Joanie Schultz Honored with SDCF Zelda Fichandler Award

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation has announced the recipient and finalists for its annual Zelda Fichandler Award. The Fichandler Award recognizes directors and choreographers who have demonstrated great accomplishment to date with singular creativity and deep investment in a particular community or region, and is named for Zelda Fichandler, the founding artistic director of Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. The award is presented annually, with a focus each year on a different region; all of nominees for this year's Fichandler Award were directors and choreographers from the Central Region of the United States.

The 2025 Zelda Fichandler Award will be presented to Joanie Schultz along with an unrestricted award of $5,000 from SDCF. Schultz will be recognized in a celebration at Steppenwolf Theatre Company on April 6, 2026, along with three selected finalists for the Zelda Fichandler Award, Dr. Brian Cheslik, Maija García, and Addie Gorlan-Han. 

Said Braden Abraham, 2025 Fichandler Award Chair,  “On behalf of the Zelda Fichandler Committee, we are thrilled to celebrate Joanie Schultz, a director of national reach, who continues to make an outstanding impact in the Central Region. Joanie embodies the Fichandler ethos—a champion of innovative voices, a practitioner at the highest levels, and an artistic leader committed to a symbiotic relationship between a theatre and its community. She possesses an unwavering commitment to excellence and access, and the acumen and stamina required for a long and fruitful career. This year's three finalists—Dr. Brian Cheslik, Maija García, and Addie Gorlan-Han—are extraordinary artist-leaders, and their work is a reminder of the rich legacy and expansiveness of our field.”

Abraham was joined on the selection committee by Steven Dietz, Justin Emeka, Alex Mallory, and Nicole A. Watson.

Schultz shared, “This award affirms decades of deepening roots and focusing on the work rather than chasing visibility. Being recognized by my peers in Zelda Fichandler's name honors the artistic worlds I've helped shape across regional theatre—and fuels my commitment to many more decades of collaboration and collective genius.”

Leigh Silverman, SDCF President, said, “What we celebrate with the Zelda Fichandler Award is not just artistry, and not just vision, but rigorous day-after-day perseverance. The fulfillment of the promise to build theatres that reflect the communities they serve, the passionate belief that theatre is vital and should be accessible to all, and the stamina to keep pushing the boundaries of what theatre can be. Honoring Joanie's work in the Central Region is a reminder that the heartbeat of American theatre is everywhere — from Chicago to Cincinnati and beyond.”

To read more about the awardee and finalists, visit this website page: https://sdcfoundation.org/2025-zelda-fichandler-award-recipient-and-finalists/

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.