Jon Rua will be honored with the Breakout Award at the Fifth Annual Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) Awards, being presented virtually January 24 at 8 PM ET. Obie-winning director Anne Kauffman will host the evening. Free and open to the public, tickets for the event can be obtained through EventBrite.
An alum of the Broadway companies of Hamilton, SpongeBob SquarePants, and The Cher Show, Rua is being recognized for his work as a choreographer, which includes serving as co-creative director and choreographer of 2019's NYE PHISH concert at Madison Square Garden. A "dance narrative" written, choreographed, and performed by Rua titled Teenage Soul is currently in development following a commission by Milwaukee Rep, with public performances hoped for in 2023. Rua also will release a short film, Unknown, later this year.
Selected by a committee comprising Darren Lee, Maria Torres, and Christopher Windom, finalists for the honor also include Billy Bustamante and Alex Sanchez.
Also on hand at the ceremony will be Jack Reuler, presenting the Zelda Fichandler Award to Mark Valdez; Oscar Eustis, presenting the Gordon Davidson Award to Emily Mann; Christopher Acebo, Mark Brokaw, Donald Byrd, Neel Keller, Casey Stangl, and Tony Taccone. Sarah Bierstock is the event's script supervisor.
For more information on the 2022 honorees, visit SDCFoundation.org.
