Zelda Fichandler, as Arena Stage prepares to open in its first home, the refurbished Hippodrome movie theater, 1950.

Courtesy Arena Stage

Jane Alexander and James Earl Jones in the Arena Stage production of The Great White Hope, 1967. The first play to transfer from a regional theater to Broadway, and winner of the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize.

George Tames/The New York Times

Thomas and Zelda Fichandler during construction of the Kreeger Theatre, 1970.

Courtesy Arena Stage

The Enemy of the People, directed by Zelda Fichandler, Arena Stage, 1975.

Zelda Fichandler takes center stage at Arena's 30th Anniversary celebration, with the opening of Galileo, 1980.

Joan Marcus

When she co-founded Arena Stage 66 years ago, Zelda Fichandler paved the way for today's thriving Washington theatre community - and altered forever the way theatre is produced in the United States. With Arena as the flagship of a new theatre movement, audiences were no longer dependent on touring productions of Broadway hits. The finest works of theatre art began to appear on local stages, reflecting the issues that face local communities. The result was an entirely new theatrical landscape.

In a speech given to the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society in 2011, Zelda said: “The audience comes into the theatre with today’s newspaper under its arm, and popular culture in its eyes and ears. The artistic director has to live straddling two realities: the unique imaginary world of the play; the other, the real world beyond the doors and who is living there, within range of the theatre’s voice.” (Read the entire speech at Howlround.com.)

Following Zelda's death on July 29, a wealth of tributes appeared in local and national media outlets. We hope you’ll use the links below to explore her life and legacy.

“Under the stewardship of Fichandler and her cohorts, theater developed into something refined and earthy, serious and accessible, in parts of the country that might otherwise have remained culturally parched.” A Tribute from Peter Marks, The Washington Post

“Under her leadership, Arena became one of the nation’s leading theater companies and in the forefront of a regional theater movement that brought quality professional productions to communities from coast to coast.” A Tribute from Bruce Weber, The New York Times

“Zelda Fichandler is the mother of us all in the American theater. It was her thinking as a seminal artist and architect of the not-for-profit resident theater that imagined resident theaters creating brilliant theater in our own communities. . . She is irreplaceable but lives on in every single not-for-profit theater in America—now over 1,500 strong.” A Tribute from Molly Smith, Artistic Director, Arena Stage

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