The Irene Gandy Directing Assistantships

An opportunity for Early-Career Directors

Application Opens Mid-September 2025

APPLICATION PORTAL
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F.A.Q. PAGE
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Lamar Jefferson and Kimberly Marable in the Guthrie Theatre/McCarter Theatre Center co-production of "Blues for an Alabama Sky," directed by Nicole A. Watson, assisted by Jessica Natalie Smith. Photo: Dan Norman

ASSISTANTSHIP DETAILS

OVERVIEW
In an effort to remove barriers to access that disproportionately affect BIPOC/Global Majority directors in the early stages of their careers, The Drama League Irene Gandy Directing Assistantships partner with acclaimed stage directors to provide assistant directing opportunities to early-career, historically underinvested directors on productions across the United States. The Drama League provides each assistant director financial resource, travel as outlined in the Summary section, and pre-production preparation assistance. The Irene Gandy Directing Asssitantships address disproportionate impediments to access…impediments that are pervasive and damaging to the field’s future viability. They also offer a rare opportunity for the passing of knowledge, skills, and experience from one generation of directors to the next, offering a road map to successfully employ in rehearsal, casting, and production. Lastly, it ensures a multiplicity of voices in this important creative role, better serving the entire community.
  • NUMBER OF ASSISTANTSHIPS: Varies, offered annually
  • ELIGIBILITY: Before applying, visit the  F.A.Q. page for full eligibility details.
  • SCHOLARSHIP PRIZE: $850/wk for in-person rehearsal/preview period, not to exceed seven (7) weeks (maximum $5,950, can be less depending on production). Partial housing cost reimbursement may be provided for out-of-town Recipients (see Housing below).
  • HEALTH INSURANCE REIMBURSEMENT: None
  • TRAVEL COVERAGE: If the Recipient lives more than 35 miles from the production location’s metropolitan area, The Drama League will furnish one round-trip economy airfare, train, car or bus (depending on distance) from any U.S. Continental city. Baggage fees, airport transfers, and in-city transportation are not provided. Travel arrangements are managed by The Drama League. 
  • HOUSING: Housing is NOT provided for this Assistantship, and will be the responsibility of the Recipient to acquire and maintain if they do not live in the production’s metropolitan area. Recipients living more than 35 miles from the metropolitan area of the city of production can receive an additional partial housing cost reimbursement of up to $400/week for in-person duration. 
  • OTHER BENEFITS: VIP Pass to all publicly offered Drama League programming during the Assistantship period; access to alumni-focused programs and events; lifetime Drama League Membership
  • LIABILITIES AND INSURANCES: Recipient will not be an employee of TDL or its partners, instead a recipient of an educational program and will be considered as such under insurance policies.
1. ASSISTANTSHIP PREPARATIONS | Virtual (Zoom)
  • DATES: July, occasional/remote, schedule TBD by The Drama League
  • DESCRIPTION: Assistant Directors begin discussions of the practice, expectations, and evolving role of the position, and begin early conversations with their Mentor Director.
  • TRAVEL/HOUSING: Virtual, no travel/housing necessary
  • DATES: TBD (Varies by production, in person, 3-7 weeks)
  • DESCRIPTION: Assistant Directors meet with their Mentor Directors and production teams on pre-production virtually/online as necessary. They will travel to join the Mentor Director for in-person rehearsals, tech, previews and opening night, working in service to the production and the director’s vision as needed.
  • TRAVEL COVERAGE: If the Recipient lives more than 35 miles from the production location’s metropolitan area, The Drama League will furnish one round-trip economy airfare, train, car or bus (depending on distance) from any U.S. Continental city. Baggage fees, airport transfers, and in-city transportation are not provided. Travel arrangements are managed by The Drama League. 
  • HOUSING: Housing is NOT provided for this Assistantship, and will be the responsibility of the Recipient to acquire and maintain if they do not live in the production’s metropolitan area. Recipients living more than 35 miles from the metropolitan area of the city of production can receive an additional partial housing cost reimbursement of up to $400/week for in-person duration. 
APPLY NOW
F.A.Q. PAGE

