Manhattan Theatre Club Artistic Director Lynne Meadow will take a sabbatical for the 2007-2008 season, beginning next August, the company has announced. She will use the time to travel and write, and will return for 2008-2009 season. Daniel Sullivan, director of several Manhattan Theatre Club productions Proof, Sight Unseen, Brooklyn Boy, Psychopathia Sexualis, will serve as Acting Artistic Director, working with Barry Grove, MTC's longtime Executive Producer, and with MTC's artistic staff.
Sullivan has been consulting with Meadow and MTC's artistic staff on the planning of the ‘07-‘08 season, according to the theater's news release. Meadow will consult on the planning of the ‘08-‘09 season.
MTC board chairman Peter Solomon said in a statement: "The Board of Directors of MTC and I wholeheartedly endorse Lynne's desire to step away from the daily management of our theatres for one season only to reflect on sustaining MTC's track record of excellence and creating new initiatives for our future. We are delighted that Lynne will make herself available for board meetings throughout the year of her sabbatical and that she will return for the ‘08-‘09 season. We are lucky to have Executive Producer Barry Grove at the helm along with Dan Sullivan joining us for the ‘07-‘08 season and we look forward to Lynne's return."
Before beginning her year off, Meadow is scheduled to direct the world premiere of Charles Busch's Our Leading Lady at New York City Center Stage II next spring. Meadow and Busch previously collaborated on the hit production of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, which subsequently transferred to Broadway 's Barrymore Theatre. She directed MTC's current production of The American Pilot, running through December 31 at City Center Stage II.