Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) has announced that the 2022 Zelda Finchandler Award will be given to Ron OJ Parson (Too Heavy for Your Pocket, Trouble in Mind). The Chicago-based director will be honored at a virtual public ceremony which has yet to announce a date.
Parson, Resident Director at University of Chicago's Tony-winning Court Theatre, will receive the unrestricted $5,000 award which "recognizes directors and choreographers who have demonstrated great accomplishment to date with singular creativity and deep investment in a particular community or region." The annual award rotates its regional focus, and nominees for this year were all based in the central United States.
SDCF also announced Lili-Anne Brown (Joe Turner's Come and Gone, School Girls, or The African Mean Girls Play) as the award's finalist, and Brown will also be recognized at the ceremony.
The award, established in 2009, is named for Zelda Fichandler, founder of Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage. Director D. Lynn Meyers chaired the selection committee which also featured directors Steven John Dietz and Marcela Lorca.
For more information, visit SDCFoundation.org.
