The Drama League Unveils 30 Recipients of Directors Project Fellowships

The Drama League has revealed the thirty exceptional stage directors receiving the 2025 fellowships, assistantships, residencies, and programs collectively known as The Directors Project.
 
Selected from over 1,100 applicants worldwide, the recipients are Catalina Beltrán, Fran de Leon, Kevaughn Harvey, Yojiro Ichikawa, Aileen Wen McGroddy, Keng S. Meateanuwat, Imani Mitchell, Emily Moler, Melissa Mowry, Danica Selem, and Alexis Kulani Woodard, joining the previously announced directors continuing in programs: Zoë Adams, Arin Arbus, Desdemona Chiang, Nathaniel P. Claridad, Morgan Green, Irvin Mason, Jr., and Jess McLeod. They will also be joined in October by the artists of the Drama League International Directors Summit, taking place in Sofia, Bulgaria, as part of the ACT Festival of Independent Theatre. The twelve directors, representing eight countries, are NJ Agwuna, Ioseb Bakuradze, Uršulė Barto, Maksima Boeva, Natalie Ester, Dima Levitskiy, Gwynn MacDonald, Stefan Prohorov, Agnė Pulokaitė, Lisa Rothe, Mei Ann Teo, and Gosia Wdowik.
 
The 2025 Directors Project Cohort will be publicly welcomed into the professional theater community during the 91st Annual Drama League Awards on Friday, May 16, 2025, at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City. 
 

Fran de Leon

(she/her), Kevaughn Harvey (he/him), and Yojiro Ichikawa (they/them) are recipients of the Drama League FutureNow Directing Fellowships, an immersion program which begins with directing a one-act production, and assisting directing assignments at Chautauqua Theater Company (Chautauqua, NY) this summer. They will then begin pre-production to direct national touring productions for TheaterWorksUSA (NYC) this fall.
 

Melissa Mowry

(she/her) is the recipient of the Rose Directing Fellowship, a partnership with London’s Rose Theatre. During her time at The Rose, Melissa will assist Artistic Director Christopher Haydon on the world premiere adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma by Ava Pickett. Ms. Mowry will also direct a project for the company’s Youth Theatre.
 

Catalina Beltrán

(she/her), Imani Mitchell (she/her), and Alexis Woodard (she/her) have been chosen for the Irene Gandy Stage Directing Assistantships, which pair early-career directors from historically marginalized communities with established directors. Next season, they will assist on productions across the country with acclaimed directors Tatyana-Marie Carlo, Schele Williams, and Whitney White at New York Theatre Workshop, Trinity Rep, and on the national tour of The Notebook. Nathaniel P. Claridad recently wrapped his year-long assistantship at New York City Center, where he assisted directors on the Encores! revivals of Ragtime, Urinetown, Love Life, and Wonderful Town.
 

Emily Moler

(she/her) is the 2025 Next Stage Director In Residence. Throughout the year, she will develop Avery Deutsch’s play Age of Mary. Aileen Wen McGroddy (she/her), the new Beatrice Terry Director In Residence, will be writing and directing her piece, Lucia. Both artists will begin with a developmental week as part of New York Stage and Film’s Summer Season in Poughkeepsie, NY, before returning to New York later in the year for a second workshop at The Drama League Theater Center.
 
Joining them at New York Stage and Film this summer will be two additional Special Project Residencies. Director Keng S. Meateanuwat (he/they) will lead development of KHAM (Crossing) by Tidtaya Sinutoke, and Danica Selem (she/her), will continue to develop her interview-based work, I Saw Your Mama Workin’ At Clermont Lounge.
 

Zoë Adams

(she/her) and Irvin Mason, Jr. (he/him) begin the second year of the two-year Drama League Stage Directing Fellowships, which offers each of them a $100,000 award, health insurance reimbursement, training and accelerator workshops, and professional directing experiences with Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights’ Center, Berkeley Rep, New York Stage and Film, and Red Bull Theater. It is the largest directing fellowship of its kind in the world.
 

Morgan Green

(she/her) and Jess McLeod (she/her) continue in the Drama League Television and Film Directing Fellowships, expanding their creative practice in theater into these related disciplines. They will shadow on episodes of major television series, under the mentorship of co-creator Tony Phelan (Fire Country, A Small Light, Grey’s Anatomy).
 
In October 2025, The Drama League will convene its International Directors Summit, gathering directors representing ten countries of origin at the ACT Festival of Independent Theatre in Sofia, Bulgaria. The week-long summit will include workshops, panels, performances, and planning for future collaborations. Recipients to date include NJ Agwuna, United States; Ioseb Bakuradze, Georgia; Uršulė Barto, Lithuania; Maksima Boeva, Bulgaria; Natalie Ester, Romania; Dima Levitskiy, Ukraine; Gwynn MacDonald, United States; Stefan Prohorov, Bulgaria; Agnė Pulokaitė, Lithuania; Lisa Rothe, United States; Mei Ann Teo, United States; and Gosia Wdowik, Poland.
 
The Drama League Film Fund, supporting Directors Project alumni as they direct filmed projects, will complete its support of Arin Arbus and Desdemona Chiang. Ms. Arbus will direct the short film “The Cooperative,” about a fictional secret society in the Catskill Mountains. Ms. Chiang will direct “See You Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow,” about a stand-up comedian who delays his career to care for his 99-year-old grandmother.
 
The 2025 Directors Project Recipients will join the ranks of over 485 Drama League Alumni including Tony Award Winners Christopher Ashley (incoming Artistic Director, Roundabout Theatre Company), Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown), Sam Gold (Romeo+Juliet), Michael Mayer (Swept Away, Little Shop of Horrors), Pam MacKinnon (Artistic Director, A.C.T.), Diane Paulus (1776), John Rando (Back To The Future: The Musical), Danya Taymor (John Proctor Is The Villain), Rebecca Taichman (Sing Street), Alex Timbers (Moulin Rouge!), Tony nominees Mark Brokaw (How I Learned To Drive), Lear deBessonet (incoming Artistic Director, Lincoln Center Theater), Anne Kauffman (Mary Jane), Lila Neugebauer (Appropriate), Whitney White (The Last Five Years), Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Bernhardt/Hamlet), Obie Award Winner Arin Arbus (Frankie and Johnny…), Alan Schneider Award winner May Adrales (Dakar 2000), Callaway Award winner Mike Donahue (Troy), and more.