LOS ANGELES: The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) announced the establishment of the Gordon Davidson Award at the LA Stage Alliance’s Ovation Awards ceremony. The award, which will be given annually by SDCF, will recognize a director or choreographer for lifetime achievement and distinguished service in the regional theatre nationally. The inaugural award recipient will be announced in June.

The award honors the late Gordon Davidson, the founding artistic director of the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, who led the institution from 1967 to 2005. He also served as the artistic director of the Ahmanson Theatre from 1989 to 2005.

“Gordon had an unwavering passion for the theatre and its craft, for the art of storytelling, and for the artists who brought those stories to life, as well as an absolute and unyielding belief that the theatre was the supreme art form for exploring the big ideas of our time and the ideal way to build and create community,” said SDCF president Sheldon Epps, who announced the award with SDC president Pam MacKinnon.

A committee of professional peers, selected by the SDCF board of trustees, will recommend recipients of the Davidson Award. The 2018 selection committee will include Epps, Neel Keller, Tom Moore, Laura Penn, Lisa Peterson, and Warner Shook.

“It is not an exaggeration or hyperbole to say that Gordon Davidson was the father of our modern theatre here in Los Angeles,” said MacKinnon. “Over a period of 40 years, he created theatre that became part of the very fabric of our great city.”