ATW - SDCF Masters of the Stage American Theatre Wing and SDCF

A Director's Life: Creative Development and Renewal – On June 18, 2011, SDCF Executive Director Laura Penn moderated a panel at the TCG conference featuring Gil Cates, Curt Columbus, Jeffrey Horowitz, Susan Medak, Madeline Puzo, and Julie Taymor to consider the centrality of the director's role in theatre.

At its 2013 Emerging Artist Symposium on Musicals, SDCF hosted Tony-nominated Dan Knechtges ("Lysistrata Jones," "Xanadu," "Spelling Bee") in conversation with Producing Director Ellen Rusconi on his experiences directing and choreographing new musicals. From his theatre experiences while growing up in Cleveland to his transition from performer to director/choreographer, this discussion - peppered with a dash of humor, sentiment, and survival jobs - examines Dan’s process of learning to create musical theatre and launching a career. The conversation explores key tactics when working with stage managers and writers, time management when developing a new work, and elevating taste in the most unlikely yet scrumptious ways.

At its 2013 Symposium on Plays, Marianne Weems and Erica Laird of The Builders Association spoke with SDCF Producing Director Ellen Rusconi about the process of creating theatre with heavy use of multi-media elements. Listen as they share the intricacies involved in rehearsing and maintaining a piece when working with both human and non-human counterparts and how to fuse the two symbiotically to create a piece of holistic, organic art. These innovative theatre artists speak to a director’s responsibility when dealing with these mediums and identifying the financial and professional requirements of mounting and sustaining such a visionary art form.

On May 19th, 1999, Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation hosted a One-on-One Conversation with Moisés Kaufman, director, playwright, and founder of Tectonic Theater Project, and Mary Overlie, the creator of Viewpoints.  Hear these two singular artists discuss theatrical theory and relate it to their work: Kaufman as he creates The Laramie Project with his company, Overlie in developing Viewpoints. This is an insightful conversation between two artists who thrive on exploration and breaking into new forms.

At the SDCF 2013 Emerging Artist Symposium on Plays on June 17, 2013, SDCF hosted legendary director Marshall Mason to speak about his extraordinary collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson and his approach to working with actors.

At the SDCF 2013 Emerging Artist Symposium on Musicals on May 20, 2013, internationally-acclaimed director/choreographers Chet Walker and Marcia Milgrom Dodge shared their expertise of applying a fresh perspective to the revival of a musical subsequent to an iconic production.