History

SDC protects the rights of directors and choreographers.

Judge Saul Streit, Presiding Justice of the New York Supreme Court (seated), signs the incorporation documents witnessed by original Members (left to right) Hanya Holm, Ezra Stone, Shepard Traube, Agnes de Mille + legal counsel Erwin Feldman.

Over sixty-five years ago, under the helm of director Shepard Traube, the founding Members of SDC united to create a theatrical labor union devoted to empowering the stage director and choreographer. When Bob Fosse withheld his services on a production of Little Me, Broadway producers were forced to recognize the Union, and in the case against producer Jay Julien, SDC won the important distinction of employee for its Membership. In addition to tackling the complex issue of intellectual property rights with such cases as Gerald Gutierrez‘s Most Happy Fella, Joe Mantello‘s Love! Valour! Compassion!, and John Rando‘s and John Carrafa‘s Urinetown, SDC has repeatedly achieved equitable fees and contracts for its Members. Today the Union is stronger than ever, working diligently to raise the profiles of directors and choreographers and their work and to unite, empower, and protect a nationwide Membership of professional directors and choreographers.

Read more about our history.

Leadership History
2008 – Present
2019 – Present
2016 – 2019
2013 – 2016
2007 – 2013
2001 – 2007
1998 – 2001
1995 – 2008
1992 – 1998
1987 – 1994
1986 – 1992
1984 – 1987
1983 – 1986
1980 – 1983
1970 – 1980
1968 – 1984
1967 – 1970
1965 – 1967
1962 – 1965
1959 – 1962
Executive Director
President
President
President
President
President
President
Executive Director
President
Executive Director
President
Executive Secretary
President
President
President
Executive Secretary
President
President
President
President
Laura Penn
Evan Yionoulis
Pam MacKinnon
Susan H. Schulman
Karen Azenberg
Pamela Berlin
Ted Pappas
Barbara Hauptman
Julianne Boyd
David Rosenak
Gene Saks
Harrison Cromer
Marshall W. Mason
James Hammerstein
Lloyd Richards
Mildred Traube
Danny Daniels
Agnes de Mille
Joseph Anthony
Shepard Traube
SDC Founders
Robert Allan Ackerman
Joseph Anthony
Valerie Bettis
Harold Bromley
Philip Burton
Robert Cahlman
Ira Cirker
Fielder Cook
Howard Da Silva
Jules Dassin
Vincent Donehue
John Fearnley
Bob Fosse
Roy Franklin
Peter Gennaro
Gino Giglio
John Hancock
Robert Herget
Jed Horner
Robert Joffrey
Gene Kelly
Joseph Kramm
Robert Lewis
Joshua Logan
Joseph Mankiewicz
Marshall W. Mason
Guthrie McClintic
Frank Merlin
James Nygren
Ruth Page
Henry C. Potter
José Quintero
Cyril Ritchard
Bill Ross
George Schaefer
Alex Segal
Herman Shumlin
Edith Stephen
Roger Sullivan
Frank Day Tuttle
Onna White
Rod Alexander
William Ball
Peter Birch
Peter Brook
John Butler
Carmen Capalbo
Marcella Cisney
Frank A. Corsaro
Tad Danielewski
Agnes de Mille
Robert Downing
Cy Feuer
Robert Foster
Burry Fredrick
Ella Gerber
Peter Glenville
Cedric Hardwicke
Ray Hinkley
Norris Houghton
Garson Kanin
John Kennedy
Danya Krupska-Thurston
Windsor Lewis
Sidney Lumet
Delbert Mann
Billy Matthews
Neil McKenzie
David Metcalf
John O’Shaughnessy
Arthur Penn
Stanley Prager
Jack Ragotzy
Martin Ritt
Herbert Ross
Dore Schary
Joshua Shelley
Elliot Silverstein
John Stix
Helen Tamiris
Eugene Van Grona
Arthur R. Williams
David Alexander
Richard Barr
Ruthanna Boris
Perry Bruskin
Henry Butler
Ted Cappy
Harold Clurman
Paul Crabtree
Danny Daniels
Harry Delmar
Lyle Dye Jr.
Ernest O. Flatt
Aaron Frankel
Charles Freeman
John Gerstad
Robert H. Gordon
Moss Hart
Hanya Holm
John Houseman
Mesrop Kasdikian
Michael Kidd
Jack Landau
Monica Lind
Alfred Lunt
Daniel Mann
Matt Mattox
Gian Carlo Menotti
Worthington Miner
Sir Laurence Olivier
Daniel Petrie
Otto Preminger
Elmer Rice
Jerome Robbins
Mark Rydell
Alan Schneider
Ed Sherin
Anna Sokolow
Ezra Stone
Shepard Traube
Allen Waine
John C. Wilson
Richard Altman
Herbert Berghof
Charles Bowden
Abe Burrows
Bill Butler
Madolin Cervantes
Jack Cole
Hume Cronyn
Marc Daniels
Reginald Denham
Lee A. Emmerich
Charles Forsythe
Gene Frankel
Jack Garfein
Sir John Gielgud
William Hammerstein
Joseph Hayes
Harry Horner
Michael Howard
Elia Kazan
Jerome Kilty
Joe Layton
Albert Lipton
Herbert Machiz
Albert E. Marre
Nick Mayo
Burgess Meredith
Loy Nilson
Charles Olsen
Stephen W. Porter
David Pressman
Lloyd Richards
Hubert W. Rolling
Donald Saddler
Mark Schoenberg
Bert Shevelove
Zachary Solov
Irving Strouse
Anthony Tudor
Margaret Webster
Bretaigne Windus

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