LOS ANGELES: The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation has announced that this year’s Zelda Fichandler Award will go to Tim Dang, producing artistic director of the East West Players (EWP) in Los Angeles, the nation’s longest-running professional theatre of color. Dang, whose leadership with EWP began in 1993 and will end next June, has been affiliated with the organization for more than 35 years and played an instrumental role in the construction of the 240-seat David Henry Hwang Theater in 1998.

“Among the stellar group of candidates, Tim Dang’s profound commitment to the Los Angeles theatre community, particularly his unwavering support of Asian-American artists, and the extension of that work into the national theatre consciousness, made him stand out as a director most worthy of the Zelda Fichandler Award,” said Fichandler selection committee chairman Christopher Ashley in a statement.

The Fichandler Award, established in honor of Zelda Fichandler, pioneer of the American resident theatre movement, annually grants $5,000 to an outstanding directors or choreographer whose creative work is credited with transforming and strengthening the resident arts landscape.