Directing and Devising
Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) Directing Initiative
The SDC Directing Initiative provides recognition, honor, and financial assistance to outstanding student directors who have demonstrated success in direction. Candidates are nominated by their individual institutions, and the institution must have entered either an associate or participating production during the calendar year prior to the regional festival.
At the conclusion of the regional festival, one student director from this program will be selected to participate in the National Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. They also receive a one-year Associate Membership in SDC, which introduces each regional finalist to the national community of professional stage directors and choreographers.
To be eligible for the SDC Directing Initiative program:
- Students must be nominated by a faculty member from the student’s institution.
- Nominated students must have demonstrated excellence in direction.
- The institution must have entered either an associate or participating production for the regional festival during the year in which the nomination occurs.
- The participant must be a bona fide student at the time of the regional festival.
Apply for the Directing and Devising programs in Region 7
Click Here for the National SDC Directing Initiative
If you are interested in submitting but have questions about the process or what to submit, please reach out to Region 7 Devising Theatre Project Coordinator, Saffron Henke (saffron.henke@colostate.edu).
The National Devising Theatre Project
Devising is loosely defined as the process of collaboratively creating a new work without a pre-existing script wherein the collaborators are also the performers. I say loosely because every devising company creates their own method of working based on the subject of investigation and the strengths of the collaborators. Not every company member must perform for it to be a devised piece, but the majority often does. In short, the collaborative creators are also the performers.
2023-2024 Devising Initiative Prompts
“Joy as Resistance”
These prompts are intended to inspire your creativity, not be prescriptive. Include what you like, how you like.
Warshan Shire’s “What They Did Yesterday Afternoon”:
https://verse.press/poem/what-they-did-yesterday-afternoon-6524900794187889060
Andra Day’s “Rise Up”
https://youtu.be/F-VJQ0QQ_80?si=NzK0eMV1S5GI20vI
Theatrical Ingredients:
- Tableau/frozen pictures
- Music – sung, played, spoken lyrics
- 10 seconds of silence
- Slow motion
- An object is endowed, made important or something it doesn’t seem to be.
Writing prompts:
- Where do you find joy?
- Where do you participate in resistance?
- What does “resistance” mean to you?
- What is “joy as resistance”?
Apply for the Directing and Devising programs in Region 7
Click Here for the National Devising Theatre Initiative
The SDC Directing Initiative and National Devising Theatre Project awards will be presented on the closing night of the Regional Conference.