NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN FOR THE 2026 ZELDA FICHANDLER AWARD
Zelda + Thomas Fichandler during the construction of the Kreeger Theatre in 1970 c/o Arena Stage
Established in 2009, the Zelda Fichandler Award is SDCF’s first award devoted to the regional theatre. With this award, SDCF acknowledges the profound impact the founders of regional theatre have had on the field, honoring their legacy through the recognition of the extraordinary directors and choreographers who are transforming the national arts landscape with their unique, creative work and deep investment in a community.
The Fichandler Award is given regionally on a rotating basis. In 2026, it will be given to a director or choreographer who has made, and who continues to make, a significant contribution to their community through extraordinary work in theatre in the Eastern region of the United States, defined by SDCF as Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, Washington D.C., West Virginia.
Nominators are not required to be SDC Members or Associate Members. However, nominees must be SDC Members or Associate Members in good standing and may not be previous recipients of the Award. Eligible nominees will be invited to apply in October. The winner and finalist(s) will be recognized at a ceremony in the spring.
The Fichandler Award recipient will receive an unrestricted award of $5,000 from SDCF.
REGIONS DIVIDED BY STATE
Central: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.
East: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, Washington D.C., West Virginia
West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming
AWARD ELIGIBILITY
The nominee must have made and be continuing to make a unique and exceptional contribution to theatre with singular creativity and artistry and deep investment in the selected region. Artistic staff and freelance directors/choreographers are eligible.
The nominee must live in the year’s selected region and work primarily in the year’s selected region.
The nominee must be an SDC Member or SDC Associate Member in good standing by the nomination deadline.
The nominator does not have to be an SDC Member
Note that this is not an award for lifetime achievement; this award heralds both accomplishment to date and promise for the future.
2025 SDCF ZELDA FICHANDLER AWARD RECIPIENT
JOANIE SCHULTZ
JOANIE SCHULTZ
Photo by Joe Mazza.
Joanie Schultz is a teacher, arts leader, and director of theatre and opera. Joanie currently serves as Associate Artistic Director of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.
Joanie’s work includes directing for The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, The Cleveland Play House, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Jungle Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Studio Theatre, and at least 30 other theatre and opera companies throughout Chicago and the US. Select notable work has included directing the smash hit and long-extended immersive production of Hand to God (Studio Theatre & WaterTower Theatre); her Queer adaptation of Chekhov’s Seagull (Quantum Theatre); her own new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (WaterTower Theatre & Everyman Theatre); the visually stunning world premiere of Frida…A Self Portrait (KC Rep, Portland Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, GEVA, Indiana Rep, Pittsburgh Public, Writer’s Theatre); the critically lauded The Whale and Rest by Samuel D. Hunter (Victory Gardens Theater); the Jeff Award winning productions of In Arabia We’d All be Kings and The Brief History of Helen of Troy (Steep Theatre); site-specific performances of the operas Acis and Galatea (Chicago Cultural Center) and Bluebeard’s Castle (New Millennium Orchestra); and co-creating and directing a 6-hour theatrical adaptation of Wagner’s Ring Cycle (The Building Stage).
From 2016-18, Joanie served as Artistic Director of WaterTower Theatre in Dallas-Fort Worth, where she oversaw two years of diverse, exciting, and award-winning work. In 2014-16, Joanie served as Associate Artistic Producer at Victory Gardens Theater, as part of the Leadership U One-on-One Fellowship funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by TCG.
Joanie holds an MFA in directing from Northwestern University and a BA in directing from Columbia College Chicago. She was a Drama League Fellow; The Goodman Theatre’s Michael Maggio Directing Fellow; the SDCF Denham Fellow; a Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab participant; and was 2013 Co-Artistic Curator for Theater on the Lake. Joanie was co-Artistic Director of Estrogen Fest; Associate Artistic Director of The Building Stage; and co-Founder/Artistic Director of Flush Puppy Productions. She is an ensemble member at Steep Theatre and an artistic cabinet member at Studio Theatre in DC. She has been on faculty at Columbia College Chicago, University of Chicago, Roosevelt University, and Northwestern University, and has taught for the School at Steppenwolf, Steep Theatre, the Audition Studio, and Italian Operatic Experience. She is a member of SDC, AGMA, and the Dramatists Guild.
WESTERN REGION
Jonathan Moscone of California Shakespeare Theater in Orinda, California (2009)
Bill Rauch of Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon (2012)
Tim Dang of East West Players in Los Angeles, CA (2015)
Loretta Greco of Magic Theater in San Francisco (2018)
Mark Valdez of Los Angeles, California (2021)
Leslie Ishii of Los Angeles, California (2024)
CENTRAL REGION
Joanie Schultz of Cincinnati, Ohio (2025)
Michael Halberstam of Writer’s Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois (2010)
Charles Newell of Court Theatre in Chicago, Illinois (2013)
Lisa Portes of Chicago, Illinois (2016)
Marcela Lorca of Ten Thousand Things in St. Paul, Minnesota (2019)
Ron OJ Parson of Chicago, Illinois (2022)
EASTERN REGION
Blanka Zizka of The Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2011)
Joseph Haj of PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, NC (2014)
Vivienne Benesch of PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, NC (2017)
Kamilah Forbes of The Apollo Theatre in New York City (2020)
Raymond O. Caldwell of DC’s Theater Alliance (2023)
ABOUT ZELDA FICHANDLER
Zelda Fichandler (1924 -2016) dedicated her early career to the establishment of America’s regional theatre movement. In 1950 she founded Washington D.C.’s Arena Stage and in 1968 she produced The Great White Hope, which became the first production to transfer from a regional theatre to Broadway, winning the Tony and the Pulitzer Prize, and launching the careers of James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander. Her production of Inherit the Wind toured Soviet St. Petersburg and Moscow and Arena Stage was the first American theatre company sponsored by the State Department to do so. Like many other regional theatres afterward, Arena Stage cultivated an evolving but resident company over the decades that included some of America’s best actors: Robert Prosky, Frances Sternhagen, George Grizzard, Philip Bosco, Ned Beatty, Roy Scheider, Robert Foxworth, Jane Alexander, James Earl Jones, Melinda Dillon, Dianne Wiest, Max Wright, Marilyn Caskey, Harriet Harris, and Tom Hewitt. In 1975 it was the first regional theatre to be recognized by the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League with the Regional Theatre Tony Award for outstanding achievement. When Ms. Fichandler retired as Producing Artistic Director of Arena Stage in 1990, she had achieved the longest tenure of any non-commercial producer in the annals of the American theatre. Before her death in July of 2016, Ms. Fichandler was Chair Emeritus of New York University’s acclaimed Graduate Acting Program where she personally taught, guided, and inspired more than 500 acting students, including Marcia Gay Harden, Rainn Wilson, Billy Crudup, Debra Messing, Peter Krause, and Michael C. Hall. Her honors include the SDC Foundation’s “Mr. Abbott” Award, The Acting Company’s John Houseman Award, the Margo Jones Award, and the National Medal of Arts, and in 1999 she became the first artistic leader outside of New York to be inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.