Photos: Drama League's Gabriel Stelian Shanks, Bevin Ross, and Bonnie Comley Celebrate Irene Gandy
Donors established the Irene Gandy Directing Assistantships.
By: Genevieve Rafter Keddy Dec. 05, 2023
Gabriel Stelian Shanks, Bevin Ross, and Bonnie Comley were joined by The Drama League Board, staff, family, and friends to announce major gifts to The Irene Gandy Directing Assistantships. The group sang Happy Birthday to Ms. Gandy and celebrated her 80th birthday with a champagne toast. Ms. Gandy, as always, looked fabulous!
In an effort to remove barriers to access that disproportionately affect BIPOC/Global Majority directors in the early stages of their careers, The Drama League Irene Gandy Directing Assistantships partners with acclaimed BIPOC/Global Majority stage directors to provide assistant directing opportunities on their productions across the United States to early-career BIPOC/Global Majority and/or historically marginalized directors.
The goals of this program are urgent and necessary. First, the assistantships address disproportionate barriers to access that are pervasive, industry-wide, and damaging to the field’s future viability. Secondly, they offer a rare opportunity for passing knowledge, skills, and experience from generations of BIPOC/Global Majority directors to the next, as well as techniques to successfully employ against racism, inequity, and injustice in rehearsal, casting, and production procedures. Third, it ensures a multiplicity of voices in this important and vital creative role, better serving the entire community of audiences, artists, and citizens.
The assistantships offer a peer-to-peer mentorship model to recipients. The Drama League will provide each assistant director’s remuneration, travel, housing, and pre-production preparation resources. Bridging theater and practice, this program opens the gates of professional production, provides essential community-building and care, and offers an experience of the field when BIPOC/Global Majority directors lead rooms.
Donors established the Irene Gandy Directing Assistantships with a specific interest in sustaining the future of the American theatre. To join the Leadership Circle for these programs, please visit www.DramaLeague.org
The Drama League is a creative and career development home for directors and a platform for dialogue with the audiences they inspire in theater, film, television, online, and anywhere live performance is found. Launched in 1916, The Drama League is one of the longest-continuously operating arts service organizations in the United States.
Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter Keddy
Drama League Celebrates Irene Gandy
Andrew Coopman (Artistic Associate)
Inez Tupin
Darin Oduyoye
Rahma Gafil Soliman (IOM Office of the UN), Rowena Husband (Dolphin Entertainment Group) and Aaliytha Stevens (Ashe' Collective)
Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley (President of The Drama League)
Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley
Bevin Ross (Executive Director The Drama League) Gabriel Stalin-Shanks (Artistic Director The Drama League) and Bonnie Comley
Stage Directors Assistants- Susanna Jaramillo, Michele Chan, Sanhawich Meateanuwat and Vanessa Ogbuehi
Gabriel Stelian-Shanks joins with Stage Directors Assistants- Susanna Jaramillo, Michele Chan, Sanhawich Meateanuwat and Vanessa Ogbuehi
Nilan (Associate Artistic Director) and Gabriel Stalin-Shanks joins with Stage Directors Assistants- Susanna Jaramillo, Michele Chan, Sanhawich Meateanuwat and Vanessa Ogbuehi
Irene Gandy
Irene Gandy joins with Stage Directors Assistants- Susanna Jaramillo, Michele Chan, Sanhawich Meateanuwat and Vanessa Ogbuehi
Reggie Van Lee, Irene Gandy and Natasha Moore
Bevin Ross, Reggie Van Lee, Irene Gandy, Bonnie Comley and Gabriel Stelian-Shanks
Reggie Van Lee and Irene Gandy
Irene Gandy
Irene Gandy
The Drama League Board of Directors-Trish Chambers, Fred Siegel, Nicole A. Wstdon, Bevin Ross, Irene Gandy, Darin Oduyoye, Stan Ponte and Gabriel Stelian-Shanks
Aaliytha Steves, Irene Gandy, Lisa Arrindell snd Jeffrey Richards
Aaliytha Steves, Irene Gandy, Lisa Arrindell and Billy Eugene Jones
Julie Boardman (Museum of Broadway), Irene Gandy and Bonnie Comley
Jeffrey Richards and Irene Gandy
Brandon Schwartz, Maia Gasman and Andy Hartman
Gabriel Stelian-Shanks and Bonnie Comley
Irene Gandy
Gabriel Stelian-Shanks, Bonnie Comley and Bevin Ross
Irene Gandy
A toast to Irene Gandy
Irene Gandy
Sanhawich Meateanuwat, Irenę Gandy. Michelle Chan, Vanessa Ogbuehi and Susanna Jaramillo
Michelle Chan, Vanessa Ogbuehi and Susanna Jaramillo
Sanhawich Meateanuwat and Irene Gandy
Michelle Chan
Vanessa Ogbuehi
Susanna Jaramillo
Inez Turpin, Kara Young, Irene Gandy and Lorine Pendleton
Sarah DeMarino and Bonnie Comley
Kara Young and Irene Gandy
Kara Young, Irene Gandy and Billy Eugene Jones
Irene Gandy and Lorine Pendleton
Inez Turpin and Irene Gandy
Vanessa Bell Calloway, Irene Gandy and Kara Young
Irene Gandy and Helen O'Rourke
Andrew Coopman and Irene Gandy
Irene Gandy and Rashad Bailey
Catalin Stelian-Shanks, Irene Gandy and Gabriel Stelian-Shanks
Vanessa Bell Calloway, Irene Gandy and Lisa Arrindell
Lisa Arrindell, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Rowena Husbands, Irene Gandy and Roxanne Cade
Lisa Arrindell, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Rowena Husbands, Irene Gandy, Roxanne Cade and Aaliytha Stevens
Kumiko Yoshii and Irene Gandy
Irene Gandy and Rahma Gamil Soliman
Kumiko Yoshii
Anna Evtushenko, Michelle Chan, Sanhawich Meateanuwat, Bernadette Norman, Susanna Jaramillo and Vanessa Ogbuehi
Rowena Husbands and Kara Young
Kumiko Yoshii and Bevin Ross
Vanessa Bell Calloway and Lisa Arrindell
Irene Gandy and Amani Costello
Billy Eugene Jones, Nicole A. Watson and Heather Alicia Simms
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