Zelda Fichandler

Zelda Fichandler (née Diamond; born September 18, 1924, Boston, Massachusetts) is an American stage producer, director and educator.

Zelda Diamond's husband, Thomas C. Fichlander, a statistician and economist, was a cofounder of the Arena Stage theatre in Washington, D.C.,[1] the first integrated theater in Washington.[2] 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.[1][3]

She and her husband, Thomas C. Fichandler (August 9, 1915 – March 16, 1997),[2] along with Edward Mangum,[4] co-founded Arena Stage in 1950, 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.[5] 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.[6]

Since 1984, Fichandler has been chair of the graduate acting program and Master Teacher of Acting and Directing at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. From 1991-94, she was artistic director of The Acting Company.[7]

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.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 fichandler, Zelda. "Zelda Fichandler profile". Autobiography. Theater Communications Group. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
  2. 1 2 GUSSOW, MEL (March 19, 1997). "Thomas Fichandler, Washington Theater's Executive Director, 81". The New York Times.
  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. ↑ "arenastage /about/history/". Arenastage. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "Zelda Fichandler" by Peter Marks, Washington Post, page N7, September 11, 2005.
  6. ↑ Zelda Fichander profile, Americans for the Arts website; accessed June 16, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Leadership". The Acting Company :ABOUT. Retrieved 13 December 2015.

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."[1]

External links/sources

  1. ↑ Quotation, thinkexist.com; accessed
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