About the Joe A. Callaway Award
The Joe A. Callaway Awards recognize excellence in directing and choreography in New York City and are the only awards given by peer directors and choreographers for work on a single production.
SDCF’s Joe A. Callaway Award was first presented in 1989. Recipients and finalists are chosen by the Callaway Award Selection Committee, comprised of current SDC Members, from around 100 productions considered each season. The 2024-2025 Joe A. Callaway Committee is chaired by Shea Sullivan and current members are William Carlos Angulo, Roger Danforth, Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Dell Howlett, Kenny Ingram, Gerry McIntyre, Margarett Perry, Paige Price, and Daniela Varon.
Eligibility
Directors or choreographers who are SDC members in good standing are eligible for their work on NYC productions that have employed AEA performers – except under the Showcase Code, Broadway agreement or LORT A+ – and for which the director and/or choreographer were employed under an eligible SDC contract. Staged readings and concerts – including the Encores! Series at City Center – are not eligible. Events that are annual – i.e. A Christmas Carol – will be considered only the first time they are presented. Productions that are “remounted” are not eligible.
Past Recipients
| 2024 | Daniel Aukin (Dir) | Stereophonic |
| 2024 | nicHi douglas (Chor) | (pray) |
| 2023 | Pam MacKinnon (Dir) | DOWNSTATE |
| 2023 | Orlando Pabotoy (Chor) | The Half-God of Rainfall |
| 2022 | Saheem Ali (Dir) | Fat Ham |
| 2022 | Josh Prince (Chor) | Trevor: The Musical |
| 2020 | Danya Taymor (Dir) | Heroes of the Fourth Turning |
| 2020 | Travis Wall (Chor) | The Wrong Man |
| 2019 | Kenny Leon (Dir) | Much Ado About Nothing |
| 2019 | Jeff & Rick Kuperman (Chor) | Alice By Heart |
| 2018 | Anne Kauffman (Dir) | Mary Jane |
| 2018 | Susan Stroman (Chor) | The Beast in the Jungle |
| 2017 | David Cromer (Dir) | The Band’s Visit |
| 2017 | Rachel Rockwell (Chor) | Ride the Cyclone |
| 2016 | Sarah Benson (Dir) | Futurity |
| 2016 | James Walski (Chor) | Trip of Love |
| 2015 | Mike Donahue (Dir) | The Legend of Georgia McBride |
| 2015 | Alex Sanchez & Lainie Sakakura (Chor) | Red Eye of Love |
| 2014 | John Rando (Dir) | The Heir Apparent |
| 2014 | Martha Clarke (Chor) | Chéri |
| 2013 | Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Dir) | The Piano Lesson |
| 2013 | Marlo Hunter (Chor) | Unlock’d |
| 2012 | John Tiffany (Dir) | Once |
| 2012 | Steven Hoggett (Chor) | Once |
| 2011 | Carolyn Cantor (Dir) | After The Revolution |
| 2011 | Larry Keigwin (Chor) | Rent |
| 2010 | Ciaran O’Reilly (Dir) | The Hairy Ape |
| 2010 | Byron Easley (Chor) | Langston in Harlem |
| 2009 | Garry Hynes (Dir) | The Cripple of Inishmaan |
| 2009 | Martha Clarke (Chor) | Garden of Earthly Delights |
| 2008 | Giovanna Sardelli (Dir) | Animals Out of Paper |
| 2008 | Lynne Taylor Corbett (Chor) | Wanda’s World |
| 2007 | Thomas Kail (Dir) & Andy Blankenbuehler (Chor) | In the Heights |
| 2006 | Peter DuBois (Dir) | Measure for Pleasure |
| 2006 | Bill T. Jones (Chor) | Spring Awakening |
| 2005 | Doug Hughes (Dir) | Doubt |
| 2005 | Christopher Gattelli (Chor) | Altar Boyz |
| 2004 | Daniel Sullivan | Intimate Apparel |
| 2003 | Doug Hughes (Dir) | Flesh & Blood |
| 2003 | Devanand Janki (Chor) | Zanna Don’t |
| 2002 | Bartlett Sher | Cymbeline |
| 2001 | Jack O’Brien | The Invention of Love & The Full Monty |
| 2000 | Gabriel Barre (Dir) & Mark Dendy (Chor) | Wild Party |
| 1999 | Trevor Nunn | Not About Nightingales |
| 1998 | Frank Galati (Dir) & Graciela Daniele (Chor) | Ragtime |
| 1997 | Moises Kaufman | Gross Indecency |
| 1996 | Julie Taymor | The Green Bird |
| 1995 | Joe Mantello | Love! Valour! Compassion! |
| 1995 | Scott Elliott | Ecstasy |
| 1994 | Gerald Gutierrez | Abe Lincoln in Illinois |
| 1993 | Harold Prince | Kiss of the Spider Woman |
| 1992 | George C. Wolfe (Dir) & Hope Clarke (Chor) | Jelly’s Last Jam |
| 1991 | Susan Stroman | And the World Goes Round |
| 1990 | Frank Galati | The Grapes of Wrath |
| 1989 | Gloria Muzio | Other People’s Money |
About Joe A Callaway
Joe A Callaway dedicated more than 50 years to the theatre as an actor, director, lecturer and critic. He was a founding member and director of San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, the first recipient of a master’s degree from the Goodman School of Theatre, an associate professor at Michigan State University, a noted radio and television reviewer, and an actor off-Broadway and in regional theatre. Since his death in 1991, his legacy lives on in awards he endowed for direction and choreography (through SDCF), for acting (through Actors’ Equity Association), for playwriting (through Young Playwrights Inc.) and for theatre scholarships (through NYU).