2026 GANDY MENTOR DIRECTORS

Lili-Anne Brown, a Chicago South Side native, works as a director, actor and educator, and has performed in, directed and produced many award-winning shows in Chicago and nationally. Recent directing credits include: The Color Purple, The Nacirema Society…, School Girls, and the world premieres of Ike Holter’s I Hate It Here and Lottery Day (Goodman Theatre); Two Trains Running (The Acting Company, Nat’l Tour), Dreamgirls (McCarter Theatre and Goodspeed Musicals), FELA! (Olney Theater), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Huntington Theatre), Ain’t No Mo’ (Woolly Mammoth and Baltimore CenterStage), Waitress, Rent and The Color Purple (The Muny), Once on This Island (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Acoustic Rooster… (Kennedy Center and Nat’l Tour), Put Your House in Order (La Jolla Playhouse). She is the former Artistic Director of Bailiwick Chicago, where she focused programming on Chicago-premiere musicals and new play development with resident playwrights. She has received 2 Helen Hayes Awards, 5 Jeff Awards, 2 BTA Awards and one African American Arts Alliance Award for excellence in directing. She is an inaugural recipient of the Walder Foundation’s Platform Award and a 2021 recipient of the 3Arts Award. She is a member of SDC, AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and a graduate of Northwestern University.
Melissa Crespo (she/her/hers) is a multi-hyphenate theater-maker based in NYC and serves as the Associate Artistic Director at Syracuse Stage. She has made a career of developing new plays and musicals at theaters such as: Playwright’s Realm, Cape Cod Theatre Project, The O’Neill Theater Center, New Dramatists, and more. Past world premiere credits include: O.K.! by Christin Eve Cato (INTAR), Reggie Hoops by Kristoffer Diaz (Profile Theater), and Bees and Honey by Guadalís del Carmen (MCC Theater). Next season, she will direct two world premieres: Relentless by Rae Binstock (Syracuse Stage) and The Woman Question by Suli Holum (People’s Light). As a playwright, her play Egress co-written with Sarah Saltwick, had a world premiere at Amphibian Stage and won the Roe Green Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting at Cleveland Playhouse. Melissa has served on faculty at The New School for Drama and Syracuse University. She has served on numerous funding panels including NYFA and the American Theatre Wing. Past fellowships and residencies include: Time Warner Fellow (WP Theatre), The Director’s Project (Drama League), Van Lier Directing Fellow (Second Stage Theatre), and the Allen Lee Hughes Directing Fellow (Arena Stage). Melissa received her M.F.A. in directing from The New School for Drama.

IRENE GANDY

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The 2020 Tony Award Honoree for Lifetime Excellence, Irene Gandy began her Broadway career began in 1973, as a publicist with the Negro Ensemble Company. She has worked on over 100 Broadway shows, including Purlie Victorious, Ohio State Murders, The Piano Lesson, Our Town, August: Osage County, Glengarry Glen Ross, Radio Golf, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Lady Day At Emerson Bar and Grill, Bubbling Brown Sugar, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Me and My Girl, Spring Awakening, Talk Radio, Speed-The-Plow, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Chinglish, The Heidi Chronicles, Thoughts of a Colored Man, American Son, Fiddler on the Roof, You Can’t Take It With You, and The Wiz, among others. She has worked with producer Jeffrey Richards for over three decades, and is the only Black female press agent in the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers. She is the recipient of the National Action Network’s Woman of Excellence Award, the Vanguard Award from Black to Broadway Productions, the Black Public Relations Society Award, the Black Pride NYC Pioneer Award, the Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO Pioneer Award for Excellence in Black Theatre, and the NAACP David Weaver Prize for Excellence in the Arts. In 2008, she became the first female press agent to be immortalized with a Sardi’s caricature. Irene is a passionate advocate for young artists. The Irene Gandy Directing Assistantships were developed with the Drama League Directors Council, an advisory body of leading stage directors, leaders, educators, and film/tv professionals.

THE DRAMA LEAGUE
The Drama League is a career accelerator and creative home for those who, in whole or in part, identify as directors — the artists who stand in the center of collective artmaking in theater, film, television, streaming, and all creative industries that utilize live performance. The Drama League offers acclaimed access, training, mentorship and opportunity for these artists and their collaborators.  First established in 1916 and founding The Directors Project in 1982, alumni of its programs, collectively known as The Directors Project, create over 1,100 projects each year for audiences around the world, numbering in the tens of millions. To be a part of supporting future generations of artists, please visit dramaleague.org/membership.
Irene Gandy Assistant Directors have been a part of previous productions at B.A.M., Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Denver Center Theatre Company, Geffen Playhouse, Guthrie Theatre, Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter Theatre Center, New York City Center, New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, Seattle Rep, Trinity Rep, Yale Repertory Theatre, and on Broadway national tours, among others.

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