2023-2024 Denham Fellowship
SDCF is thrilled to announce that Cristin Carole has been selected as this season’s SDCF Denham Fellow for her upcoming production of A Night at Club Delisa at the Harold Washington Cultural Center in Chicago, Illinois produced by The Sammy Dyer School of Theatre. The Denham Fellowship comes with a $10,000 stipend. Carole was selected for this honor by a panel comprised of Nancy Keystone (Committee Chair), Mina Morita, Lisa Portes, and Laurie Woolery.
Cristin Carole is a multi-faceted performing arts professional based in Chicago. This year, Cristin will make her directorial debut as associate director at Goodman Theatre, working alongside resident director Chuck Smith on August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.
Most recently, Cristin became a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, as well as an SDCF Denham Fellow. In this capacity, she is focused on championing diversity and excellence in the arts by directing Black and female stories on stage. Her interdisciplinary research on historical Black dances has inspired the development of an original production, A Night at the Club Delisa which she will direct this fall. She would like to thank her long-time collaborator, Chicago director Ron O.J. Parson, actress/director/writer Regina Taylor, producer Peter Altman, dancer and comedian Clarice White-Pruitt, and many others for their incredible professional support during her transition to director.
Though she began her career as a ballerina, she transitioned to behind-the-scenes work, earning a degree in technical theater from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Cristin went on to become an acclaimed movement designer and choreographer, lending her talents to esteemed theaters like Steppenwolf, Goodman, Timeline, American Blues, and Writers theaters. At the Tony Award-winning Court Theatre, she has designed movement for productions including Home, Seven Guitars, Blues for an Alabama Sky, George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, and most recently Gospel at Colonus which successfully remounted at the Getty Villa in California.
As a performing arts educator, Cristin has held faculty positions at institutions including Columbia College Chicago, City Colleges of Chicago, the University of the Bahamas, and Loyola University. She is dedicated to arts education programming, having developed initiatives for organizations like The Joffrey Ballet, Chicago Public Schools, and the Shirley Hall Bass Foundation, which she directs to promote dance education and cultural exchange between The Bahamas and Chicago. She serves on the Board of Classical Kids LIVE! and is delighted to be the choreographer for their internationally touring production of “Saint-Georges’ Sword and Bow.”
About A Night at Club Delisa
In 1933, African-American, tap dancer Sammy Dyer left a successful career on Broadway, to establish himself as a choreographer in Chicago. He found work in the many post-prohibition clubs that soon opened all over Chicago. He developed a chorus line called the Regalettes and later the Delisa Chorines. His unique approach to an evening of entertainment was most uniquely expressed in the shows he created at the Club Delisa in the1940s -1950s where he ultimately perfected his showmanship in his presentation of the Dyerettes, 5 young Black women, who tapped, tumbled, sang and danced on point. In addition to the Dyerettes, evenings included a swinging live band, stand-up comedy, tap duos, novelty acts, a kiddie cabaret, and singers. Our show will capture the lives of these historic performers both on and off stage in this unique venue on the south side of Chicago.
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About The Denham Fellowship
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 awarded annually to women who are early and mid-career directors to further develop their directing skills. The Denham Fellowship recipient is selected by the Denham Committee, which is made up of theatre professionals.
You can read the full press release here.
2024 Mike Ockrent Fellow
Rebecca Kritzer is a Cuban-American Miami native, living and working in New York as a director, choreographer, writer, performer and arts educator. She is constantly seeking ways to be a thoughtful artist, storyteller, and collaborator. Recently, she was part of the Directing Cohort at the Mercury Store in Brooklyn for their 2023 fall cycle. She Directed the musical Cabaret at San Antonio Broadway Theatre, served as both the Associate Director and the Choreographer of In The Heights at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theater, and Choreographed Aladdin Jr. for Riverdale Children’s Theatre. She was the Associate Choreographer for productions of In The Heights (TUTS, Olney Theatre Center) and Sweet Charity (Maltz Jupiter Theatre), and was the Assistant Choreographer for Another Rose, an interdisciplinary theatrical show for Virgin Voyages. As an actor, some favorite credits include: In The Heights (1st Nat’l Tour/OG cast); Wicked (1st Nat’l Tour); Jesus Christ Superstar (50th Anniversary Tour/OG cast). Rebecca earned a BA double major in Journalism and Religious Studies from New York University, with magna cum laude honors. After graduation, she briefly worked in freelance journalism, and is currently revisiting writing as a co-creator of a comedic TV series in development. She believes we are all capable of many talents, but we may not get the opportunity to explore and nurture those discoveries. As an artist, Rebecca is most interested in investigating these possibilities for herself, as well as facilitating these opportunities for others. SDC Associate and AEA member. www.rebeccakritzer.com @reberoad
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About The Mike Ockrent Fellowship
The Mike Ockrent Fellowship was established in 2001 by the family of the late director; it provides an opportunity for an early career director or choreographer to support an experienced director or choreographer on the creation of a big-budget Broadway musical or play. The Fellowship provides an in-depth understanding of the skills necessary to create theatre on a Broadway scale. The Fellow will have the opportunity to participate in the entire production process.
The Charles Abbott Fellowship
SDCF is thrilled to announce that director Emma Cavage has been selected as SDCF’s 2023 Charles Abbott Fellow. Her fellowship is with Mark S. Hoebee’s production of Fiddler on the Roof at Paper Mill Playhouse.
Emma Cavage (she/her) is a Director and Arts Leader based in New York City and from Savannah, Georgia. She is a 2022 Graduate from Boston University’s Conservatory Program, where she received her BFA Theatre Arts with a Directing Concentration and a Minor in Arts Leadership. She served as a Teaching Apprentice twice while at Boston University for both Movement and Ensemble. Emma has additionally trained in Viewpoints at SITI Company and completed the Advanced Directing Certificate at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. In 2021, Emma Produced and Directed a production of Dry Land that worked closely with local abortion rights organizations, and received a Boston Innovation Lab Funding Award, a Social Impact Seed Grant, and a Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture Funding Award. Summer 2023 she worked at The Muny as the Assistant to the Director on Chess and the Assistant Director on RENT. Additional assisting credits include Oliver! (New Repertory Theatre), A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Lyric Stage Company), The Summer 2021 Cabaret Series (Theatre Aspen), and Associate Director of Colossal (Boston University Booth Theatre). Recent directing credits include Lizzie: The Musical (Boston University), Taking Over Your Life (Premiere Production – Gallery Players), untitled middle school play (Premiere Reading – The Tank), Spring Awakening (Upcoming April 2024 – Jeffrey & Paula Gural Theatre). Proud SDC Associate Member. IG: @em_cav_ | Website: emmacavage.com
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The Charles Abbott Fellowship
The Charles Abbott Fellowship was established in 2008 by friends of the regional theater director to support early and mid-career directors interested in musical theatre. Fellowships provide the opportunity to support an experienced director – who is also the host theatre’s Artistic Director – on an American musical classic in a regional theatre of national recognition. This Fellowship provides a unique education in the skills necessary to create a musical, the workings of regional theatre, and the leadership of those artists shaping the regional cultural landscape.