The Drama League Announces 2025 Directors Project Fellows and International Summit Participants

The Drama League (Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks, Executive Director Bevin Ross) and their partner companies announced today the thirty exceptional stage directors receiving the 2025 fellowships, assistantships, residencies, and programs collectively known as The Directors Project.

Selected from over 1,100 applicants worldwide, the recipients are Catalina Beltrán, Fran de Leon, Kevaughn Harvey, Yojiro Ichikawa, Aileen Wen McGroddy, Keng S. Meateanuwat, Imani Mitchell, Emily Moler, Melissa Mowry, Danica Selem, and Alexis Kulani Woodard, joining the previously announced directors continuing in programs: Zoë Adams, Arin Arbus, Desdemona Chiang, Nathaniel P. Claridad, Morgan Green, Irvin Mason Jr., and Jess McLeod. They will also be joined in October by the artists of the Drama League International Directors Summit, taking place in Sofia, Bulgaria, as part of the ACT Festival of Independent Theatre. The twelve directors, representing eight countries, are NJ Agwuna, Ioseb Bakuradze, Uršulė Barto, Maksima Boeva, Natalie Ester, Dima Levitskiy, Gwynn Macdonald, Stefan Prohorov, Agnė Pulokaitė, Lisa Rothe, Mei Ann Teo, and Gosia Wdowik.

The 2025 Directors Project cohort will be publicly welcomed into the professional theater community during the 91st Annual Drama League Awards on Friday, May 16, 2025, at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City. For more information, visit www.dramaleague.org.

“The challenges artists and cultural workers are facing today are unlike any in America’s history,” said Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks. “The 2025 Directors Project recipients share exceptional creativity, a strong point of view, and a determined focus on a better future. It’s our desire to give them the resources and opportunity to make impactful, life-changing art for audiences. They offer their fellow citizens hope, inspiration, and a path forward. We cannot wait to see their dreams become reality.”

Fran de Leon (she/her), Kevaughn Harvey (he/him), and Yojiro Ichikawa (they/them) are recipients of the Drama League FutureNow Directing Fellowships, an immersion program which begins with directing a one-act production, and assistant directing assignments at Chautauqua Theater Company (Chautauqua, NY) this summer. They will then begin pre-production to direct national touring productions for TheaterWorksUSA (NYC) this fall.

Melissa Mowry (she/her) is the recipient of the Rose Directing Fellowship, a partnership with London’s Rose Theatre. During her time at The Rose, Melissa will assist Artistic Director Christopher Haydon on the world premiere adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma by Ava Pickett. Ms. Mowry will also direct a project for the company’s Youth Theatre.

Catalina Beltrán (she/her), Imani Mitchell (she/her), and Alexis Woodard (she/her) have been chosen for the Irene Gandy Stage Directing Assistantships, which pair early-career directors from historically marginalized communities with established directors. Next season, they will assist on productions across the country with acclaimed directors Tatyana-Marie Carlo, Schele Williams, and Whitney White at New York Theatre Workshop, Trinity Rep, and on the national tour of The Notebook. Nathaniel P. Claridad recently wrapped his year-long assistantship at New York City Center, where he assisted directors on the Encores! revivals of Ragtime, Urinetown, Love Life, and Wonderful Town.

Emily Moler (she/her) is the 2025 Next Stage Director in Residence. Throughout the year, she will develop Avery Deutsch’s play Age of Mary. Aileen Wen McGroddy (she/her), the new Beatrice Terry Director in Residence, will be writing and directing her piece, Lucia. Both artists will begin with a developmental week as part of New York Stage and Film’s Summer Season in Poughkeepsie, NY, before returning to New York later in the year for a second workshop at The Drama League Theater Center.

Joining them at New York Stage and Film this summer will be two additional Special Project Residencies. Director Keng S. Meateanuwat (he/they) will lead development of KHAM (Crossing) by Tidtaya Sinutoke, and Danica Selem (she/her) will continue to develop her interview-based work, I Saw Your Mama Workin’ at Clermont Lounge.

