ABOUT THE RESIDENCY
The Lloyd Richards New Futures Residency is a yearlong residency for mid-career directors and choreographers who are interested in institutional leadership. It is named after Lloyd Richards, a legendary leader of the American Theatre who directed some of the most important plays on Black life of the 20th century. The goals of this residency are to help develop artists to become artistic leaders in the American Theatre and support artists who are illuminating Black cultural experiences on stage. This residency provides unique exposure to the responsibilities of being an Artistic Director and the internal structure and workings of a theatrical institution by forging or deepening a relationship between the recipient artist and artistic leader.
The vision is to increase access, opportunities, and pathways to institutional leadership for mid-career directors and choreographers who are thinking strategically about how their work can increase Black cultural representation on stage within their local community and/or the industry at large. Each Resident Artist in the program receives a $50,000 grant. The Resident Artist is also guaranteed the opportunity to direct or choreograph a production at the Host Theatre within three years of the residency. The application process will take place in two rounds. For the first round, artists will apply individually to the program. The Richards Residency committee will select the top four candidates to move onto the second round. In the second round, the Resident Artist finalists will apply with an artistic leader at a theatre that would serve as the Mentor and Host Theatre for the Resident Artist. One Resident and Mentor/Host Theatre pair will be selected.
Evaluation Criteria: Applications will be evaluated based on the clear articulation of alignment with the goals of the program, timing as a mid-career artist for this type of opportunity, and clear sense of artistic voice as well.
Resident Artist applicants are not required to be connected with a Host Theatre/Mentor in order to apply. If helpful though, below is what we believe a well-suited partnership would look like.
An ideal partnership includes the following:
• Provide access to the Resident Artist to learn the inner workings of a theatre institution
• Both allow the artist to learn about artistic leadership and allow them to provide their own knowledge to the artistic staff at the organization so that both can learn grow – it should be a mutually beneficial partnership
• Collaborate on significant projects during the year of the residency
• Allow the artist to explore their artistry through a workshop or production within the three years after the residency is completed – must be on an SDC contract – we will prioritize organizations that provide a full production to the Resident Artist as an offering, but a workshop production will still be eligible and considered if that is in the best interest of the artist
• The Mentor at the Host Theatre must be in the artistic department of a theatre organization, and they must be an SDC Member
• The Resident Artist does not need to be an SDC Member
• In developing the Resident Artist’s time, there should be some flexibility for the residency since it was designed for mid-career artists, and the Resident Artist will likely have other artistic and/or personal obligations throughout the year of their residency. We understand that some portion of this residency may take place virtually, depending on the circumstances of a theatre’s given region.
APPLICATION GUIDELINES
Please create one shared folder in Google Drive or Dropbox that is viewable by anyone with the link. We will not request access to view materials, so public link access is required.
Your folder should include the following materials:
- Headshot
- Resume (PDF format, no more than 2 pages)
- Professional Bio
- Letter to the Lloyd Richards Residency Committee (PDF, no more than 1,000 words or 2 pages, 12-point font), responding to each of the following prompts:
- Artistic Practice: Tell us about your artistic journey and practice thus far. Is there an artistic accomplishment you are especially proud of?
- Impact: How do you see—or hope to see—your work impacting a local community and/or the industry at large?
- Artistic Leadership: What is your understanding of artistic leadership? How has it been shaped, and how does it inform your professional ambitions?
- Topic Response Video (no more than 2 minutes) answering the following question:
Why is this the right time for you to be a Resident Artist, and what do you hope to gain from this opportunity?
Please upload all materials into a single folder titled:
First Name, Last Name – Resident Artist
To submit your application materials, please click the link below:
APPLICATION TIMELINE
May 12th- 2026 – Applications Open
June 2nd, 2026 – Applications are due
June 18th, 2026 – Finalists are announced, notified, and Artist with Host Theater applications begin
July 15th, 2026 – Joint applications due
July 27-31, 2026 – Committee Interviews and/or Reference Calls (as needed)
August 10th, 2026 – Resident Artists Announced
ABOUT LLOYD RICHARDS
Lloyd Richards with his Tony Award for Best Direction for Fences, 1987 PHOTO c/o the Lloyd Richards Estate (Lloyd Richards Papers, Yale University).
The New Futures Residency is named for Lloyd Richards, whose career blazed a trail through our industry. Starting as an actor in 1940s New York, in 1956, Sidney Poitier arranged an interview for Richards 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 later won the award in 1987 for his work on Fences. Richards led the National Playwrights Conference (NPC) at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center for more than 30 years, developing work with hundreds of playwrights. From 1979-91, he was Artistic Director of Yale Repertory Theatre and Dean of the Yale School of Drama.
Richards was the first Black director to be nominated for and then to win the Tony Award for Best Direction. Aside from his first nomination for Raisin in the Sun, the other four honored his work directing August Wilson’s plays on Broadway. Richards’ collaborations with Hansberry and Wilson sustained his deepest beliefs about our industry: “We must each bring the wonder of our particular cultural heritage to the context of the here and the now. That is American Theatre—theatre which reaches into the ethnic memory of each of us and is informed by its wisdom, form, and artistry, and brings that to the context ‘now,’ where we all dwell, and informs the now, which provokes and enriches us all.” In addition to his artistic accolades, Richards was a staunch advocate for artists’ rights as workers. A founding member of SDC, Richards served as president from 1970 to 1980. He received the National Medal of Arts in 1993; he died in 2006. For Lloyd Richards’ full biography, click here.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS)
Who can apply to the Richards Residency?
