SDC Foundation Announces Second Round of Kurt Weill Fellowships

Established in 2013 by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music and SDC Foundation, the Kurt Weill Fellowship helps nurture early-career directors and choreographers by acquainting them with the stage work of Kurt Weill or Marc Blitzstein under the guidance of a master director or choreographer. The Fellowship provides the opportunity to assist or observe a master director or choreographer at work on a production, selected by the Kurt Weill Foundation, of a theatrical work composed by Weill or Blitzstein, including musical theater, opera, operetta, and dance works.

Through these Fellowships, early-career directors and choreographers will observe the techniques, approaches and insights of master artists and thereby expand their artistry, enrich leadership and collaboration skills, and further their knowledge of mounting a musical production. In addition, the Fellow will gain greater understanding of Kurt Weill's and Marc Blitzstein's theatrical catalogue and an ability to draw on this in future work.

The Kurt Weill Fellowship operates as a component of the SDC Foundation's Observership Program; as such, only the current season's Observership candidates will be eligible for this Fellowship.

Thanks to generous funding from The Kurt Weill Foundation, two Fellowships will be granted in 2015-2016. The first takes place in February with director John Fulljames and conductor Mark Wigglesworth on a new translation of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Fellow Shaun Patrick Tubbs. This will be the first international SDCF Weill Fellowship. A second Kurt Weill Fellow will be selected later in the year to observe a 2016 production of Lost in the Stars-- details TBA!

Previous recipients of the Weill Fellowship are Paige Killiany, who worked with Matthew Gardiner on The Threepenny Opera at The Signature Theatre in Virginia and Michael Leibenluft, who worked with Martha Clarke on The Threepenny Opera at the Atlantic Theater in NYC.

For more information on the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music and their many programs, visit kwf.org. For more information about SDCF and their programs, visit www.sdcfoundation.org.

Founded in 1965, Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation exists to foster, promote and develop the craft and creativity of stage directors and choreographers. SDCF's goals are to provide opportunities to practice the crafts of directing and choreography; to gather and disseminate craft and career information; to promote the profession to emerging talent; to provide opportunities for exchange of knowledge among directors and choreographers; and to increase the awareness of the value of directors' and choreographers' work.