Des McAnuff to Leave His Position as La Jolla Playhouse Artistic Director in 2007

Two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff will leave his job as Artistic Director of the California's La Jolla Playhouse in April 2007. He will then assume a newly created position as Director Emeritus.

McAnuff, currently represented on Broadway by Jersey Boys, first served as Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse from 1983 to 1994. He returned to the Playhouse in 2001. His directing credits with the company include mountings of Big River, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Elmer Gantry, The Who's Tommy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Dracula, Jersey Boys which recently received the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical, Romeo and Juliet, The Matchmaker, Macbeth, Three Sisters, Much Ado About Nothing, Two Rooms, Eden Lane, 700 Sundays and Private Fittings. His production of the musical Zhivago is currently running at the theater through July 9. He is set to direct The Wiz there this fall and a workshop production of The Farnsworth Invention in February.

"I have deeply enjoyed serving as Artistic Director and look forward to making my new role as Director Emeritus as meaningful and impactful as possible," McAnuff said in a statement. "It is my intention to continue to direct plays, raise funds for the Playhouse and serve as an ambassador for the institution far into the future. This decision [to leave] has been motivated by both outside opportunities that have recently presented themselves and by my commitments to projects born from my work at La Jolla Playhouse. For these professional reasons—and for personal reasons—it has become crucial for me to spend more time in New York."

The La Jolla Board of Trustees will begin the search for a new Artistic Director shortly.