Zelda Fichandler

Zelda Fichandler (née Diamond; September 18, 1924 – July 29, 2016) was an American stage producer, director and educator.[1]

At age 4, she moved from Boston area to Washington D.C. as her father accepted a job at the National Bureau of Standards. Aged 8, she performed as Helga in Helga and the White Peacock at the Rose Robison Cowen’s Studio for Children's Theatre.[2][3]

Zelda Diamond's husband, Thomas C. Fichandler (August 9, 1915 – March 16, 1997),[4] along with Edward Mangum,[5] a statistician and economist, was a cofounder of the Arena Stage theatre in 1950 in Washington,[2] the city's first integrated theater,[4] in a tiny former art-film cinema. As audiences grew, the theatre moved to "The Old Vat Theatre" which the company created in an abandoned distillery on the Potomac riverside. The Fichandlers were able to build a new theatre complex. Zelda Fichandler served as Arena's artistic director from the theatre's inception until her retirement at the end of the 1990-91 season. During that time, Arena Stage became known as one of America's premier regional theatres.[6] Under her leadership, the Arena won the first regional Tony award in 1976, became the first American theatre to tour the USSR (1973), as well as the first regional theatre to transfer a show to Broadway.

Fichandler directed numerous plays at Arena Stage including Death of a Salesman, Uncle Vanya, A Doll's House and Six Characters in Search of an Author. Several of her Arena Stage productions toured internationally, including Inherit the Wind and The Crucible.[7]

From 1984 until 2009 Fichandler was chair of the graduate acting program and Master Teacher of Acting and Directing at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.[8] From 1991-94, she was artistic director of The Acting Company.[9]

Her honors and awards include the Common Wealth Award for distinguished service in the dramatic arts (1985); the Helen Hayes Award for directing The Crucible (1988); and the National Medal of Arts in 1996. She was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1999, the first artistic leader outside of New York to be so honored.[2] In 2002, Zelda delivered The Americans for the Arts 15th Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy at the Kennedy Center.[10]

Fichandler died in her home on July 29, 2016, in Washington, D.C., due to complications from congestive heart failure. She was 91 years old.[11]

Quote

"There is a hunger to see the human presence acted out. As long as that need remains, people will find a way to do theater."[12]

References

  1. ↑ Levey, Bob (2016-07-29). "Zelda Fichandler, Arena Stage co-founder and matriarch of regional-theater movement, dies at 91". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
  2. 1 2 3 fichandler, Zelda. "Zelda Fichandler profile". Autobiography. Theater Communications Group. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
  3. ↑ Kennedy, Dennis (2003). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. pp. 456–466. ISBN 0-19-860672-9.
  4. 1 2 GUSSOW, MEL (March 19, 1997). "Thomas Fichandler, Washington Theater's Executive Director, 81". The New York Times.
  5. ↑ "arenastage /about/history/". Arenastage. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  6. ↑ "Zelda Fichandler" by Peter Marks, Washington Post, page N7, September 11, 2005.
  7. ↑ , Americans for the Arts website; accessed June 16, 2014.
  8. ↑ Weber, Bruce (July 29, 2016). "Zelda Fichandler, a Matriarch of Regional Theater, Dies at 91". New York Times. Retrieved 2016-07-30. Print version appeared on July 30, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Leadership". The Acting Company :ABOUT. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  10. ↑ {{http://www.americansforthearts.org/sites/default/files/pdf/events/hanks/Hanks2002ZeldaFichandler.pdf}}
  11. ↑ Levey, Bob (July 29, 2016). "Zelda Fichandler, Arena Stage co-founder and matriarch of regional-theater movement, dies at 91". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
  12. ↑ Quotation, thinkexist.com; accessed

External links/sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.