Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), administers the award. The award "heralds both accomplishment to date and promise for the future, and artistic vision and deep investment in a region outside of New York."

The award will be presented on Dec. 6 at SDC's 50th anniversary West Coast celebration.

Gordon Davidson, founding artistic director of Los Angeles' Center Theatre Group, will present the award, which carries with it a $5,000 cash prize.

Named after Zelda Fichandler, one of the founders of the American regional theatre movement, the award, established as part of SDC's current 50th anniversary season is SDCF's first award devoted to regional theatre, where the majority of professional theatre directors and choreographers in the United States now work.

The Award will be given regionally on a rotating basis. This year it will be awarded to a director or choreographer who has made and who continues to make a significant contribution to theatre in the Western region (which comprises Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming). In subsequent years the Award will honor achievement in three other designated regions: Central, Eastern, and Southern.

Moscone said in a statement, "I am a little stunned and very honored to get this award. I am grateful to SDC for recognizing the work of those of us in the regional theater, and I hope to do well by this award, and to live up to ideals of Zelda Fichandler as I continue my work at California Shakespeare Theater."

Moscone will soon begin his tenth season as artistic director of California Shakespeare Theater where his work has earned him Bay Area Critics Circle and Dean Goodman Choice Awards for Best Direction and Production. His productions of Man and Superman, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Ghosts (Berkeley Rep), Twelfth Night and The Seagull have all been named among the ten best productions by the San Francisco Chronicle and other area newspapers. He recently directed Eurydice at Milwaukee Rep and the world premiere of Richard Nelson's How Shakespeare Won the West for Huntington Theatre; other regional credits include Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theater, Dallas Theatre Center, Goodspeed Musicals, Triangle Opera, Portland Stage Company, and Magic Theatre. He is the recipient of a Stanford Graduate School of Business Center for Social Innovation Fellowship and currently serves on the board of LoveLife Foundation and on the advisory board of Redwood High School, both in Oakland.

The Fichandler Selection Committee is comprised of industry professionals; this year's committee included Stephen Albert, Alison Carey, Michael Garces, Loretta Greco, Sherry Kramer, Marc Masterson, Tom Moore, Sharon Ott and Laird Williamson.

The Award will serve as a complement to the "Mr. Abbott" Award, presented annually in New York to recognize lifetime achievement, and the Joe A. Callaway Award, given for excellence in direction and choreography in non-Broadway productions in New York. The three awards are the only awards given to theatre directors and choreographers by their peers.

Fichandler dedicated her early career to the establishment of America's regional theatre movement. In 1950 she founded Washington, DC's Arena Stage and in 1968 she produced The Great White Hope, which became the first production to transfer from a regional theatre to Broadway, winning the Tony and the Pulitzer Prize, and launching the careers of James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander.

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Founded in 1965, Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation exists to foster, promote and develop the creativity and craft of stage directors and choreographers. Stage Directors and Choreographers Society is a national theatrical labor union whose mission is to foster a national community of professional stage Directors and Choreographers by protecting the rights, health and livelihoods of all of its members; to facilitate the exchange of ideas, information and opportunities, while educating the current and future generations about the role of Directors and Choreographers and providing effective administration, negotiations and contractual support.