Candidates were only able to apply to the Denham Fellowship under one of two plans: fee enhancement or self-producing. Under fee enhancement, the Denham Fellowship augments a fee offered to the Director by a theatre or producer. Under self-producing, the Denham fellowship will serve as or augment the Director’s fee.
The recipient of the 2017-2018 Denham Fellowship will be notified in September. Per the bequest to the Foundation by Mary Orr Denham in honor of her late husband, Reginald H.F. Denham, this is an award specifically for women directors.