STAGE DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS FOUNDATION
AWARDS BLANKA ZIZKA
OF PHILADELPHIA’S WILMA THEATER
THE ZELDA FICHANDLER AWARD
COMMITTEE NAMES HOWARD SHALWITZ THE DISTINGUISHED FINALIST
Richard Garner, Joseph Haj, and D. Lynn Meyers named Finalists
Blanka Zizka of The Wilma Theater is the 2011 recipient of The Zelda Fichandler Award recognizing an outstanding director or choreographer transforming the regional arts landscape. The $5000 award, presented by Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation and announced by SDCF President Karen Azenberg, heralds both accomplishment to date and promise for the future, and commends courage and deep commitment to a community.
A peer review committee selected Ms. Zizka from fifty-five nominees from the Eastern region of the United States. “Even within what was an extraordinary pool of candidates, Blanka’s continued courage and dedication, both as a producer and director, attracted the committee to her. She has made a deep commitment to the arts in Philadelphia, promoting theater, dance, and utilizing a European-style rehearsal process at the Wilma. She has been bold in her selection of material and artists, and now launches into a new phase of her career, taking on the role of sole Artistic Director at the Wilma after years of collaboration with Jiri Zizka. The Fichandler Award will be a wonderful way for her to begin this new chapter in her vital, interesting, and courageous career,” notes Selection Committee Co-Chair Sharon Ott.
Ms. Zizka responds, “I’m much honored, thrilled, and humbled to receive the Zelda Fichandler Award. The remarkable regional theater movement that Zelda started in 1950 has grown into a myriad of distinctive artistic voices, missions, and aesthetics that is epitomized in Philadelphia. This city, where I have been working over the last thirty years, has turned into a fertile ground for making theater. I’m very grateful for the support I have received from the Philadelphia community of theater makers and theatergoers. Theater is the most collaborative of all art forms; no one can do it alone. I’m extremely thankful for my many encounters with inspiring artists who have challenged me to learn and grow. “
The Committee chose to honor Howard Shalwitz of Washington D.C.’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre as Distinguished Finalist. Moisés Kaufman, a Co-Chair of the Selection Committee, says, “This committee was unanimous in this decision. Mr. Shalwitz is a risk taker, a community builder, and a generous collaborator with his peers. His work is consistent in its excellence, its transformative power, and its ability to repeatedly challenge the status quo. It is undeniable that his work has had a great impact on us all individually and on the field as a whole.”
Three additional finalists were named: Richard Garner, Produc ing Artistic Director and co-founder of Georgia Shakespeare in Atlanta; Joseph Haj, Producing Artistic Director of PlayMakers Repertory Company of Chapel Hill, NC; and D. Lynn Meyers, Producing Artistic Director of Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati.
The award was presented on Monday, October 24 at a free public presentation at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington D.C. The evening featured Halo Wines, Zelda Fichandler, Michael Halberstam, Tom Moore, Jonathan Moscone, and Jennifer Nelson, among others.
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Ellen Rusconi
Associate Director
Stage Directors & Choreographers Foundation
212.391.1070 x244