Des McAnuff has announced his resignation from the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, and rumours will be starting about what he will do next.
He will continue with the company until his contract ends in 2007, and he will honour his commitment to direct a new revival production of The Wiz, which will play at La Jolla in the fall of 2006, prior to heading to Broadway.
Des McAnuff grew up in Scarborough, Ontario, and attended Woburn Collegiate. He won the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical for the original productions of Big River and The Who's Tommy, and worked with Billy Crystal on his hit one-man show, 700 Sundays, which won a Special Tony Award in 2005. Last week, McAnuff was nominated for the Best Director of a Musical Tony Award for his production of Jersey Boys.
There has been talk for the last several months that McAnuff might be returning to work in his home country as one of the members of the new artistic staff at the Stratford Festival under the General Direction of Antoni Cimolino. A formal announcement of that staff will be in the coming months, and only time will tell if one of the most prolific theatre directors in the world will be returning home again.
***NEWS FLASH***
A press conference has been called for Monday, June 26th to announce the next Artistic Directors of the Stratford Festival. Stay tuned here for more information as it comes in!