Zoë Adams (she/her) and Irvin Mason Jr. (he/him) begin the second year of the two-year Drama League Stage Directing Fellowships, which offer each of them a $100,000 award, health insurance reimbursement, training and accelerator workshops, and professional directing experiences with Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights’ Center, Berkeley Rep, New York Stage and Film, and Red Bull Theater. It is the largest directing fellowship of its kind in the world.

Morgan Green (she/her) and Jess McLeod (she/her) continue in the Drama League Television and Film Directing Fellowships, expanding their creative practice in theater into these related disciplines. They will shadow on episodes of major television series, under the mentorship of co-creator Tony Phelan (Fire Country, A Small Light, Grey’s Anatomy).

In October 2025, The Drama League will convene its International Directors Summit, gathering directors representing ten countries of origin at the ACT Festival of Independent Theatre in Sofia, Bulgaria. The week-long summit will include workshops, panels, performances, and planning for future collaborations. Recipients to date include NJ Agwuna (United States), Ioseb Bakuradze (Georgia), Uršulė Barto (Lithuania), Maksima Boeva (Bulgaria), Natalie Ester (Romania), Dima Levitskiy (Ukraine), Gwynn Macdonald (United States), Stefan Prohorov (Bulgaria), Agnė Pulokaitė (Lithuania), Lisa Rothe (United States), Mei Ann Teo (United States), and Gosia Wdowik (Poland).

The Drama League Film Fund, supporting Directors Project alumni as they direct filmed projects, will complete its support of Arin Arbus and Desdemona Chiang. Ms. Arbus will direct the short film The Cooperative, about a fictional secret society in the Catskill Mountains. Ms. Chiang will direct See You Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow, about a stand-up comedian who delays his career to care for his 99-year-old grandmother.

The 2025 Directors Project recipients will join the ranks of over 485 Drama League alumni, including Tony Award winners Christopher Ashley (incoming Artistic Director, Roundabout Theatre Company), Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown), Sam Gold (Romeo + Juliet), Michael Mayer (Swept Away, Little Shop of Horrors), Pam MacKinnon (Artistic Director, A.C.T.), Diane Paulus (1776), John Rando (Back to the Future: The Musical), Danya Taymor (John Proctor Is the Villain), Rebecca Taichman (Sing Street), Alex Timbers (Moulin Rouge!); Tony nominees Mark Brokaw (How I Learned to Drive), Lear deBessonet (incoming Artistic Director, Lincoln Center Theater), Anne Kauffman (Mary Jane), Lila Neugebauer (Appropriate), Whitney White (The Last Five Years), Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Bernhardt/Hamlet); Obie Award winner Arin Arbus (Frankie and Johnny...), Alan Schneider Award winner May Adrales (Dakar 2000), Callaway Award winner Mike Donahue (Troy), and more.

Programs of The Drama League are made possible thanks to the generosity of our supporters, including the Howard Gilman Foundation, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, the Sylvia W. & Randle M. Kauders Foundation, the Jolene McCaw Family Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and the Trust for Mutual Understanding. Drama League programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. A special thanks goes out to Drama League Members, who provide important underwriting support for The Directors Project.

The Drama League is the preeminent career development home for directors in the United States, providing them with significant experiences and resources to succeed in professional theater, film, television, and new technologies. Its 490 alumni can be found in all aspects of the entertainment profession: on and off-Broadway, at regional theaters, in Hollywood, and as artistic leaders at 100+ regional theaters across the country. Drama League directors have been honored with the Tony, Emmy, Obie, Drama Desk, Golden Globe, Princess Grace, Bessie, Drama-Logue, Barrymore, Evening Standard, and Jefferson Awards, among others. Founded in 1916, it is one of the nation’s oldest continuously operating, not-for-profit arts advocacy and education organizations. For information about its membership, programs, and awards, please call 212.244.9494.