Wing-Davey will begin his appointment Sept. 1. Zelda Fichandler remains on faculty as artistic director of the Graduate Acting Program.

In a statement Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean of the Tisch School of the Arts, said, "Mark Wing-Davey is a talented actor, accomplished director, and gifted teacher who has worked with many of the emerging and leading theatrical voices in the United States. He brings to the Graduate Acting Program a wealth of talent and experience in the theatre, not to mention an international reputation. We are delighted to welcome him to the Tisch School and the NYU community.

"I would also like to take this opportunity to salute Zelda Fichandler," Campbell added, "who has inspired the students and faculty of the Graduate Acting Program for over 25 years. I am deeply grateful that she will include the School and its alumni in her future plans for the creation of a new theatre company that will embody the ideals and vision that she has brought to the Tisch School."

Mark Wing-Davey received an Obie Award for Outstanding Director for the 1992 production of Caryl Churchill's Mad Forest and a Drama Desk nomination for the 1996 production of Churchill's The Skriker. He has also had his work featured at Lincoln Center Theater, American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Royal National Theatre in London. This fall he will direct Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play for Yale Repertory Theatre.

Wing-Davey was also artistic director of the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. He has been a frequent visitor to Tisch's Graduate Acting Program since 1993, most recently directing Euripides‚ Women of Troy in 2002. He has given master classes and workshops at Yale, Princeton, Columbia and UC Berkeley, as well as at the Actors Center and the British American Drama Academy, both in London.