April 11, 2007

Des McAnuff’s Lasting Legacy at La Jolla Playhouse

April 11th, 2007

Pam Kragen of NCTimes.com reports that as of Sunday, April 15, La Jolla Playhouse Director Des McAnuff leaves the institution he has run for nearly 20 years to return to his childhood home of Canada.

McAnuff, 54, will serve as one of three artistic directors for the Stratford Festival of Canada, North America’s largest classical repertory theater with an annual budget of $52 million, nearly four times larger than that of the Playhouse. On Tuesday, the Playhouse named Tony-nominated director Christopher Ashley as McAnuff’s replacement.

He leaves La Jolla with a mix of feelings: excitement about his new job and the freedoms it will bring; sadness about leaving the city that he helped build into one of America’s most-fertile birthing grounds for new musicals and plays; and regrets, that his ultimate vision for the Playhouse did not match that of the theater’s board of directors.

Born in Illinois and raised in Toronto, Jersey Boys director McAnuff was fronting his own rock band, writing songs and producing and directing his own plays by the time he was in high school. By age 20, he was running a theater in Toronto, and in 1977, one of his plays brought him to New York, where he established himself as a hot director. There, he co-founded Dodger Theatricals, which today is one of New York’s top theatrical producers.

Next week, McAnuff will move into his new office at the Jujamcyn Theatre in New York City, where he expects his wife, Susan, and their daughter, Julia Violet, to “migrate there” once Julia graduates from high school next year.

Speaking excitedly about his new office in New York and the many opportunities before him, McAnuff said he’s thrilled, and a little scared, about the future, and that’s just how he likes it.

“I like to try new things,” he said. “Some of them may fail spectacularly, but I don’t want to ever stop trying. That’s what makes it fun.”

For the full story, visit, NCTimes.com.

1 Comment »

  1. Amazing…the connection between Des and the start of Dodger Theatricals.

    Comment by Audrey — April 11, 2007 @ 11:57 pm

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