The Lloyd Richards New Futures Residency is open to mid-career directors and choreographers interested in artistic leadership in the American Theater and are committed to illuminating Black cultural experiences on stage.
Do I have to be an SDC Member to apply?
No, you do not have to be an SDC Member or SDC Associate Member to apply. You need to identify as a mid-career director or choreographer.
How do you identify mid-career?
We know career stages are hard to pinpoint. Please use your best judgement based on the opportunity to decide if you identify as mid-career. If you would like a definition for some (but not definitive) guidance, you can use this from the 2020 Next Stage Report: Mid-Career: is consistently paid for directing and/or choreographic work. Employed more frequently by institutional not-for-profits and early career commercial producers. Supplemental income may include teaching positions, artistic leadership, and commercial associate level work. Additionally, we welcome applicants who have come later to the craft of directing or choreographing. To be considered, the applicant must have been working as a professional director or choreographer for at least 5 years. If you have questions about this eligibility criteria, contact Laura Peete: lpeete@sdcfoundation.org
Who qualifies to be a Host Theater and Mentor?
The host theater must be led by an SDC Member as the artistic leader. That artistic leader must serve as the host theater mentor to the Resident Artist for the residency.
How does the application process work?
For the 2026-2027 cycle of the residency, the application will take place in two rounds. For the first round, artists will apply individually to the program. Once all applications are in, the Richards Residency committee will select up to four candidates to move onto the second round. In the second round, the Resident Artist finalists will apply with an artistic leader at a theater that would serve as the Mentor and Host Theatre for the Resident Artist. One Resident and Mentor/Host Theater pair will be selected.
I am an artistic leader and interested in being a Mentor at my Host Theatre for a Resident Artist, how do I apply?
Unlike previous years, there is no open application process for an artistic leader at a host theatre to apply. Instead, as mentioned in the previous question, Resident Artists will connect with artistic leaders either on their own or with support from SDCF to apply for the residency. If you are interested in being considered as a Mentor at a Host Theatre to be shared with the finalists for the opportunity, please reach out to admin@sdcfoundation.org
Do I have to be there consecutively for the entire time? If I have a directing or choreography gig during the year, do I have to give it up?
In designating this program for mid-career artists, the Resident Artist will very likely have other artistic obligations throughout the year of their residency. To support the Resident Artist, the Host Theatre will be flexible in providing leave and virtual work time for these obligations. We might also imagine a small portion of this residency to take place virtually, depending on how the theatre is doing its work and/or the schedule of the Resident Artist. That should be discussed in the application, based on what’s known at the time of application.
If I am a finalist for the Residency, will SDCF connect me to artistic leaders that I want to talk to and apply with?
If you are selected as one of the four finalists for the award, SDCF will support the verification that the artistic leader at the theatre you might want to be resident at is an SDC Member in good standing. Additionally, if you do not know the artistic leader and do not know a way to contact them, SDCF will share information with them about the program thus allowing them an avenue to reach out to you directly if there is interest in applying together.
Can I have a pre-existing professional relationship with the host theatre?
Yes, you are allowed to have a pre-existing relationship with the Host Theatre and Mentor. What will be vital to relay in the application is what serving as the Resident Artist at the theatre will be different than other opportunities you have had to work together.
It says within three years the Resident Artist should direct or choreograph a production at the theatre. Is there a preference?
What is most important is about what will be in best service to the Resident Artist. We understand that a production will most likely be more visible than a workshop so we would encourage a full production for the Resident Artist. That being said, we want to create space for what is going to be best for the Resident Artist. If what they think will serve them best is a substantial workshop at the theater on a production they are working on, that can satisfy the requirement of the residency. What is important is that for any scenario they must be put on an SDC contract for the work.
What if when applying, the applying Resident Artist finalist and theatre don’t know what the production is going to be during the application stages?
That is okay. What is most important is that in the application it’s stated how the Host Theatre and Resident Artist will work together to select a production or workshop for the Resident Artist and the timeline for said opportunity.
2025-2026 LLOYD RICHARDS RESIDENT ARTIST
Photo credit: Michael Cannon
Named one of Dance Magazine’s 2023 “25 to Watch,” Dominic Moore-Dunson is an award-winning choreographer, performer, and storyteller based in Akron, Ohio. His work blends contemporary dance, physical theater, live music, and text to explore themes of race, identity, memory, and belonging through what he calls Urban Midwest Storytelling—narratives shaped by growing up Black in post-industrial America. He is the writer, director, and choreographer of inCOPnegro: Aftermath, a podcast and dance-theater work examining the long-term impact of police violence on Black communities; The Remember Balloons, an intergenerational family performance about memory, loss, and Alzheimer’s; and The Block, a digital Substack essay series combining personal narrative, satire, and movement to reflect on the creative realities of Black working artists. His work has been presented nationally and featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Akron Beacon Journal, and on PBS Western Reserve. A 2024 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award recipient, Dominic creates immersive, multidisciplinary performances that spark dialogue, healing, and joy—continuing a legacy of storytelling that moves both people and systems.
P A S T R E C I P I E N T S
Learn more about the artists by clicking the images below.
Support for the Residency:
SDCF has received a $150K Grant from The Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation.
The 2025 Lloyd Richards New Futures Residency is made possible with support from The Diana King Memorial Fund presented by The Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation, the Miranda Family Fund, Concord Theatricals, and support through the SDCF fellowship funds named for Shepard and Mildred Traube and Sir John Gielgud, and many generous individuals.
