Joseph Haj, producing artistic director of PlayMakers Repertory Company at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been awarded the 2014 Zelda Fichandler Award. The prestigious honor recognizes an outstanding director or choreographer who is transforming the regional arts landscape through imaginative, brave work in theater.
The $5,000 award, given by the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, heralds accomplishments to date and promise for the future, and applauds deep commitment to a community. A review committee unanimously selected Haj from a record 63 nominations.
Haj has been producing artistic director of PlayMakers since 2006, where he has directed “The Tempest,” “Metamorphoses,” “Cabaret,” “Henry IV & V,” “Amadeus,” “Pericles,” and “Big River,” among others. He is currently in rehearsal for Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods,” to be performed in repertory with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Nov. 1-Dec. 7.
He has a long history of working in regional theater, from the Guthrie Theater to Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he is mounting a new production of “Pericles” in 2015.
As one of the few Arab-American artistic directors in the country, Haj has worked to transform the stage at PlayMakers into a place of diversity and inclusion. He has dedicated himself to communicating with the Triangle community, expanding educational opportunities through local partnerships and outreach initiatives. He also has made plays with non-professionals in maximum security prisons, in the West Bank in Gaza and in rural South Carolina.
Founded in 1965, the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation exists to foster, promote and develop the craft and creativity of stage directors and choreographers.
PlayMakers is based in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences. For information and tickets to the 2014-2015 season, visit www.playmakersrep.org or call (919) 962-PLAY (7529).
